Anyone tried making hand sanitizer? Need tips..

I've got plenty of 70% isopropyl alcohol and just got a gallon of vegetable glycerin. Was thinking those two ingredients would be sufficient but something is off.

Started off with the container about halfway full of alcohol and slowly started adding the glycerin.

If you add too much glycerin, it sort of sticks to your hands and doesn't come right off or evaporate like hand sanitizer; but even when you have reached that point the solution is still not thick enough. Don't put enough glycerin and it comes out really runny but otherwise acts pretty close to proper sanitizer.

Many of the DIY recipes recommend Aloe Vera, but that isn't widely available and is just as hard to get as regular sanitizer.. so that's a no-go.

Found this info online:
According to the wikipedia article on hand sanitizers, polyacrylic acid and polyethelyne glycol are commonly used thickeners. You could try any hydrophilic polymer if those aren't available. Cornstarch might even work if you dissolved it in the alcohol before adding the other ingredients

Has anyone tried this and if so do you have any advice on an inexpensive way to improve my sanitizer?

Last Edited by hellno2 on 03/31/2020 07:49 PM