- April 24, 2024
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New product cleans off grease and oil without water.
Wayne Grant
News Editor
Deborah Anastos has invented a product she thinks has big potential and she’s currently working to get it off the ground.
It’s called Grease Blocker, and it’s an all-natural, nontoxic powder that she says removes and repels petroleum products without using water. She said it also keeps debris such as sand, fiberglass or hair clippings from sticking to the skin.
Formulation, packaging and labeling are all done in her Ormond-by-the-Sea home.
“That’s what I do sitting in front of the TV,” she said.
The design and marketing of the product comes naturally, as she’s the owner of Designs by Deb LLC, a graphic design and printing company.
She is using Facebook to publicize the product, but says in-person demonstrations work best.
“Selling the product is just a matter of education,” she said.
All she has to do is show people how it works, she said, and she has a demonstration video on the website, greaseblocker.com.
The video shows how a person with grease or oil on their skin simply rubs the powder on the area until the grease is absorbed, and then wipes it off with a clean cloth or paper towel. Once applied, it repels petroleum products.
A customer, Sabine Corinna Unger, who runs Eco-Wolf Inc., an aluminum recycler in Edgewater, said her employees use it in the shop.
“That product is fantastic,” she said. “You can even use it to take tar off from the beach.”
With motorcycle events coming up, Anastos sees this as a good time to get the product going. She’s reaching out to stores and bike shops to sell the product.
She said a person can work on a motorcycle on the side of the road, clean their hands without water, and put “their fancy gloves back on.”
She also sees it being used a barbecue at a beach or park to clean up the utensils.
Solving a problem
Grease Blocker actually grew out a successful product she had several years ago, now called Sand Blocker.
Sand Blocker was started in her home state of New Jersey. She saw that other people used baby powder to get sand off, but there was a problem: It would be white on the skin.
“You’re trying to be a golden goddess and you look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy,” she said.
So she set about formulating a product that would work. She experimented to find the right formulation of all-natural products.
“You could eat what’s in there,” she said.
The Sand Blocker became successful, and she was even featured on Fox News and CNN segments.
Now that she has relocated to Florida, she wants to get business started again, concentrating on Grease Blocker this fall and Sand Blocker next spring when beach season starts.
Global potential
She envisions her products for sale on cruise ships, hotels and gift shops. She sees the Grease Blocker as being a good product for motorcycle shops and NASCAR.
Anastos is excited about the potential of Grease Blocker being used on a wide scale to clean up oil spills, but she realizes more research would need to be done.
“I don’t know if working by myself I can take it to that level,” she said. “It’s about getting other people involved … a manufacturer who has a vision.”
For now, she just wants to spread the word about her product.
“I want to do something that really makes a difference, she said. “It’s a grassroots start with a global heart.”
Email [email protected], call 201-615-1662 or find Grease Blocker on Facebook.
