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Local pharmacist Darryl Segal has created a hand sanitizer, and now people are beating a path to his door.

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Richmond pharmacist creates hand sanitizer

By Don Fennell

Published 3:27 PDT, Mon April 13, 2020

Last Updated: 2:13 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021

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Richmond manufacturing pharmacist Darryl Segal is happy to be giving back. He just didn’t expect it to be on such a grand scale.

Two months ago, he was sitting at a traffic light at No. 4 and Blundell roads when he was inspired to make a now much-in-demand hand sanitizer.

“I had requests a few weeks before from my Hong Kong and Singapore distributors, who explained there was a shortage,” says the president of natural hair and skincare company Herbal Glo.

Initially, he turned down the call, preferring instead to focus on the company’s production of skin and hair care products. Then, Segal learned that local stores had also run out. And soon, it was all over the news.

While glancing at an unopened bottle of hand sanitizer, Segal realized the formula included alcohol and glycerin. That’s when he told himself, “Wow, I can make this” and set about making the dream a reality.

“I went back to my factory, straight to the laboratory, and started to work with my chemists,” he says. “We read everything we could to find out about hand sanitizers. We wanted to create something that was totally special and different.”

When his distributor in Hong Kong shared a document from the World Health Organization laying out the formula it recommended, Segal was ready for production.

“This formulation includes a very high level of 80 per cent alcohol,” he says. “It was felt that the 60 per cent alcohol that most hand sanitizers use might only kill bacteria, where the higher 80 per cent might kill viruses as well. So that is what we did. Why reinvent the wheel?”

Segal’s hand sanitizer also includes a secret proprietary moisturizing factor developed by his father—also a pharmacist—in South Africa. It is also included in the company’s other skincare products.

Segal is overwhelmed by the demand for the hand sanitizer. Just two months ago, he says, it was a product used perhaps once or twice a day. Today, amidst increased concern, more people are using hand sanitizer throughout the day.

Segal says such frequent use would dry out skin without the moisturizers his hand sanitizers feature including Aloe Vera, vitamin E and tea tree oil. The liquid spray is also instantly absorbed.

When he started on this journey, Segal intended only to make one or two hundred bottles for family and friends. But then customers also made requests and the demand soared.

“I recently attended a trade show in Vancouver—when you could still get together—and there were literally lineups at our booth,” he says. “I have never seen anything like this in the 35 years I have been in business. It is amazing how many people are using this hand sanitizer. We are also supplying doctors and nurses right on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19. And it is used in firehalls, hospitals, seniors homes and banks.”

Without a huge factory, keeping up with the demand has been challenging. There have also been issues such as cash flow and supplies to deal with. But Segal is determined to persevere. “Our staff have all stepped up to the plate,” he says. “People are really suffering right now. It is so hard to see every person on this planet so affected.”