Hand sanitizer that smells worse than burnt tires!

[LeftInTX]

Or nasty pesticides or a dumpster fire!

Sanzi Derm Hand Sanitizer



https://www.amazon.com/Sanzi-Derm-Antiseptic-Moisturizing-Sanitizer/dp/B08952W91M

This hand sanitizer STINKS! It smells rancid! I purchased a bottle at my local Kroger and the smell will literally make you gag! It does not have a alcohol smell at all!

Note the One Star rating. I can't even post a review on Amazon because of all the problems with it.


I bought this at Walgreens yesterday. I almost freaked out when I put it on my hands today. The smell was horrendous. I ran to the bathroom and washed it off. This stuff is probably counterfeit and it smells very unsanitary.

All I can think of it taking it to the pharmacist at Walgreens.

This brand is not one of the brands being recalled. Looks like it is made in NY

[TexasTowelie]

1. I've read to stay away from any sanitizer containing aloe vera because of the odor issues.

Aloe vera is great to use on minor burns, cuts, and abrasions; however, I don't consider it as a sanitizer.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

14. I doubt that's the problem. I made my own hand sanitizer...

... with aloe gel and isopropyl alcohol a few months ago, following a "recipe" found online, and the odor has remained the same... it still smells like rubbing alcohol.

Filled a big-sized soap dispenser with it and haven't come close to using it all yet.

[mr_lebowski]

2. Wait, why would anybody counterfeit 'Sanzi Derm'?

It's not exactly Gucci, know what I'm sayin?

It's probably just really cheap (or expired) Aloe Vera gel ... even in the best of cases it's not great smelling stuff.

[targetpractice]

4. Some products contain methanol vs. ispopropyl alcohol...

I know that I was unwise, but I bought "90% isopropyl alcohol" from a bodega, and I literally wretched when I opened it. It definitely was not isopropyl alcohol... Chemicals have distinct odors... That's probably the only thing I retained from taking Organic Chemistry in college... that and how to efficiently rinse Erlenmeyer flasks.

Upon edit: Methanol (wood alcohol) is very toxic.

[mr_lebowski]

5. Lol yeah that's about what I remember from O Chem too ...

And I got an 'A' in the class ... the smell of most fruits are 'esters', and ... well ... that's mostly it.

Methanol is not really 'very' toxic. It's toxic in high enough concentrations or volumes. Potassium Cyanide is 'very toxic'

Does methanol smell worse than burnt tires? Not sure I've ever smelt it.

[targetpractice]

7. I don't know what methanol actually smells like...

... The product I bought had a sickly organic smell... Not the clearly identifiable, unique smell of isopropyl alcohol.

Although it may have been "rubbing alcohol" which is isopropyl plus some other stuff. It was made in Mexico, and the only listed ingredient was 90 percent isopropyl alcohol.

Good God... My life is boring right now. Thanks for reading.

[backroadblast]

10. Garbage Vodka

Boring can be good too!
i got a jug of "sanitizer" that smelled like old potatoes vodka. it was so bad, the old lady had to dump it down the drain.

[thecrow]

11. The stuff with methanol was being made in Mexico

I wouldn't use it! It's toxic!
Be careful and stay safe!

[live love laugh]

13. Sanitizer I bought recently smelled like lighter fluid. nt

[hunter]

15. Washing flasks with benzene was still allowed, but discouraged when I took o-chem.

Mostly we used acetone.

My idiot lab partner would come to class stoned and he once lit my books on fire cleaning up with acetone while a burner was on nearby. He should have been thrown out of class but he was the TA's connection.

At the end of the term he stole the glassware in our shared locker and the university billed me for it because they couldn't find him.

I'm seeing a lot of hand sanitizers with ethanol in them. Maybe it's industrial ethanol "denatured" with something that makes it undrinkable.

[targetpractice]

16. Hah... Sorry about your lab partner...

Ethanol is ethanol... IF there is something else in the product then it's no longer pure ethanol.

