Whats the hell is in the crap I used to use?

andyjreid

andyjreid

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Ok, firstly I'd like to say that I don't know where this post should really be as it's about a Gel but I thought cream was closer to gel than soap is.

I was clearing out some cabinets and I found some old King Of Shaves Kinexium gel which I used to use. This one here.

211D6BhXi-L._SL160_AA160_.jpg


According to the packaging, this gel has "Micro Magnetically Enhanced" (MME) particles which "help the gel stick to the blade throughout the shave"

So I was sitting looking at this bottle wondering, "what the hell was I putting on my face?!?"

Here is a list of Ingredients,

Aqua (Water), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe vera) leaf Juice, Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl betaine, Coco-glucoside, Glycereth-26, Acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, PTFE, Eucalyptus Globulus leaf oil, Mentha Viridis (Spearmint) leaf oil, Cinnamomum Camphora (Camphor) bark oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) seed oil, Menthol, Tocopheryl acetate, Castoryl maleate, Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, Lecithin, Benzophenone-3, Ethylhexlglycerin, Polyacrylamide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Limonene, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, Polyaminopropyl biguanide, Phenoxyethanol, Dehydroacetic acid, Benzoic acid, CI 77499 (Iron Oxides).

Apart from the obvious ones, what the hell is all this shit?
 
I'm no chemist (HENK!!!) but it seems to me the only ferrous item on that list is the last one: rust, added as a colour.

Magnetic? Well, as I said I'm no scientist (my specialist field is theology) but that seems to be bollocks.
 
Yea Ollie, "bollocks" is a word that I have adapted to describe many mass market shaving products. FYI the gell is actually a black colour.

Not being a chemist my guess is that most of the ingredients either cool the skin, make the product smell, and form the consistancy of the product.
 
andyjreid said:
=Here is a list of Ingredients,

Aqua (Water), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe vera) leaf Juice, Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl betaine, Coco-glucoside, Glycereth-26, Acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, PTFE, Eucalyptus Globulus leaf oil, Mentha Viridis (Spearmint) leaf oil, Cinnamomum Camphora (Camphor) bark oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) seed oil, Menthol, Tocopheryl acetate, Castoryl maleate, Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, Lecithin, Benzophenone-3, Ethylhexlglycerin, Polyacrylamide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Limonene, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, Polyaminopropyl biguanide, Phenoxyethanol, Dehydroacetic acid, Benzoic acid, CI 77499 (Iron Oxides).

Apart from the obvious ones, what the hell is all this shit?
Click to expand...

Well, first of all, there's no 'magnetic' stuff in there. The only ingredient that comes even remotely close is CI 77499 (iron oxides), which is a cosmetic pigment (aka rust, Fe3O4, or magnetite); subject to conditions this can be a brown to blackish pigment. While Fe3O4 may be magnetic, it is extremely unlikely that this would impart any 'magnetic' properties to this gel. Seeing that it is last in the list, the concentration will be minimal; plus the particles are so small that they will not move through the gel under any magnetic influence. They may stick you your blade (although I don't even know whether blades are magnetic), but that is all.

For the rest it is an aqueous gel (water, acrylates/C10-C30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, polyacrylamide, sodium hydroxide) with fragrance, surfactants (coco glucoside, cocamidopropyl betaine, glycereth-26), emollients and humectants (glycerin, ptfe, castoryl maleate, lecithin, ethylhexylglycerin) and some stardust, preservatives and such.
 
well if your after those kind of properties in a shaving gel may i suggest a shaving oil from Halfords

Castrol Magnatec i think it's called :lol:
 
hando said:
well if your after those kind of properties in a shaving gel may i suggest a shaving oil from Halfords

Castrol Magnatec i think it's called :lol:
Click to expand...

Reminded me of this

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMoy8XXp7TI[/youtube]
 
The claim is repeated here:http://www.shave.com/know-how/top-shaving-tips/?tab=product-range-explained

So I sent this (below) via here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.shave.com/contact-us/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.shave.com/contact-us/</a><!-- m -->


Hi,

The packaging on your Kinexium gel says it contains Micro-Magnetically Enhanced (MME) magnetic particles in the gel that stick to the blade – thus providing you with an additional layer or protection and lubrication between the skin and the blade.

