Category: Skincare

As insanity spreads even faster than SARS-Cov-2 (the coronavirus responsible for the disease COVID-19), it might be fun (and maybe even useful) to unpick one of the hoarders’ favourite targets:

Hand Sanitizer

Hand sanitizer is going to be absolutely essential to our survival, right?

Well, no.  It isn’t.

When it comes to killing a virus, hand sanitizer comes second to vigorous washing with soap and water.  Sanitizers are a useful complement to soap and water when constant handwashing is impractical and the risk of infection is high (such as in a hospital).  Sanitizers are not a substitute for soap and water.  However much you may dislike soap and water, hoarding or even using hand sanitizer won’t protect you or those with whom you come into contact. Wash your hands.

But hand sanitizer is effective, right?

That rather depends.

I tried to find standards and regulations that would apply to a product labelled “Hand Sanitizer” and sold as such.  I didn’t find regulation that requires Hand Sanitizer to have any effect whatsoever on any virus, bacterium or other germ.  I can piss in a bottle and sell it as Hand Sanitizer (if you want to try this you might want to consult a lawyer in case I’ve missed something).  But as far as I can see, provided my snake oil contains no known allergens, I am free to sell it and I don’t have to list the ingredients.  Ironically, if I added enough alcohol to my mixture to turn it into an effective sanitizer, then I would have to label the bottle to the effect that the contents were flammable.

If you are having difficulty believing that this product of the moment is so little regulated, I suggest you check out some of the hand sanitizers offered on Amazon (for example).  See how many even list their ingredients.

Of course some hand sanitizers are effective.  Healthcare professionals will select products that work, and some specify their own formulations.  Even home-made sanitizers can be effective.  (The ingredients for one of my versions are listed at the end of this piece.)

If it is affordable and available without prescription,  an effective sanitizer will contain alcohol.  (So all the “no alcohol” or “0% alcohol” sanitizers meet their claim that they won’t dry out your skin, but they won’t have much impact on a coronavirus.  They might give some protection against secondary infections.)

The World Health Organization has published recipes for liquid handrubs.   In both recipes the main ingredient (75% or more) is alcohol.  This may be ethanol or isopropanol (which I discussed in A is for Alcohol).  Only two other ingredients are used.  Hydrogen peroxide is used as an antimicrobial agent, and a small quantity of glycerol is added as a wetting agent.

There appears to be a consensus that an effective hand sanitizer should contain a minimum of 60% alcohol and a maximum of around 95%.  There should be some water in the formulation.  The water helps the alcohol to penetrate the outer layer of a virus.  Once the outer layer has been penetrated, the alcohol disrupts and destroys what is left.  One study tested the efficacy of a number of hand sanitizer formulations with alcohol ranging from 60% to 95%.  It identified two formulations containing 70% as the most effective amongst those tested (so increasing the alcohol content above 70% doesn’t guarantee a more effective sanitizer).

Home-made hand sanitizers can be effective if they contain a high enough concentration of alcohol.  Most forms of liquor don’t contain enough alcohol.  Spirits at 80º proof only contain 40% ethanol, far short of the minimum 60% required.  Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol attracts less tax in most countries, so it’s cheaper.  As I write all the useful sized bottles are disappearing from Amazon listings, but there are other suppliers, including on eBay, who still offer to supply.

One of the 2 widely available offerings of isopropyl alcohol contains 70% alcohol (with the balance being water).  This is an effective sanitizer in its own right, but it has 2 drawbacks:

1. 1. It evaporates rapidly, so it can be difficult to spread it to all parts of your hands before it has disappeared.
   2. It dries out skin, so it’s not very pleasant to use repeatedly.

Both these can be addressed, but that means adding ingredients and this will reduce the proportion of alcohol in the mixture.   There’s a useful calculator published on Lab Muffin’s blog that shows how much alcohol you need in your mixture to achieve a particular proportion of alcohol overall.

