If you’re both a mom of beach-loving kiddos and also married to a clean freak, the summer season can be stressful. How do you let the kids play and be free and not spend the rest of your time cleaning sand out of absolutely everything? Easy, leave it at the beach! Here’s the super-secret beach lifehack that actually works. It’s one simple ingredient; it’s cheap; it’s basically magic. Introducing: baby powder!
Step 1: Acquire Baby Powder
Purchase your one-and-only ingredient for this beach lifehack at just about any grocery store, or dig through the bathroom cupboards to find the one bottle you have from forever ago because it came with a newborn gift set. You don’t need a ton unless you’re going to the beach on a daily basis or you have a whole bunch of people to de-sand.
Step 2: Get Sandy
It’s going to happen the second you step out of the car whether you’re ready or not. Like Valkyries on the wind, those little particles of sand hunt out even the hardest to reach crevices. Embrace the grain. Know that it will all come off at the end and let the kiddos run in the water, bury themselves, and dig moats around their castles.
Step 3: Dry Off and Get Ready to Leave
The water to baby powder ratio is directly proportionate. The more water you have on you, the more baby powder you’ll need to use to remove the sand. So to avoid having to dump an entire bottle of powder on yourself, its best to at least towel off fairly well.
Step 4: Apply Baby Powder and Rejoice
This is the moment the magic happens. You sit on the edge of your open car door, brush off that sandy foot to no avail, sprinkle the magic baby powder on it, and hope for the best. Almost immediately, you’ll notice your foot is suddenly a lot smoother as if all the water is completely gone. When you run your hand over your foot, all the sand just falls off onto the ground. No rubbing individual particles stick between toe print grooves. Now round up the kids and sprinkle their toes with the magic dust too!
Serious Health Note
On a serious note, recent studies have shown that breathing baby powder particles can be particularly damaging to young lungs, and isn’t good for anyone of any age. Since the powder is so light, it’s pretty much impossible to use it without getting it in the air. In order to prevent the baby powder cloud from hitting anyone, this is best done at the car, with your back to the wind, and no one in front of you. This way, with all your family behind you, the wind will push the airborne powder away from you and your family. If that perfect scenario doesn’t exist, you can also minimize airborne particles by gently dumping powder into your hand or onto your foot instead of vigorously shaking it out of the bottle.
So, beach-going mamas married to clean freaks, you can enjoy the summer and still keep the car and house (mostly) free of piles of sand thanks to your sweet beach lifehack. As for kids who put sand in their pockets and bring it home…good luck, and stay strong.
Photo Credits: Eastern Sky Photography NC
