This Inglewood program is making free hand sanitizer from aftershave

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program in Inglewood is switching gears, from making aftershave to making hand sanitizer.

Founder, Dr. Bill Releford said the program's mission is to combat cardiovascular disease in African American communities, but recently he's seeing a different need due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"I decided to retool our program to include this as another problem that African Americans may suffer from disproportionately," Releford said.

Releford said they've begun repurposing the bump blocker and aftershave that they regularly manufacture to make the hand sanitizer and pass it out to the community. And now with requirements to wear masks while out in public, they've also started donating those as well.

"We gave out over 750 face masks to our seniors at the Inglewood Senior Citizens Center," Releford said. "And we gave over 200 hand sanitizers to those workers who actually had to deliver the lunches to those seniors."

Releford said their hand sanitizer includes natural ingredients, which you might find at home, like witch hazel, tea tree and peppermint oil.

"We retool the ingredients in our aftershave and our bump locker which is 80 to 90 percent alcohol, and we repurpose that to use for hand sanitizer," Releford said.

Human services superintendent at the Inglewood senior center, Thomas Uwal, said this act of goodness came at the perfect time.

"It's a really, really challenging time right now," Uwal said. "So, anything we can do for our seniors and children, those are the most vulnerable part of our society. That's always a blessing."

"Not only does the government have a role, but organizations like the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program, we can play our role in join hands and see if we can decrease the impact of this pandemic on vulnerable populations," Releford said.

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