More random stuff.

Found this picture as part of a skin-care product advertisement. If you can't read it, the caption says "Intensive research & development". The intensive research & development involves pouring a blue liquid from a beaker to a measuring cylinder. Wow, I feel really pro, I use even more sophisticated equipment, like burette and pipette, than the people doing intensive research & development. And I also know how to use a measuring cylinder properly! Why is he staring at the beaker? He should place the measuring cylinder on the table and look at the desired mark at eye level. But I do agree that doing so would make him look a lot less pro to the untrained eye.

My sister also found this pamphlet for a brand of soap (A-Yuan) that is supposedly made famous in Taiwan even without official advertising. I'll leave you to judge its merits from the pamphlet.

'Handmade Soap Q&A

1. Can handmade soap be used to wash the face?

"A‑Yuan Soap" does not contain chemical properties. It cleanses and moisturises completely, you can definitely wash your face with it!

2. Why does some handmade soap leave a stinging sensation on the skin after wash?

This is because of the citrus tangerine ingredient. It has the effect of killing bacteria and cleaning. It can also remove the dirt on your skin. Please put your mind at ease.

3. How do we preserve handmade soap?

Handmade soap contains lots of glycerine and moisturising fats that is not yet saponified, thus place the soap in a cool and dry place at all times so that the moisturising properties in the soap can be kept fresh. To extend the life of the soap, keep the soap dry after use and do not soak it in water.

4. What are those white specks on Taiwan Soap?

Those are the crystals formed when the essential oil meets the cold air. In overseas, the purity of natural properties in handmade soap is judged by the crystallisation.

5. Soap and shower cream, which is better for the skin?

Soap is better, but it depends on which one. Reason: Shower cream is a complete composition of chemical properties with coupling active agent as the key ingredient. It is said to contain moisturising cream or vitamins, but to maintain these nutrients in the liquid, preservatives, anti‑oxidants and bactericides must be added to preserve it for as long as three years. On top of that, in order to give the consumers that "moisturising smoothness*, ingredients like phenyl trimethicone (dimethicone fails under this category) is added. Hence after washing off the shower cream, if you still feel the smoothness, you have better be careful. The cheap bars of natural soap sold in the market have had the glycerine removed so they are only useful for cleaning.

6. Shower cream is more convenient than soap.

Most people use shower cream for the convenience it brings; nonetheless, being convenient does not mean it is healthy. Profit is the ultimate goal from this convenience which is created to stimulate production, thereafter profits will start rolling in. To the manufacturers, the importance of gains outweighs the health of the consumers. Therefore, although the invention of shower cream brings convenience to the consumers and profits to the manufacturers in what seems to be a win‑win situation, the consumers are always at the losing end!'

I'm sure you will have no problems finding its logical flaws. But some non-logical flaws:

A stinging sensation is a mild form of pain. Pain is an indication that you are taking damage and losing HP. There are other bactericides that do not leave a stinging sensation, which means that they are better than citrus tangerine as an additive.

"Purity can be judged by crystallization" does not mean that things that produce crystals are pure; the crystals that are produced need to have a constant melting point for the crystals that are produced to be considered pure. Even if the crystals that are produced by a soap is pure, it does not imply that the soap is pure. In fact, soaps should not be pure. Natural soap is a mixture of saponified oil, glycerine, unsaponified oil and water. Pure saponified oil makes the skin dry, and the rest of those do not have any cleaning effect.

Preservatives added to soap are in concentrations that are too low to cause any harm. Preservatives and antioxidants prevent bacteria from growing on the soap and oil from turning rancid. Rancid oils and bacteria that grow on soap can cause rashes or infection, creating worse problems than can possibly be created by preservatives. Anti-oxidants are usually good for skin.

Technically, you cannot say that the facts given in the pamphlet are wrong, but the way they are presented is very misleading. If they have to use these pamphlets to persuade people to buy their soap, I'm skeptical of its effectiveness in doing whatever it is supposed to do.