Home-made hand sanitizer

This version has a concentration of 62% isopropyl alcohol.

I include glycerine (glycerol) in my sanitizer as a wetting agent.  I also include aloe vera.  Both ingredients help spread the liquid over your hands and slow down evaporation.  They also help prevent skin drying out, so they make the sanitizer more pleasant to use than just alcohol and water.

The World Health Organization includes hydrogen peroxide.  I don’t include it in this recipe because I believe its purpose is deal with possible contaminants in water used to dilute the alcohol.  I have the luxury of access to distilled water and uncontaminated ingredients.

The final ingredient I add is peppermint essential oil.  It goes some way to masking the smell of raw alcohol and contributes to making the sanitizer a little more pleasant in use.

So here’s the recipe for Insanitizer #51:

• • 100 ml isopropyl alcohol 70%
  • 8 ml aloe vera gel
  • 4 ml vegetable glycerine
  • 0.5 ml (or 20 drops) peppermint (piperata) essential oil.

Put the ingredients in a bottle and shake to disperse the aloe gel and the essential oil.  Let it stand for a while, and then shake it up again.

The mixture is flammable, toxic if ingested, and you should avoid getting it in your eyes.

Be well.  Be safe.

This recipe was published as Summer Passions Pumpable Body Lotion by Barb Misiuda on her site Scrub Me Down.  I made it on New Year’s Day (in England) so it wasn’t exactly Summer.  I followed the recipe without making substitutions.  I don’t use artificial fragrances, so I used a combination of Rose and Clove Bud essential oils to produce a scent reminiscent of carnations.

The list of ingredients for this lotion is longer than that used in most of my concoctions.  It introduced me to a couple of ingredients that I hadn’t used before.

Oil Phase

• 12 g Avocado Oil
• 12 g Emulsifying Wax (Olive Derived)
• 9 g   Mango Butter
• 6 g   Sweet Almond Oil
• 6 g   Passion Fruit Oil
• 3 g   Beeswax

Water Phase

• 207 ml Distilled Water
• 30 g Aloe Vera Gel
• 3 g Vegetable Glycerine
• 3 g Silk Peptides

Cool Down

• 3 g Vitamin E Oil
• 6 g Panthenol
• 1.5 g Plantaserve E
• 12 drops Rose absolute (Turkish)
• 4 drops Clove Bud Essential Oil
• 0.1g Gold Mica

Equipment

To make this you will need:

• 2 glass containers large enough to hold all the ingredients with a bit of room to spare.  I use half litre Pyrex jugs, but wide-mouthed jars such as Mason Jars also work well.  At least one of the containers needs to be large enough for all the ingredients and a stick blender.
• 1 smaller glass container.  A shot glass works well for this.
• A stick blender
• Small spatulas (wooden coffee stirrers scrounged from coffee shops work well)
• 1 or more pump bottles with a total capacity of slightly more than 250ml
• A funnel
• A kitchen hob and a shallow pan, or an oven capable of being set to a temperature of 70-80C.

Method

Measure out the oil phase ingredients into one glass container, and the water phase ingredients into another.  If you aren’t in a hurry, cover the containers and let them stand for a while.  This allows the waxes to start to soften in the oils, and allows the silk peptides and aloe gel to start to disperse in the water.

If you have access to an electric oven, set the temperature to 70-80C and put the 2 containers of ingredients in the oven.

If you are going to make this on a gas or electric ring, put the containers in the shallow pan, add some water (perhaps to a depth of 3-5 cm) and bring the water to the boil.  Turn down the heat when the water boils so the water is just simmering.

Put the cool-down ingredients in another (ideally smaller) container –

• Panthenol is a very viscous gel that I found difficult to weigh accurately or to scrape off a spatula.  Another time I may add some to water to make a less viscous solution, keeping any excess in the fridge until the next time I need some.
• I didn’t weigh the mica.  I would consider it an optional ingredient anyway.  I added enough to cover about 6mm of the type of stick that coffee shops provide for stirring coffee.  I might double the amount next time, but too much glitter would be, well, too much.

