How to Make Dettol liquid at Home – Formula for Homemade Antiseptic or Disinfectant

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Dettol is found in every market in many countries of the world such as America, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, and many African countries including Nigeria.

Dettol is a general name for a household antiseptic disinfectant that has been in the world since 1936. Even though we have a lot of other products in the market; some of these products are not as reliable as we think, they are just being produced for the sake of money, without the proper concentration.

Imagine that you have a home with little children who are unable to take care of themselves and they play around the house, roll on the floor, the cushion and also touch things with their hands, as a result of this, they are indirectly picking germs on their feet, hands and on their clothes unknowingly. You might think you have been sweeping and mopping the house every now and then, so it won’t be any problem with the kids including you the adult.

Doing all of that is not just enough, as microorganisms are not something we should underrate since we are unable to see them with our naked eyes, they can even survive on the slightest temperature you least expected and cause harm to us. For you to be on the safer side, you need to disinfect your house always especially for the sake of the kids

There is no how you are going to list all the items in a first aid box without mentioning an antiseptic disinfectant (Dettol), no hospital without an antiseptic disinfectant, no school without an antiseptic disinfectant and a house is not yet a home without an antiseptic disinfectant. This is because the antiseptic disinfectant is usually needed to prevent an immediate infection from minor cuts, bruises, and insect stinks before the arrival of a doctor, which is what makes the product very important and useful in all aspects.

Dettol is a multi-purpose disinfectant like Izal, which is mostly used in our homes and in many industries for bathing, washing, cleaning of the kitchen counter and sink, cleaning of the wound, cleaning of household floors and so on. It can be made in the form of Dettol liquid, or Dettol soap or even Dettol lip balm. I will be showing you how to make Dettol liquid.

Dettol helps in killing bacteria and also provides protection against germs that cause infections and illnesses.

The best way to take care of our home the physical way is to always use an antiseptic disinfectant liquid to either spray on the cushion, mop our floors with it, clean our kitchen counters, tables, rinse kids clothes with it when doing laundry and drop few drops of antiseptic disinfectant liquid in our bathing water. When we do this, it will for sure go a long way to save the money we would have used to pay for the hospital bills for an infected child and in turn keep our family in good health and refreshed.

An antiseptic could be added to other products such as:

And even in skin jelly (Vaseline) products but with advice and guide from a specialist or cosmetologist

Since Dettol is just a tradename for a well-known Antiseptic Disinfectant Liquid you can even make your own as long as you are familiar with the ingredients used in manufacturing it, to keep you and your home healthy and refreshed at all time. For these reasons, we have listed down the main ingredients for making Dettol or Antiseptic disinfectant liquid with their uses and the recipe for making this. Take your time to read through, it will be of benefit to you.

Importance and Uses of Dettol

Dettol comes in different forms that you could use to suit the most purpose of protecting yourself and your family.

You could get the Dettol body cream, or Dettol hand wash for sanitizing the hands or the Dettol spray that you could spray within the room or any surfaces.

Uses of Dettol at home:

  1. You can add a small quantity of Dettol in a bucket of water for the washing of clothes and other linens. It helps to protect you from stubborn germs that are resistant to detergents. This is especially good in protecting your baby by using it to wash the baby’s wears, socks, and cleaning the bed.
  2. Dettol can be used for cleaning of surfaces. Children are prone to infections because they are yet developing a strong immunity to infections. This is the reason why mothers are advised to keep the child’s environment clean, especially in children that erupting their dentition (teeth). This is because the new tooth itches them and hence anything the pick on the ground, they will take it to the mouth. This can transmit infections and therefore, it is good the mother cleans the surroundings, the toys, the beds properly with a disinfectant or antiseptic in order to protect the child.
  3. For people suffering from diseases such as Tuberculosis (TB), or those that are prone to respiratory infections, then Dettol spray will be good to use within the room to help protect those around the person with TB or to kill the germs in the air that cause respiratory infections. Please note that it should not be used directly on the body.
  4. After moving out of the home, we often come in contact with various kinds of people with different infections; we do hug them, shake hands with them and through all these, we tend to pick up germs from them. It is therefore recommended that you wash your hands with antiseptics such as Dettol when you come back home. This can go along way to preventing the spread of diseases such as the Ebola outbreak that occurred in Nigeria in 2015.
  5. Dettol can also be used in the cleaning of the inner surfaces of cars, windows, doors, cupboards and any surface that we can come in contact with

Remember that you never get to see these germs but they exist and they have the ability to cause illness. Always protect yourself with Dettol and help others to know the importance of using it on a daily basis.

