My son was having a terrible time remembering not to touch his face, or chew his fingernails.
I got a little peppermint flavoring from the kitchen. Totally safe for consumption, and mixed it with some handcream that is mostly aloe and cocoabutter. I mixed in just a little isopropyl alcohol, so it’s sanitizing. He puts it on his hands after he washes them. If he starts to put a nail in his mouth, the taste reminds him not to, and if he touches his face, there is a very mild tingling that reminds him not to. He’s pretty much stopped after three days of using it.
Called his doctor just to double-check that it was safe, and he said it was not only safe, it was fairly clever.
Also, cut his nails very short, so, less of a temptation to chew them. Yes, he’s old enough to cut his own nails, but he hasn’t been, and this didn’t seem like the time for lectures.
There was the story from a few days ago about a bored engineer who hobbled something together where he attached a sensor to his wrists that would make a noise when it was near a magnet. Then he put the magnet in?up?around? his nose, similar to how magnetic earrings would be used.
He lost two magnets up his nose, and then using two more magnets to try and fish the first set out and lost those magnets.
When he got home from the hospital he decided he should probably find something else to do with his time.
Overall this sounds like a good idea; but AIUI mixes need to be at least 60% alcohol to be sanitizing.
If it’s used it right after washing hands, however, I doubt that it matters; proper handwashing is supposed to work better than sanitizers in any case.
I don’t know what’s in your peppermint flavouring, but peppermint oil is only “mostly safe”, in quantity it’s a poison.
The interesting technical question is about the effect of the isopropyl alcohol. It’s a skin penetration enhancer and may facilitate the transdermal absorption of xenobiotics like peppermint oil
I use peppermint oil in icing (for cakes), and it was a traditional tooth-ache remedy
Whether or not they protect healthy people, I wear a mask when out in public because it keeps my hands off my nose and mouth and simultaneously reminds me not to touch my eyes.
I realize this doesn’t necessarily apply to the OP, whose solution is great.
I wear disposable gloves when out in public and I realize they could still pick up the virus and spread it to somewhere else on my clothes or face, but they make me very conscious of where I touch so I immediately stop rubbing my nose, eyes, mouth, etc.
An Australian scientist who was trying to invent an alarm to remind you not to touch your face had to go to the hospital to get magnets out of his nose.
It’s food-grade peppermint flavoring, for candy and cookies, not “essential oil” that you use for things like candle-making. Swallowing a bottle of essential oil would be very bad for you, but you could down several bottles of food-grade flavoring, and they might make you queasy, but there is no warning for the poison control center on the bottle. At any rate, I used 1/4 tsp. to 1/2 c. alcohol, and 1/4 c. aloe. I also put in a little powdered guar to thicken it. Worked great. Had the agitate to for several minutes to get it to mix, but it’s been a few days, and has not separated.
