“Big Cleaning” with Pomelo-Leaf before Chinese New Year

One of our Chinese New Year traditions is, to clean our bodies and hair with pomelo-leaf (碌柚葉)! The best day to do the cleaning (not only body and hair, also the household furniture and utilities) is usually the 28th day of the last month before Chinese New Year, i.e. 11 Feb 2010 according to the Christian calendar in this year.

It is believed that pomelo-leaf is able to wash away the dirt, to cast away the evil spirits and to get ready for the brand new year!

Incidentally, just the right timing to see a half-page announcement of a “Pomelo Leaf Body Wash” in one of the local newspapers on 10 February which is the last fourth day before Chinese new year!

This half-page announcement mentions about the “Utility Patent” and “Trade Mark” in both China and Hong Kong. They started to apply for the patent in 2003 and successfully got it in 2005.  

While reading between lines, there is a hidden story of the Lee’s family for three generations. This family is given a name as “The King of Pomelo for three generations” (三代柚王) whom claims to conduct research and development on pomelo-leaf for a few decades. They have successfully added a particular element “flavonoids” (類黃酮) which is refined from pomelo-leaf into their product toiletries (including body wash, shampoo and facial wash).

This announcement serves to remind the public that there is only one brand of “pomelo-leaf” as well as to declare that this is now a legal case for any infringement.

Apart from using their specific products, I plan to buy some original pomelo-leaf (usually a few bunches for 10 Hong Kong Dollars) from the market for my body-cleaning tonight! I believe no one from the vegetable stalls will care about the “utility patent”, “trade mark” of the fresh pomelo-leaf.

Hope everyone has a brand new year of Tiger!

P.S. For those who want to check it out, the announced patent is CN03146856.X.