Natural Moisturizing Hand-Sanitizer

Who is the naive person that thought that hand-sanitizer was simply alcohol and aloe vera just by looking at it?  (This woman, right here).  Remember the days when you were singing the praises of the hand-sanitizer makers?  Wahoo -- not only can we cleanse our hands anywhere without water, but we can also opt out of chemical-filled detergent hand soaps in the public bathrooms and choose sanitizer instead.  Um, yeah, that was hopeful thinking.

The full ingredients from my conventional hand sanitizer reads as follows:  Ethyl alcohol (active), water, glyceryl caprylate/caprate, glyerin, isopropyl myristate, tocopheryl acetate, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, fragrance, benzophenone-4.  Whoa!  Then you have to moisturize your hands after the stripping of moisture from that sanitizer.  This means after the numerous chemicals you just put upon your hands (which are one of the easiest ways to get things in through the skin, by the way), you have to add the chemicals from the lotion/moisturizer.  Talk about overload.

Well, here is a very simple recipe that gets your hands clean, water-free, and moisturizes them with as little as two ingredients.  I use 3 ingredients in mine, but it is not needed.

The 2 main things you will need:

Coconut oil
Sanitizing essential oil(s) -- i.e. sweet orange, lemon, grapefruit, oregano, lavender, or a synergy blend such as Thieves, etc.

I opt for the cheaper citrus oils, because I am also always thinking of cost-efficiency.  In mine, I used sweet orange, which is extremely high in limonene, an ingredient often used in household cleaners.  Did I also mention cheap?  My organic sweet orange from Mountain Rose, with a lot/batch number on it, costs but dollars.  I also used oregano essential oil, which alone is anti-everything harmful.  Caution -- oregano oil is a hot oil, so be careful in handling.  Per couple of tablespoons, I only used 3 drops of oregano vs. the 7 drops of sweet orange essential oil.  I did also did test (taste) the hotness with this dilution -- nothing to note, as it is highly diluted in the coconut oil.  The coconut oil also helps remove dirt and grime (even car grease), via oil-cleansing method.  Stir it up really well in a small glass jar (like a baby food jar), and take it everywhere.

Alternatives to Pharmaceuticals in the Cold/Flu Season

I don't know where he got it from, but my son came down with a nasty cold last weekend, then the baby got it.  Now here sits our whole family, sick.  I saw it coming, of course, but tried to let it ride out in myself to give my immune system a nice exercise, and also for the baby's sake, building antibodies to deliver to her.  Plus, letting it come upon me full-blown gave me opportunity to test out my essential oils I've scarcely used for illness.  Most of my prevention-methods leave me not having an actual illness.  I see so many people still living by the over-the-counter medicine bottles and I'd like to share some alternatives our family has tried, and were left quite satisfied.

Cough Syrup and Chest Rubs
There's the type that brings stuff up and the type that promotes mucous or loosens stuff so that it can be brought up.  I don't know why anybody would suppress either one of these, but if your worry is that coughing too much may somehow damage the lungs or move you right into another lung condition, then why not help this defense mechanism's job by having more productive coughs.

Instead of...  Cough syrup or vapor rub as your suppressant

Try...  Ridding the culprit with using an expectorant or mucolytic.  Essential oils like cedarwood and eucalyptus, or your germ-fighting blend (like Young Living's Thieves, or equivalent).  Or if you want to calm down a violent cough, try soothing yourself with lavendar or frankincense.  You can replace your petroleum-based chest rub with coconut oil and any of these essential oils, applying also to the soles of your feet.

Fever-Reducer
Hey, I'm a Mom too.  It is hard to watch your little one be so miserable over a fever, and it is hard to be on watch all night trying to make sure the fever doesn't get too high.  There are reasons for that fever.  Heat is one of the body's strongest defenses to infection.  If you take away the heat, you had better be taking away the infection with it.  Most of us aren't taking antibacterials or antivirals internally, while we are taking away fevers internally.  I do keep a bottle of acetaminophen in my cupboards, just in case, but the last time I used it for one of my children was almost 5 years ago.

