/Healing Winter Hands Series/: Step 3 ~ Hand Sanitizing Spray

This:    

 for

That:

If you’ve been following the “Healing Winter Hands” series, you’ve made it to the last step.  Whoo hoo!  If not, you can find Step 1 ~ wash (here) and Step 2 ~ balm (here).

Let’s just do a quick review of why we should ditch those “antibacterial” soaps and sanitizers. Call them old news, a thing of the past. Sure, up-cycle the bottles, but dump what’s inside them down the drain. When we use them, the harsh chemicals and cleansers in them destroy everything on our skin, everything.  So yes, they do kill germs, bacteria and viruses, but they kill the good stuff on our skin too.  Something I’ve fairly recently discovered (all of you smarties out there probably already knew), our body is pretty good at protecting us and fighting for us, if we allow it.  Did you know that there are good bacteria?  When we allow our skin to develop the good bacteria, it actually destroys the bad bacteria AND helps our skin build and turn over new skin cells. That’s impressive! What happens when you kill all the bacteria, good and bad?  Well, take a look at your hands.  Do they look like mine did about a year and a half ago – red, cracked, irritated, and rashy? Ouch! Not only can your skin not rebuild its self and kill the bad bacteria naturally, it has cracks in it now, allowing even more germs and bacteria INSIDE your body. You’ve actually made yourself more exposed to sickness. Following these three steps will cleanse and repair, while also allowing your skin to do its job.

Now for Step 3 ~ sanitizing spray. If you have essential oils already, you could make this recipe as simple as oils and water.  If not, what are you waiting for!?! Get some essential oils, and invest in your health.  They may give you some personal liberty in the health of your family, rather than depending on doctors and pharmacies for every issue.  The three oils I’ve used in the recipe below are common and relatively inexpensive. You can find them in natural grocery stores and online.  It’s important to find a brand that you trust and know is not diluted or mixed with any other chemical/oil.  A bottle can legally say “100% pure” and contain only 1% of the essential oil it’s claiming to be. Here is the brand I trust. I know their oils are high quality, pure enough I can ingest them, and I feel good about the way they source them – benefiting farmers and communities around the globe with their “co-impact sourcing”.  As always, be a smart consumer. There are other great brands on the market. Find one you can trust.

About those oils…It’s good to use about 10-12 drops per ounce of liquid, so for a 2 oz glass spray bottle, I used 21 drops of essential oils.  Many essential oils have antibacterial, antimicrobial, antifungal, antiseptic…you name it…properties.  The combinations you could come up with are endless.  My recipe covers all the anti-s ~ antiviral, antibacterial, anti-infectious, antimicrobial, and antiseptic. While you could keep it super simple by dropping these oils in a glass spray bottle and topping it off with water, I added a few other ingredients to nourish your skin. By all means, keep it as simple as you want.  Just make it! Keep it in your purse and use it to spray your hands and grocery karts when you’re out and about.  You can feel good about it.

Hand Sanitizing Spray

Ingredients:

• 7 drops melaleuca (tea tree) essential oil
• 7 drops lemon essential oil
• 7 drops lavender essential oil
• 1 gel cap vitamin E oil
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp carrier oil – I used apricot kernal oil because it doesn’t leave a greasy feel, but you can use fractionated coconut oil, sweet almond, or grapeseed oil too.
• distilled water
• 2 oz glass, spray bottle – You can find them and a natural grocery store, Amazon and aromatools.com.  I also really like these little glass sprayers from Aroma tools.  They fit in a pant pocket easily, for those who don’t carry a purse.

Directions:

1. Add salt to empty, glass sprayer.
2. Drop essential oils into jar and swirl to combine with and dissolve salt.
3. Cut open the vitamin E gel cap and squeeze into jar.
4. Add 1/4 tsp carrier oil of your choice.
5. Measure in the 2 tsp of witch hazel.
6. Top off with distilled water.
7. Roll and turn over in your hand to combine oils and other liquids before use.