Skin Nourishing Hand Purifier {With FREE Printable Labels & Video Tutorial!}

Confession: I’m a recovering germ-o-phobe.

Airplanes, shopping carts, and any place that had a bunch of kids in an unventilated area wigged me out. My bag and desk drawer were never without a bottle of Purell^® (or a fancier smelling version), and my hands were always clean.

Since my girls were born, I’ve chilled out a lot, and have made peace with most of the germs in my world.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, we NEED the “right” germs in our lives to stay healthy. Keeping things clean is smart, but the surge in popularity of antibacterial products – like hand soaps, kid toys, and overusing antibiotic medications – from people like the former me actually kills off the microbes that help strengthen the immune system. Antibacterial products may help to reduce some infections, but they can also promote the growth of drug-resistant organisms and weaken the good bacteria within us.

Not to mention the harmful chemicals that antibacterial hand soaps and sanitizers have in them – mainly triclosan and fragrance. Here’s my beef with those two ingredients:

Triclosan: a popular ingredient in many personal care products, it’s been linked to heart disease, heart failure, musculoskeletal dysfunction, and hormone disruption. (source)

Fragrance: While it’s listed ONLY ONCE on the label, the average fragrance product contains 14 chemicals that are not disclosed on the label. Fragrances commonly contain parabens, phthalates, and synthetic musks that may cause hormone disruption, reproductive problems, or possibly cancer. But it gets worse…the exact ingredients in synthetic fragrances are protected as “trade secrets” and therefore do not have to be disclosed on the label. (source)

Scary stuff!

In my quest to rid my family’s life of toxic chemicals, giving up the ability to “wash my hands” when there was no sink around was not an option. After a lot of trial and correction in the DIY department, I finally found a solution that purifies my hands, smells amazing, helps to support my family’s immune system, costs pennies on the dollar to make, and does not dry out my hands like the other alcohol-based versions. This last point is KEY in the winter months!

In this hand purifier recipe, the key ingredient is Thieves Essential Oil Blend. Now, this is not your ordinary essential oil. It’s a blend of cinnamon bark, rosemary, lemon, eucalyptus, and clove essential oils that has amazing cleansing properties and helps to support the immune system – something we can ALL use during the winter months, right? And, it smells so so so so SO good! The key to remember is that not all essential oils are created equal. Quality matters, my friends! This is the only brand of essential oils that I trust with my family’s wellness.

Side note: in my early days of essential oil dabbling, I was cheap and attempted to make my own version of Thieves blend with various off brands of the five oils used in Thieves. What happened? It stained my diffuser. Real Thieves does not do that. This made me question what is REALLY in other brands of essential oils (don’t trust the labels – know thy farmer – the end). Now I just stick with this company and have had no issues.

There are a handful of my favorite DIY recipes, and my friends – this one is at the top. We recently made it as one of the items at my holiday make & take workshops and it was a hit.

This non-toxic skin-nourishing hand purifier makes **the perfect** gift for the teachers, bus drivers, mail carriers, nurses, and anyone else who likes clean hands in your life. Make yourself some fancy labels (buy here and download my printable labels here) using FREE software, get some cute bottles (like these), and you’re in business!

And it’s a GREAT project for the kids to get involved in. Who says holiday gift-giving has to be expensive or stressful? Check out the video tutorial below to see just how easy it is! 

But wait, there’s more!

This easy recipe is SUPER economical – and refilling the 1-ounce bottle costs about $1.15. You’ll be hard-pressed to find any natural hand purifier that’s as effective as this one on the market that can come close to those savings. BOO-YAH!

And because this time of year can be uber hectic and designing your own labels can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back (I get it!), I’ve hit the “easy button” for you with these super cute and festive printable labels that fit the bottles and print off perfectly with these labels (buy them here).

Download the FREE printable labels here 

What are some of your favorite D-I-Y gifts to give during the holidays (or any time of year)? Please leave a comment below – I’m always looking for more inspiration!