The rinse technique I learned was with cold water only... just three short swishes does the job... When washing dishes I used to fill up a bottle or glass and dump it out multiple times until there were no soap bubbles... But, I learned that a little water swished three times did the trick completely.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. We Used IPA As A Drying Agent

After washing using RO water. If we used a glassware washer, it would just be soft water.
And this wasn't in college labs. There we just used tap water & acetone.
I worked in a lab for 22 of the 42 years I was working.
We used acetone too, but usually IPA.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. No US Made Products Use Methanol

It's a violation of EPA & FDA regulations.
This doesn't mean fines. Somebody gets hurt because they use it, someone at the manufacturer is going to jail.
I've been to 4 plants that make these products.
Those companies wouldn't want a truck of methanol to drive past the plant, let alone use the product.
They even changed the kind of denatured alcohol to eliminate all methanol from the formula. The regs made them do that.
IPA based products are FAR less toxic than the products from Mexico using methanol.

[LeftInTX]

8. LOL - I meant, they just threw a bunch of junk in a bottle and called it hand sanitizer

I later read that it could be a denaturing chemical, but these had no whiff of an alcohol in the product. It sure has heck didn't smell "clean". It smelled rotten and dirty....like it was the total opposite of sanitary....

[RicROC]

3. yeah but, it keeps away the mosquitos

[marble falls]

12. But it draws fruit flies.

[thecrow]

6. On a positive note

I guess the smell would keep you from touching your face...
and other people wouldn’t want to come near you.

Always look on the bright side, I say!!!
I hope you got your money back!

***********
Edited to add-

San(s) - without
Zi - the
Derm - skin

Yeah I’d stay away from that !! 😆

[LeftInTX]

9. I'm afraid it could be full pathogens

A person has gotta eat now and then.

Regular hand sanitizer evaporates. If this stuff if full of Staphylococcus, E Colli etc, it would defeat the purpose!

[ProfessorGAC]

21. How Would That Happen?

What pathogens survive 70% alcohol?
It can't smell because of microbes. They won't survive.
It's kind of the point of a sanitizer.

[LeftInTX]

24. I kinda don't think there was any alcohol in it

[ProfessorGAC]

25. New?

Or because the cap was left off?
If it's called a hand sanitizer, by law it has to meet FDA & EPA registration standards. There are no formulas with under 60% ethanol or isopropanol in the registry, and if it's not listed, it can't be called a sanitizer.
What's required is: it must meet the standard for active agents, have no other ingredients listed in TSCA, and have all that ingredients listed on the label, plus the active antimicrobial %.
If they don't meet those it's a violation of the administrative law.
And, these violations aren't slap in the wrist violations.
People can go to jail, be liable to civil action, and likely be career ending.
Unless somebody left the bottle top off for a long time, no hand sanitizer is antimicrobial free.
Besides, it's rotten business. Who would buy a hand sanitizer that doesn't actually work?

[Kali]

17. a couple of weeks ago I grabbed a bottle

of citrus spray hand sanitizer at the Trader Joe's checkout. it smells EXACTLY like the bottom of a margarita after the last ice melts. kind of a stale, but not unpleasant margarita aroma. but STRONG. it dissipates fast but it made me LOL and force everybody in the house to guess the smell.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. See My Reply, Right Below Your Post

What you describe fits perfectly with the cause.

[Kali]

23. helps give it that slight agave authenticity

[ProfessorGAC]

18. It's Tertiary Butyl Alcohol

The alcohol they use is called SDA40B. It's still denatured, but zero methanol as there is in SDA3A.
The t-butanol has a musty, moldy smell. That's on purpose, because they want that 95% alcohol to be unpalatable.
That material is also emetic. Drink it and you'll vomit it back out.
The other denaturant is denatonium saccharide. It's the most bitter substance known. Makes it taste awful.
Combine those 2, and SDA40B is not a no-tax alternative to drinking ethanol.
Many hand sanitizers have this smell, but a lot use a fragrance that helps moderate it.
This brand may be using no added fragrance, so you smell the TBA.
There's nothing wrong with it, and TBA evaporates. The odor will dissipate.