Emulsifying wax doesn’t seem to melt into the other oil phase ingredients.  When the other oil phase ingredients are all liquid, take the oil phase and the water phase containers to your work surface and turn off the heat.  As there’s more of the water phase ingredients to heat up, they may not be as warm as the oil phase.  That’s not a problem.

It’s a good idea to put your stick blender into a separate pot and leave it to stand in hot water to warm it up a bit.

If you have a thermometer, watch the oil phase until the temperature drops to about 42C.  If you aren’t using a thermometer you can judge the temperature by feeling the outside of the container with your hand.  When it still feels warm but you can hold it comfortably, it’s time to start mixing.

I add the water phase to the oil phase, but it’s not critical which you add to which.  I just find pouring the water phase avoids oils and waxes solidifying on the rim of a container as you pour them.  Barely touch the control button on your stick blender as you mix the 2 phases – it’s important not to over-blend this lotion.  Only blitz the mixture until it’s just mixed.

Add the cool-down phase ingredients and blitz again, very briefly.

Decant the mixture into your pump bottles.  Briefly shake them as the lotion cools completely and thickens.

I keep all my cosmetics in a fridge until they are to be used.

Reflections

I’ve wanted to make a pumpable lotion for maybe a year.  Some attempts at formulating my own recipes produced rather nice and usable lotions, but they were too thick to be used in a pump bottle.  This recipe proved highly successful, and the lotion it produced is disappearing fast in this and other households.  in short – it’s a winner.

I’m sure I won’t resist the temptation to tinker with the recipe over the coming months, but the changes won’t be substantial.  I may subsitutute oil for oil, butter for butter, and maybe hydrosol for distilled water.

Lip balms are among the easiest cosmetics to make.  At their most simple it’s just a matter of weighing out the ingredients, warming them up until everything has melted, stir and pour.

This recipe is a favourite, with the classic combination of chocolate and orange that is reminiscent of Christmas treats.

Don’t be tempted to increase the quantity of Orange Essential Oil in this recipe because at higher concentrations it becomes phototoxic.  I’ll discuss phototoxicity in a later post.

It makes about 110g of lip balm, which is about 18 tubes each containing 5.5g.  There’s a neat way of filling tubes that I discuss at the end of this post.  Alternatively, you can pour it into small tins.

In addition to the tubes or tins, you will need one glass jug and something to stir the mixture.

Ingredients

• 60 ml Apricot Kernal Oil
• 20 g Unrefined Cocoa Butter
• 20 g Beeswax
• 8 g Darkest Chocolate (I used Willy’s 100% Cocoa Solids Chocolate)

Additions

• 1.5 ml Vitamin E Oil
• 15 drops Bitter Orange Essential Oil

Method

Measure all the ingredients (except the additions) into the glass jug.  Put the stirrer into the jug with the ingredients, and then put the jug into an oven at 70-75C.  Now you can heat up your jug of ingredients in a bain marie if you don’t have access to an oven that can be set at relatively low temperatures, but there is a surprise advantage to using an oven.  The oven heats the jug evenly and the contents pour easily.  If you heat the mixture in a bain marie, the top of the jug doesn’t get very warm and the mixture solidifies on the jug as you pour.

While the ingredients are warming up and melting in the oven, prepare your tubes or tins.

When the ingredients are all liquid, remove them from the oven.  Add the Vitamin E Oil and the Essential Oil.  Stir.  Pour into the tubes or tins.

Keep your lip balm in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Clean up with very hot water and washing-up liquid.

Lip Balm Tubes

I’m definitely not in favour of single-use plastics, but nor am I blind to the ease with which plastics can be kept hygienically clean.  Lip balm tubes can be washed out with very hot soapy water and re-used if you can persuade their recipients to return them to you.

