Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Who can you believe?!?

I have been reading a lot about different clays that are being used in soaps for beneficial skin treatments. I like the connection with soap and clay and I am experimenting with red and green clays, as well as kaolin and bentonite. Yesterday I made a batch with green clay, green tea, rosemary and lavender. I would have photos but my camera batteries died while I was setting up to shoot (of course).

Anyway, I have been looking around at websites that describe the benefits of red clay and I came across something interesting. All the websites praising their french red clay products say the very same thing:

"French Red Clay comes from hematite iron. The red color is the result of the copper oxides. It is rich in iron and other minerals. It is used as a strong drawing clay. This means it draws out toxins in the skin. It is used in medicinal preparations, soap making, and cosmetics as well as other preparations."

Since I am a potter, I know about oxides and I was curious about this description of the hematite and the copper oxide. It is my understanding that red iron oxide come from hematite, and copper oxide is usually a green, although I do have a red copper oxide, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to put it in soap it's so problematic, and isn't copper oxide toxic, would you want to use it as a body product? 
Is copper oxide in hematite, I can't find anywhere that says this.

This got me to wondering where everyone was getting their information and if it was indeed accurate, so I emailed several of these soap makers and suppliers. I got emails back from a few saying they didn't know, no one seems to know for sure.... isn't that reassuring. Since everyone is describing french red clay the exact same way, it leads me to believe there is some cut and paste going on from the supplier and does the supplier know what they are saying, or was it a misprint, or am I wrong and copper oxide is in hematite......

I am confused, can you really believe anything you read on the internet? and if not, who can you believe!?!?!?  and why don't these soap makers verify their ingredients?!?!?!

10 comments:

June Perry said...

Copper carb is the more toxic of the two.
I'm ready soap making books at night, when I'm not too tired. Last night I was reading up on Transparent Soap Making. Figure I'll get my supplies during the summer and research the basic how to's and try my hand at it in the fall.
PS: My friend sent me a picture of the special mug I made for him but it's not a good enough photo to post on my blog. But if you still want to see it (I think it was you who requested it), send me or post your email and I'll send it to you. If the mug looked as bad in person as the photo, I would have trashed it! LOL

Tracey Broome said...

Hi June, don't know about your library, but ours had a tremendous assortment of soap books. There are some easier ways to make soap if you are interested in the clear ones, craft supply stores have great supplies for melt and pour. I of course, am doing it the hard way, as usual.
Oh yeah, copper carb.... But still, if it has copper in it, would you want it in a soap? I wear gloves to use my copper oxides and carb....
I don't remember the mug but then I don't remember what I did yesterday, haha!

Dennis Allen said...

As for stuff on the internet, I only believe me and you and I don't believe myself most of the time.So much incorrect stuff just gets copied from one page to another and the most popular or best funded version pops up first in the search engines. On the other hand, I believe everything June says, even the fish stories with the obviously photoshopped salmon.

Lori Buff said...

So many lies and mistakes on the internet. If you need proof go spend some time looking in the discussion tab in wikipedia.

I think trace amounts of these minerals may not be harmful and the supplier may be thinking that this is a rinse off product anyway so not much exposure. Or they could just be dead wrong and don't care. Go with what you know.

cookingwithgas said...

No, my favorite was cobalt red.

June Perry said...

Too funnyDennis! You could have waited till I finished my breakfast tea before posting that. I almost spit out my tea but held back the laughter, then almost chocked. Couldn't risk drowning my cell phone!LOL

June Perry said...

Tracey, I bought one of those melt and pours at Michaels; but it wasn't what I meant to buy. I thought I was buying the pure oil!
I just ordered a couple of molds from Amazon, and picked up a couple of possibilities at the dollar store today. I'm not sure if I need a blender for this soap making but I got a great, newer, Oster blender for $3.50 at our local charity shop. I also ordered a bottle of coconut oil. Where do you buy your soap making materials? A couple of books I've already skimmed through had a lot of soures lists, but since you too a class, I figure your teacher has suggested the best resources and maybe a book or two.
Meantime, I bought a kindle version of a real beginner book and am reserving a few others from our local library. That will keep me busy in the evenings.

Tracey Broome said...

Dennis, my picture is under the word gullible in the dictionary, I believe everybody!
Lori, I think the thing that bugs me about this is how everyone in their descriptions just appear to cut and paste whatever they read on the label and never really understood what they were saying and then make claims about how beneficial these products are, but are they.....?

Tracey Broome said...

MH, yeah, cobalt red, I love that color blue :)

Tracey Broome said...

June you will be better off buying in bulk for the oils, although olive oil is in large containers at discount prices most places. I don't think you need a standing blender, a stick blender yes, most definitely. You will need to recognize what trace is with that blender though, it happens fast.
There are lots of places to get supplies and I think its a personal choice. Didn't really get any info from the class I took, just googled a lot. I didn't like the way I had to search on some sites, liked the descriptions of others, some didn't have everything I wanted....... first, you just need to know what recipe you want to try, the quantity your molds will hold, the scents you want, do you want botanicals, do you want fragrance oils or essential oils, do you want colorants.... what properties do you want in your soap.... then see who has what you want. There are lots and lots of suppliers, just google soap supplies.
Since I took my first class I have been reading books and making notes and surfing the internet almost every day. So much to learn, just like clay! But I don't really think I'm one to be giving advise, I don't really know what I'm doing, haha!

I will say the best tip I got from the class I took is this: Bookers bourbon boxes. If you have a liquor by the drink store, they will give you those boxes and they make perfect molds. I just went to the warehouse and the girl unpacked a case for me and gave me the boxes. Didn't have to buy those expensive molds!