Make homemade cool packs out of everyday dish soap

Regardless of whether it is summer or winter, you should always have at least one cool pack at home. The small blue cushions can help you whether it's warm or cold; whether you have stomach pain or the threat of a mean swelling somewhere. But did you know that you can make your own cool packs using some very ordinary household items? So, in case you don't have any lying around or you'd like to save a bit of money here and there, this is really quite a neat trick.

You'll need:

  • Tight, sealable freezer bag(s)
  • 1 cup dish soap
  • 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol

Here's how:

It's really quite simple: you just mix the two liquids together and pour the mix into a sealable freezer bag.

YouTube/CrazyRussianHacker

You can either use dish soap with the rubbing alcohol, or a different mixture, replacing the dish soap with water.

YouTube/CrazyRussianHacker

The bag should be filled 3/4 full and when you close it, try to squeeze out as much air as possible.

YouTube/CrazyRussianHacker

Just to be on the safe side, you should put the freezer bag inside a second one and seal that. This is in case any seeps out. Lay the bag flat in a freezer drawer. If you put it standing up, the mixture forms massive chunks.

YouTube/CrazyRussianHacker

The two liquids will never freeze into a solid block, but always stay soft and malleable. If you ever want to defrost the bag, you can reuse the liquid to clean dishes, but this only works if you used dish soap to make the cool pack originally, and not water.

YouTube/CrazyRussianHacker

You can also watch the instructions in this video:

A nice side effect of these homemade cool packs is that they stay cold for even longer periods than the conventional ones. Just make sure you never lay a cool pack directly on the skin as this could cause serious frostbite. It's always best to place a towel between your skin and the pack. Your homemade cool packs can also incidentally be used repeatedly and they are just as flexible as their purchased equivalents and adapt to body shapes. 

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