Is that really true? I can't see anything ferrous in the ingredients except some iron oxide for colouring. While Fe3O4 may be magnetic, it is extremely unlikely that this would impart any 'magnetic' properties to this gel. Seeing that it is last in the list, the concentration will be minimal; plus the particles are so small that they will not move through the gel under any magnetic influence. Also, the oxide would have to be "enhanced" in some way to meet your claims. Finally, given that blades are generally coated steel their magnetic availability must be reduced.

So: does Kinexium gel contain Micro-Magnetically Enhanced (MME) magnetic particles? And what wold they be, exactly?
 
I wonder is anyone in the marketing department actually thought about this logically?

You really wouldn't want any magnetically charged particles in a shaving product attracted to the razor's blade(s) as they would be as easy to remove as iron filings from a proper magnet. :roll:
 
I don't mind King of Shaves, some of the products are not bad, but my gosh they go overboard with their perplexing marketing language!

Why would you want your gel to stick to the blade and would that not clog the blade and prevent it from touching skin? How are you supposed to shave then?!
 
I tried King of Shaves once when I was cartridge shaving, mainly because I could carry it on a plane at that time because it was not an aerosol. It was OK compared to canned foam but I never used when I got back either, am sure it is lying at the back of a drawer somewhere.

Since then I discovered shave sticks and travel brushes and would not leave home without them.
 
OK, here's the KoS reply:

Hello Oliver,

The Iron Oxide is the magnetic material and it is in the formulation for that reason. The Iron Oxide does make the product black, but that is not by design, but just due to the nature of the cosmetic grade iron oxide we can buy (the marketing guys would no doubt have preferred a blue or green gel).

We magnetise (enhance) the iron oxide before it is blended into the formulation. The formulation derives its viscosity from a polymer, this polymer also provides the suspension system that keeps the iron oxide dispersed throughout the gel (otherwise it would sink to the bottom). As the iron oxide is suspended in the gel it is always surrounded by gel. So where there is iron oxide there is gel and vice versa.

Although razor blades are indeed coated these coatings are extremely thin and do not appear to overtly affect the way magnetic particles are attracted to the iron content in the steel. During the shave a micro thin layer of shave gel exists between the blade and skin, due in part to the adhesion of the gel to the skin, in part due to adhesion of the gel to the steel. We used the magnetised iron oxide to further enhance the adhesion of the gel to the blades. In this way we have two extremely thin layers of gel, one on the skin and one on the blade to help reduce the drag of the blade on the skin.

Have you used the product, do you like it?

Kindest regards, Andy Hill


How can I tell him I shave with dead animal hair and fat and a 60 year old razor? Err . . . .
 
As expected, semi-scientific drivel. True information, conjecture, and blatant hand-waving carefully woven into star-dust marketing speak.

I'd like to see any actual measurements that show differences in gel-to-blade adhesion behaviour of this vs. normal gel ;-)
 
I will happily post out globs of this to anyone who wants to try/inspect it.

I was gonna throw it out but it turns out that SWMBO has been using it for her legs even though I suggested she should use palmolive stick instead ;) :lol:

P.S. Im surprised they didnt tell you that the gel will stick to any blade but it works best with the Azor........... Have you tried out Azor yet?

Well yes I have and it made me feel like a monkey holding a fork.
 
Ah, Mr King even has a patent for it (British patent from 2005, GB 2414484). In it, he claims that the magnetic particles serve to keep a microscopic layer of gel on the blade after rinsing, thereby preventing corrosion between shaves (no claims as to effects during shaving are made). No proof of any of this is offered. Since gels are water based, and iron oxide is not passivating (iron does not stop oxidizing under a coat of rust, unlike aluminium, which is protected from oxidation under a closed layer of aluminium oxide), this sound like a load of crap to me... But patents do not HAVE to prove their claims, until challenged.
 
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