Having a hard time finding hand sanitizer? Consider making it yourself.
It’s part science experiment, part necessity. Lily Comander, 13, has mixed up a few batches of hand sanitizer herself.
“It all started when my dad and I went to some pharmacies and couldn't find hand sanitizer and it was all sold out,” she said. “We decided to make it on our own.”
Her dad, a Boston doctor, knows the importance of using the correct ratios and made sure they got it right.
“We had an idea we could make it ourselves," Jason Comander said. “There are videos out there that are wrong. So we looked up the official recommendation from the World Health Organization on official formulas to make hand sanitizer.”
They adapted the WHO recipe for ethanol based sanitizer and came up with their own. It contains grain alcohol, glycerine and water.
“There are some hints that ethanol-based hand sanitizers are better for viruses, so that's what we chose for this purpose,” said Dr. Comander. “I made sure Lily did the math calculations herself so she would understand.”
Lily did, and she shared her experience on TikTok. She's had hundreds of views and her family has plenty of hand sanitizer for their $25 dollar investment.
“It's important to know the best thing to do is wash your hands and if you can't wash your hands, use the hand sanitizer,” Dr. Comander said. “Even better than that is to not expose yourself in the first place.”