Instead of...  Acetaminophen

Try...  Taking in antibacterials, antivirals, antifungals, antimicrobials, internally.  Garlic is my ultimate favorite.  I'm not talking about those odorless pills.  Neither can you bite a clove in half and swallow it whole.  The magic in the garlic is odor itself.  Allicin is responsible for that lovely odor and it is also responsible for its strong infection-fighting capabilites.  Alliin is an odorless component within garlic, while allinase is the enzyme.  You have to crush the garlic to bring these 2 together, making the alliin.  Up to 10 minutes passing time will prove its highest concentration, before swallowing.

I can also attest for onions in socks.  I see that some have taken it upon themselves to say this doesn't do anything, though onions claim to be a toxin-remover and purifier.  I have successfully used onions with my older 2 with each fever, and like I said, the last time I used an actual fever-reducer was close to 5 years ago.  At one point of time, Bam had a fever of 104.  I put onions in his socks and immediately drove him to the ER.  By the time we got there, the fever lowered to 100 degrees -- which is manageable and safe as I have been told by doctors, while still providing enough heat to do the job.  So I went back home.

Runny Nose & Watery Eyes
Liquids have a way of trapping things.  Remember the Rainbow vaccuum?  It was Kirby's competitor, which promised to trap more things within itself because of the water system it had going on.  I bet they copied that from the Lord's design in mucous membranes.  These are yet another defense mechanism and way to trap and get the foreigner out of the body.  It would be nice if mucous took a little time to thicken so you're not pouring liquid right out of your nose, and if watery eyes didn't also mean very sensitive eyes.  This sounds like allergies, doesn't it?  Actually, many cold medicines include antihistamines for the nose and eyes.  We've tested some alternatives.

Instead of...  Antihistamines

Try...   Peppermint, lavender, and lemon essential oils.  I figured if the pharmaceutical companies treat it like allergies, why don't I use my own allergy mixture.  Doesn't it feel like you can feel every single piece of microscopic dust in the air hit your eyeball when you have sensitive, runny eyes?  You can barely keep your eyes open.  This mixture opens things up, calms them down, and keeps the overly sensitive area clean.

Body Aches
This normally accompanies fever.  Most of our ailments (including pain) are caused by inflammation.  This is no different with a fever.  When I researched online, I saw some responses from the medical community that fevers cause the body's release of certain chemicals that cause muscle spasm to inflammation.  No wonder ibuprofen is a go-to.  It hurts to walk, so you sit down.  It hurts to sit.  Waaaaa! 

Instead of...  Acetaminophen and ibuprofen

Try...   Analgesics and anti-spasmodic, like oregano essential oil; and an anti-inflammatory, like frankincense; and magnesium complex as a natural muscle-relaxer

Restlessness
Okay, so we hear it is best to just sleep it off, but what about those that can't sleep because of all of the above?  Some people just go alternating between an over-the-counter day formula during the day, and its counter night formula for night.  That is just no way to live.

Instead of...  daytime and nighttime cocktail formulas

Try...  Lavender foot-rubs or foot-baths, ylang ylang applied to the back of the neck and lower back, and magnesium complex.

To protect myself I must say I am not a doctor, nor do our government agencies that backup pharmaceuticals back up natural alternatives as listed here.  I came by these by good old fashion research, logic, and experience.

All-Purpose Coconut Oil

Elisha's dairy and soy allergies make me very mindful of what I put into and on my body, and I'm too thrifty to replace soy-based body and meal oils with multiple products.  I scoped out the price of Earth Balance's coconut (soy and dairy free) oil buttery spread and figured I'd better get used to just plain coconut oil as my butter alternative.  This only adds to other ways I've replaced many other items of my care for coconut oil.  My tested uses are as follows:

1.  Make up remover.  I cannot justify spending money on makeup remover itself, and so I have just been using soap and water.  This makes my oil-based eye primer look more like it has smeared rather than came off of my face.  Gone are the raccoon eyes when you use oil to remove makeup.

2.  Teeth-brushing.  Since I dont' have the patience for a 20 minute oil-pull swish, I wanted to test if a simple coconut-oil brushing before my baking soda brushing would do.  I have a pit in between 2 of my molars, one molar of which has a root canal.  Sometimes when food gets stuck in here, with no help from floss, the inflamation can lasts days.  Coconut oil brushing has not only helped pull the food, but has eased the inflammation, and protected from possible gum infection.