Dettol Ingredients and their uses in antiseptics making process

Some of the chemicals found in Dettol and their uses are:

  • Texapon: It is a surfactant or detergent that forms micelles which allow nonpolar substances like oils to be dissolved in water. It acts basically the same as many other liquid soaps that are formed from the saponification of various triglycerides.
  • Phenol: Phenol is an organic compound or solvent that contains the hydroxyl-OH group attached to the benzene ring. It is an aromatic compound classified as alcohol and it is colorless and has a sweet odor. Phenol is used in low concentration as a disinfectant in household Dettol and also in mouthwash. This is also called carbolic acid even though carbolic acid is liquid.
  • Chloroxylenol: This chemical is the antibacterial in Dettol which kills germs and reduces inflammation. Chloroxylenol is the main antiseptic ingredient in Dettol with the highest percentage of about 4.8 of the mixture that makes up Dettol; another percentage is gotten from pine oil, phenol, castor oil, isopropyl alcohol, and water. One has to be very careful when using it because it could cause mild skin irritation, such as rash, swelling of face, mouth, itchy throat or tongue, blisters, peeling of the skin, and difficulty in breathing and please seek medical attention if this occurs to you.
  • I.P.A (Isopropyl Alcohol): This is a colorless, flammable chemical compound with a strong odor, it contains an antiseptic effect, which gives Dettol the ability to kill bacteria, and fungi especially when used for wound cleansing.
  • Pine oil: Pine oil is gotten from a pine tree and is extracted from the cone, twigs, and needles of the pine tree. When the oil is diluted in water, it forms a cloudy liquid (this also happens when you use a drop of Dettol in water). Pine oil has an antiseptic and disinfectant substance and a pleasant odor.
  • Castor oil: This stabilizes the carbolic acid in the antiseptic solution and makes it not to revert to the solid-state.
  • Water: Water is used as a solvent.

Quantity of Ingredients needed for the production of 1 liter of disinfectant

I used a canned milk container for the measurements.

  • Texapon – you will need half (1/2) cup
  • Phenol – 1 cup
  • Chloroxylenol 1/2 cup
  • I.P.A (Isopropanol 1/2 liter
  • Pine oil 1/2 cup
  • Castor oil 1/2 cup
  • Colorant little or as desired.
  • Water 5 tins of milk cup.

Directions and Steps on how to produce Homemade Dettol Disinfectant Liquid

  • Step 1: Gently pour the texapon into a big empty bowl and dissolve the phenol in it
  • Step 2: Add the pine oil and stir properly
  • Step 3: Add chloroxylenol and stir also
  • Step 4: Add I.P.A (Isopropanol)
  • Step 5: Add the castor oil and stir properly
  • Step 5: Pour the water into the content and stir it very well
  • Step 6: Dissolve the color in water and add to it, mix it properly, and leave to settle for a while before packaging it. Note that the color should be added last.

To know if your Dettol is well formulated, it should be able to form a milky emulsion of oil droplet when it is diluted in water. Now your Dettol is ready for use at home or for sale.

This is a simple Do It Yourself (DIY) way of making Dettol for home use. Things such as branding and production in large quantities for commercial use will only be achieved when your company has been registered and the cost of setting up the company can be high.

However, this can help you reduce the cost of buying Dettol or disinfectants for family use rather than spending money to buy commercial disinfectants and antiseptics. The cost of buying a Dettol soap is about 150 naira, while the price of the liquid ranges from 350 naira to 550 naira or more depending on whether it is the small-sized bottle or the larger bottle.

Harmful effects

  1. Dettol is harmful to humans when swallowed and it could cause lethal toxicity and it is poisonous when intentionally inhale always read the label before using it.
  2. It is also toxic to many animals especially cats as a result of phenol content. Cats are unable to eliminate the toxins following ingestion; a cat may swallow the product by licking his paws after they have come in contact with it.
  3. Dettol can cause allergic reactions to the skin. It could cause acne on the skin, but this does not happen with everybody, only on some people. Most times, the reaction is a result of adding excess in bathing water.
  4. Always clean off with clean water after disinfecting your kitchen as the chemicals used in making Dettol disinfectant are poisonous to man when inhaled and it is not proper to come in contact with food items.
  5. Never use Dettol for washing of Plates or anything that requires swallowing

Some Facts about Production of Dettol with Castor oil

Castor oil/soap has excellent disinfectant and microbial properties because it contains ricinoleic acid which is useful in the treatment of cuts and open wounds. It treats fungal and bacterial skin infections, that is why it is added to Dettol. Castor oil should be more important for skin treatment than in insecticide.  
Castor oil has been known to be used for skin treatments such as:
  • Treatment of Acne (Pimples)
  • It makes the skin more elastic
  • It helps reduce pains
  • It promotes hair growth
  • Castor oil kills Fungal infections such as Athletes foot, Ringworms due to Undecylenic acid (a breakdown product of the ricinoleic fatty acid abundant in castor oil) 
  • It enhances the natural color of your hair Castor oil has many applications to the skin and the body.

7 thoughts on “How to Make Dettol liquid at Home – Formula for Homemade Antiseptic or Disinfectant

  1. I was made to understand Methanol should be used as solvent instead of Water but i can see from the above that Methanol was kept silent.

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