covid-19

JAVA is Proud to be Doing Our Part

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The following story is taken from ecoRI News

Distilleries Make Hand Sanitizer to Fight COVID-19D

By GRACE KELLY/ecoRI News staff

Providence-based Industrious Spirit Company is making and giving away for free hand sanitizer. (ISCO)
Providence-based Industrious Spirit Company is making and giving away for free hand sanitizer. (ISCO)

People talk about making lemonade out of lemons in the dourest of times. But for distilleries in Rhode Island — and across the country — the analogy of making lemonade out of lemons means making hand sanitizer out of ethanol.

“We hadn’t really even fully opened yet, we had been in the friends and family soft-opening phase,” said Manya Rubinstein, CEO of the Industrious Spirit Company (ISCO) on Sims Street in Providence. “We were set to open at the end of April, but we postponed that, and like everyone else, we were trying to figure out what we could do to help in the meantime.”

Then, they realized that the answer was sitting in their still.

“We’re the first distillery in Providence since prohibition, and we’re making everything from scratch on site, so we’re able to produce high-proof ethanol,” Rubinstein said.

High-proof ethanol is a key ingredient in hand sanitizer, which has been hard to get your hands on during the coronavirus pandemic. So, in addition to making their liquor, ISCO is also making hand sanitizer.

“What we’ve been doing is using a byproduct of our process; the first alcohol that comes off the still isn’t good for drinking but is a really good cleanser and good for making hand sanitizer,” Rubinstein said. “As soon as all this started happening it became clear that there was a real need.”

She noted that in the future, ISCO will partner with East Providence specialty chemical producers Reade Advanced Materials to produce the next round of sanitizer.

“We’re talking to local agencies to see if we can scale up our production, not necessarily just using a byproduct, and produce more sanitizer because the need is so great.”

The public can head over to ISCO, 1 Sims St., and drive up to its #WishWeCouldWindow between 1 and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday to pick up a free bottle of hand sanitizer to cleanse hands — and perhaps buy a bottle of vodka to cleanse minds (the business asks that you prepay via its website in advance).

“It’s absolutely not required to purchase vodka; we’re very happy to just give sanitizer to people, but some people have bought vodka and they’ve been saying its cleansing for their insides,” Rubinstein said with a laugh.

Sons of Liberty, a South Kingstown distillery that makes bourbon, whiskey, and hard lemonade, among other alcoholic beverages, also answered the call for hand sanitizer.

“It’s been a whirlwind, so I don’t remember the exact ‘Aha!’ moment,” said Bryan Ricard, the company’s marketing director. “But I just remember thinking, ‘Hey, why don’t we make hand sanitizer?’ The basic formula set forth by the World Health Organization, something like 84 percent of the volume is ethanol, so it’s like OK we have the number-one ingredient, it just makes sense.”

The distillery teamed up with Java Skin Care to offer bottled hand sanitizer to the public in a drive-thru operation at the Peace Dale Elementary School in Wakefield on March 23. The partners hope to host another such sale in the near future.

In the meantime, they have created an online form that local businesses can use to order gallon jugs of hand sanitizer.

John Hopkins Medicine has noted that experts agree that the best method for cleaning hands is washing for at least 20 seconds with soap and water.

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JAVA’s Hand Sanitizer Collab

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We are very proud to tell you of our partnership with our local friends Sons of Liberty Distillery. Together, we are creating an immediate supply of Hand Sanitizer for customers to fight COVID-19.

R.I. Monthly Magazine has written a terrific article on our Partnership.

The back story: Mike and his team at Sons of Liberty started their journey a bunch of years ago as a distillery and have become one of New England’s up and coming companies. More recently, they launched their spirits line and beers.

One of the side products of distilling alcohol is ethanol. Mike and I talked about ethanol being a great sanitizer. Apparently we are right: one of the World Health Organization’s recommended hand sanitizer ingredients is ethanol.

Now, you know about our love for artisan and craft businesses so, we immediately jumped on the opportunity to work together. The result: a giveaway event of 2,000 bottles for local residents and the launch of a new product line to help you keep hands moisturized during these challenging times.

Remember that hand washing dries out skin, and more than average hand washing and/or with harsher solutions definitely dries out hands. Add Hand Serum to your products to soothe your now-clean skin to maintain it health, because clean dry skin is not good long term protection.

JAVA Labs Update:

Keep an eye on your email next week.  

We will be launching a brand new
Hand Sanitizer to help you fight
COVID-19 and protect your
family and loved ones.

4-3-20 MC JAVA Hand Sanitizer Production

Dry Hands from all the Hand Washing?

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JAVA Skin Care is here to help.

With the emphasis that has been placed on hand washing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we would like to provide some important points on the dos and don’ts of caring for our skin.

“Hand washes with antibacterial ingredients as well as alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be especially harsh and drying on your skin,” Shari Marchbein M.D., dermatologist and clinical assistant professor of dermatology at NYU School of Medicine, told Self Magazine.

Plus, you don’t really need to use those types of soaps to get rid of germs—the friction created by the mechanical act of washing of your hands as well as the surfactant cleaning ingredients in the soaps is what actually removes the microbes from your hands.

Although our understanding of how the new coronavirus spreads and how to protect ourselves from it is still developing, regularly washing your hands with soap and water (especially before touching your face and before/after eating) is one of a few tried-and-true public health strategies the CDC is recommending right now to prevent the spread of this particular virus.

So, yes, that does mean that actually washing your hands correctly—for at least 20 seconds—is absolutely necessary.

Our JAVA Body Wash is great for everyday use. It is aloe based with green coffee and argan oil. It offers a gentle but thorough Clean and is also Moisturizing. We have it On Sale now on our website, so you can have one at each sink in your home or business.

Hand washing with water and soap cleans and protects from virus germs and bacteria

We also have our AWESOME Body Serum which is perfect for moisturizing dry hands. The Serum is On Sale too.

Body Serum in our original Bottles

Be sure to LIKE and Follow our blog – we will continue to address ways to stay safe, healthy and keep your skin feeling awesome through this trying time.