Friday, April 14, 2006

Interesting shower reading

Whilst soaking under a hot shower this morning, I happened to read the ingredient list on my body wash and my face wash. It read like a very long, hard to pronounce shopping list.

Body Wash: Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Bataine, Glycol Stearate, Propylene Glycol (and) Sambucus Nigra Flower Extract (and) Primula Veris Extract (and) Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Extract (and)Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) extractVanilla PLanifolia Fruit Extract, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hydroxypropyl Guar Hydroxypropyl Trimonium Chloride, Isostearamidopropyl Morpholine Lactate, Hyroxopropyl Methylcellulose, DMDM Hydantoin, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance, Yellow 5, Yellow 6.

I bet your eyes glazed over once you reached 'water' eh? Well, here we go again.

Face Wash: Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl, Betaine, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate Cocamide Dea, Glycol Distearate (and) Sodium Laureth Sulfate (haven't they already mentioned this one???) (and) Cocamide Mea (and)Laureth-10, Polyquarternium 7, Fragrance, Methychloroisothiazolinone (Is this one of the longest words in the world?) (and) Methylisothiazolinone, Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride.

Makes me have second thoughts about using such concoctions...

6 comments:

Mouse said...

Makes you wonder what all those things actually are... (Well, except for the water!)

Anonymous said...

Sodium Lauryl (Laureth) Sulphate is a foaming agent. That's about all I know. Oh, and sodium chloride is salt.

Anonymous said...

Ah, this brings back memories from my biochemistry days! Those were the days. . .mixing strange chemicals to see what colour they'd become, watching mixtures foam up and overflow and dissolve the tables, watching beakers emit huge clouds of violet corrosive smoke as everybody ran away screaming in agony. . .the memories, the memories. . .

Sodium Laureth Sulfate -- detergent and foam-maker, long carbon-chain molecule with an oxygen thrown in and a sulphur with four oxygens on the end

Cocamidopropyl Bataine -- another long carbon chain, it's used as a detergent and thickener, has amphoteric properties (so it won't irritate your skin)

Glycol Stearate -- a type of fatty acid, yet another long carbon chain molecule, works as an emulsifier and emollient

Propylene Glycol -- C3H8O2, works as a moisturiser or antifreeze, and also makes nice smoke in smoke machines

Sambucus Nigra Flower Extract -- elderberry plant

Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Extract -- chamomile plant

Retinyl Palmitate -- Vitamin A

Tocopheryl Acetate -- Vitamin E

Hyroxopropyl Methylcellulose -- hydrophilic nonionic cellulose ether polymer

Citric Acid -- weak acid and a preservative, also good for cleaning out piping when you don't want to work with nitric acid

Disodium EDTA -- ah, my old friend ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid! Used as a chelating agent to temporarily bond with dangerous or unstable chemicals to make them more easy to handle or inactivate them. In your soap, though, it's probably a preservative or used to neutralise alkaline earth metals in the water.

Sodium Chloride -- table salt, yum yum

Methychloroisothiazolinone -- antibiotic/antifugal agent

Methylisothiazolinone -- antibiotic/antifugal agent

Nettie said...

Acci, you are a gold mine of information, did you know that?

Anonymous said...

I am here to please, Nettie. Especially to please good lookin' young women. . .

Nettie said...

I wouldn't let Smerk hear that Acci, or you may find yourself sleeping on the couch come May!