3.  Deep conditioner.  I only let water touch my hair every 2-3 days, and that is while using the baking soda and ACV cleansing method.  The only time I actually use shampoo (and a sulfate-free one at that) is to wash out the coconut oil from my hair after it's been sitting in it all day for a conditioning.  The difference between having the appearance of bald spots after the births of my older two and the healthy hair I still have after Elisha has been prayer over my coconut-oil anointed head!

4.  Moisturizer.  Washington is rainy, but despite this seeming moisture, it gets quite dry here in the Winter.  Cracked skin and cracked lips, meet coconut oil.

5.  Blister prevention, including salve for nursing mothers.  I came across this by pure logical thinking.  First, in my pregnancy my husband gave me daily massages.  I wore a pair of shoes in the summer that gave so much friction on the soles of my feet that it felt like they were blistering.  That night he massaged my feet, I felt the blister-feeling depart.  I have since used it when I feel a blister coming.  With that in mind, when Elisha came I knew lanolin would be needed to prevent nursing blisters or cracking -- or would it?  I tried the coconut oil and it worked like a charm.

6.  Deodorant.  When out of the shower, as I am already moisturizing with coconut-oil, I will rub a small amount of coconut oil into my hands with just enough baking soda to absorb it, and swipe it all on the armpits.  I have a very efficient system, having to put on deodorant (I don't use anti-perspirant) at least every hour, at $5-6 a bottle, and now my coconut-oil concoction is a twice a day application.

7.  Diaper rash and yeast rash cream.  Coconut oil is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-microbial.  Enough said.

8.  Body cleanser.  I do not do this anymore, but did it for over a year.  I used to be soap-free, and used the oil-cleansing method on not just my face, but my whole body.  To do this properly you must completely cover yourself in coconut oil before any water touches you and then wipe it off in the shower with a washrag.  I can more than attest to it working.  I did this method for a full year during a time when I was a marathon runner in constant training.  No skin patches of fungus for me.

9.  Leather cleaner and protector.  This was another experiment when I didn't have shoe cleaner nor protector and was going to wear new leather boots in a down pour.  If coconut oil can moisturize my dry skin, why not a dead animal's dry skin?  I found coconut oil did the job way longer than the products I used to by for shoe care and protection.

10.  Butter alternative.  It is a different flavor, but I tell you what it makes my challah taste like Hawaiian rolls -- two of the best bread in one!

11.  Coffee flavoring.  This is especially great for those who take a morning dose of coconut oil medicinally.  It makes for a nice mock hazelnut flavor.

12.  Skin infection cream.  As said above, the oil is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-microbial.  Whether it is ring worm or an infected scrape, I give coconut oil a try in my mixtures.

13.  Raw food setter.  What I like about raw food recipes is the amount of nutrients you can consume.  Heat will kill a good deal of nutrition out of meal.  We're talking the difference between a chocolate cake being healthy or not.  I like to try raw desserts, it makes me feel okay about having dessert.  I have seen the trick to keeping the proper consistency in desserts, from cake to icing, brownie to fudge, is coconut oil.  Can you imagine throwing some raw cocoa, cold-pressed coconut oil, and agave syrup into your blender (maybe also some raw nuts or beerries) and then spreading it out on wax paper in the refridgerator and having your very own natural and raw choocolate bar?  Do you know how much you would save?  I just looked at a natural chocolate bar yesterday for almost $5...

14.  Carrier oil.  Coconut oil works well to carry and spread your essential oils (which are dry).  The good news as well is that most of the ailments for which you would use essential oil coconut oil can also be used.  Talk about double whammy on those aillments.

The list goes on.  It seems like every time I am stumped on how to fix, remove, or enhance something, and I try coconut oil for it, it doesn't disappoint.  This is especially true medicinally  -- I've heard of people using it to help balance hormones and neurotransmission in mental disorders, assist in cancer-fighting, tremors.  You know how some people use NyQuil or Robitussin for their cure all?  Mine is coconut oil.  If you have any other uses, please do share.