I do use lip balm tubes.  I’d like to think most people would return them.  The choice, of course, is yours.

If you do chose to put your lip balms into tubes, there is a very convenient way of filling them.  The version I use is branded Kare & Kind and is available on Amazon or Ebay.  (There are cheaper suppliers of the empty tubes if you shop around.)

The filling tray will take up to 50 tubes.  As I normally make smaller quantities, I have filled a few tubes with cold-cast resin to use as blanking plugs.

This recipe was inspired by the Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector Cream. It’s great for people who have very dry skin, eczma or psoriasis. You don’t have to restrict its use to your hands.  As with all cosmetics,  you should carry out a patch test if you have any concerns about adverse reactions.

I used too much hemp oil in my first version. Although it worked well as a moisturiser, the smell of hemp and the green colour were too intense. (Think Incredible Hulk.) In this version I cut the hemp oil with moisturising grapeseed oil. Woody, resinous essential oils work with the smell of the hemp oil instead of trying to mask it.

This recipe makes about 350 g of handcreme. In addition to the ingredients, you will need:

• A stick blender. (You can use a whisk at a pinch.)
• A set of metric scales capable of weighing to the nearest gram.
• A container that you can use to put the stick blender in hot water to pre-heat it.
• 2 containers in which to heat and mix the ingredients. One container must be large enough to hold the full quantity; the other only has to hold the water phase ingredients. Although the container you will use for mixing has to be large enough to hold all the ingredients, the ingredients must fill it to a depth that will cover the blades of your stick blender. (I use two 500 ml Pyrex jugs. I know people who use Mason Jars successfully.)
•  A pan large enough to hold your 2 containers (or 2 pans, one for each).
• Something you can use to stir the ingredients as you heat them up. A small plastic spatula that can cope with boiling water is ideal because you can use it to scrape out very last trace of your handcreme into jars.
• Glass jars or plastic pots to store your handcreme.

Ingredients:

Oil Phase:

• 20 ml Hemp Seed Oil
• 80 ml Grapeseed Oil
• 10 g Beeswax
• 50 g Shea Butter
• 10 g Lanolin

Water Phase:

• 80 ml Distilled Witch Hazel
• 50 ml Aloe Vera Gel
• 20 ml Glycerine

Cool Down:

• 5 ml Vitamin E Oil
• 4 drops Myrrh Essential Oil
• 6 drops Juniper Essential Oil
• 4 drops Patchouli Essential Oil
• 6 drops Rosewood Essential Oil

Method:

Measure the Oil Phase ingredients into the container you will use for mixing your handcreme.

Measure the Water Phase ingredients into the second container.

Put both containers into the pan, then put enough water in the pan to come up to the level of the ingredients. Put a stirrer in the oil phase container so it heats up with the ingredients. (If you put a cold stirrer into the warm oils they will solidify on the stirrer.) Put the pan over a low heat so the water slowly comes up to the boil, then turn the heat down so the water just simmers.

Put your stick blender in the container you are going to use to pre-heat it, and put the kettle on. Prepare your containers ready to pour in your creme when you have made it.

Stir the oil phase occasionally until the wax and butter have melted. Then turn of the heat and take out the containers. Now put hot water into the container with your blender. Watch the oil phase as it starts to cool down. When it starts to go misty as it begins to solidify, put in your blender and run it as you add the water phase ingredients. Only run the blender until everything is mixed.

There will be a little oil gathering on the surface of the creme, and the container will be quite warm to touch. Briefly run the blender once or twice as the mixture cools.

When the creme starts to solidify, add the cooldown phase ingredients and briefly run the blender again until everything is mixed in. Disconnect the blender and scrape off as much as you can from the blender back into the container. Pour your creme into the prepared pots.

Put the lids on the pots and then put them in a fridge until you are ready to use them. You might like to label the pots, including the date you made the contents.

Clean up with hot water and washing-up liquid.