What's Inside - Shaving Cream
I'm a big fan of Wired magazine, so when I saw in their November issue this one-pager on shaving cream, it filled me with tears of joy. In What's Inside: Shaving Cream the Wired staffers list the entire ingredients of Edge Advanced Shaving Gel, Sensitive Skin with Aloe, from Palmitic acid to Blue #1, describing each as if it this were the answers to a high-school chemistry pop quiz. There's
Palmitic acid: This long-chain lipid is found in palm oil and animal fats. A major component in soapmaking, it helps create a thick, stable lather that enfolds follicles and holds them upright.
That sounds pretty cool.
Triethanolamine: A thickener and wetting agent, TEA allows water to flow more freely by reducing the surface tension that holds droplets together. It's also a precursor chemical for the blistering weapon nitrogen mustard gas.
Uh... what?
Sunflower oil monoglycerides: This plant oil has seemingly magical properties. Its fatty acids attach to a carbon backbone and keep the product in gel form. But rubbing the gel in your hands introduces air. Voilà: foam.
Nice. I like magic in my shaving cream.
Wired - you get an A+. Read the whole article here.
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Posted by Russell Neufeld at November 2, 2006 8:57 AM
For comparison, the ingredients of the aforementioned Mocha-Java shaving stick:
Ingredients: saponified 100% food grade coconut, palm, castor, & safflower oils, with kosher vegetable glycerin, soybean protein, aloe vera extract, and essential oils, including cocoa and arabica coffee essential oils.
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