Where you don’t want to leave a trace
Imagine the scene, a warm summers day sat in the beer garden of your favourite pub or bar and you go to take a nice refreshing sip of your drink when you see it….. A nice impression of someone else’s lips on the edge of the glass.
That feeling of horror when you realise you’ve already drunk half the contents of the glass and you aren’t wearing that particular shade of hot pink!
It’s a fact that due to the lower temperatures needed in glasswashing machines to protect glassware from damage, that not all modern lipstick, lip balm or even food grease marks will be removed using a standard cycle.
What’s in your Lippy
Different brands and manufacturers will use different formulations of lipstick but all of them will have some basic similarities. Lipsticks are made from a mixture of waxes, oils, pigments (either plant, mineral or synthetically derived) and fragrance. Some lipsticks may also contain ingredients such as capsaicin to make lips look fuller or plumped by causing mild irritation (in a similar way to licking your lips after eating a chilli pepper).
The problems with glassware occur because of the waxes used to manufacture lipsticks and lip balm, these are usually a form of natural beeswax or carnauba, which have melting points up to 86ºC (Much higher than the wash and rinse temperatures of glasswashing machines which are 55ºC for washing and 65ºC for rinsing). A good quality glass washing detergent will help to remove these marks but sometimes even these detergents are not able to cope with modern-day anti-smudge formulas.
Food greases from nuts, butters/spreads, meat and fried food can also be hard to remove depending on where it comes from.
Click the image for more information or to order this product
Quash grease marks on glassware
There are a few ways people remove these marks from the glasses both before and after glasswashing.
A dry or damp cloth wiped around the rim – This is not advised as the cloth will transfer small bits of lint as well as residues from laundry detergents and fabric softeners onto the surface of the glass. These will change the taste and flavour profile of many drinks and in beer glasses will cause major issues with head retention and lacing.
A slice of lemon – This can be effective but it can cause other issues during glasswashing as its acidic nature can neutralise some of the glass washing detergent around the rim of the glass causing a lower level of cleaning, stain removal and sometimes poor results in taste and presentation.
Quash – This is a patented system by The Proton Group and available to order direct from Proton Direct‘s online store, which combines a pH neutral lipstick and wax & grease removal solution and a special sponge applicator that can be used for any size or style of glass.