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Cheap alum bars from Indian grocers.

Chad

Chad

... had his first - 15/8/20
Has anyone used alum bars from their local Indian grocers instead of the overpriced bars we buy from shaving shops?

Packs of two small bars for $3. They are blocks but looks like the surface could be a bit rough. They would smooth out with use I assume.

Don't know why I left empty handed with that price tag.
 
Anyone thought about the safety of using alum? A quick google yielded this:

Link

However, the primary concern with alum is long-term exposure to low levels of the chemical. Aluminum, from your diet or healthcare product, can cause degeneration of nervous system tissue.

It is possible that exposure to aluminum could lead to an increased risk of certain cancers, brain plaques or Alzheimer's Disease.

Alum from natural sources may contain impurities, including toxic metals such as chromium. Because the chemical composition of natural alum is variable, it's best to avoid its use when there is a chance of ingesting the mineral or getting it into the bloodstream.
 
Lego said:
Anyone thought about the safety of using alum? A quick google yielded this:

Link

However, the primary concern with alum is long-term exposure to low levels of the chemical. Aluminum, from your diet or healthcare product, can cause degeneration of nervous system tissue.

It is possible that exposure to aluminum could lead to an increased risk of certain cancers, brain plaques or Alzheimer's Disease.

Alum from natural sources may contain impurities, including toxic metals such as chromium. Because the chemical composition of natural alum is variable, it's best to avoid its use when there is a chance of ingesting the mineral or getting it into the bloodstream.
Click to expand...

First part
"However, the primary concern with alum is long-term exposure to low levels of the chemical. Aluminum, from your diet or healthcare product, can cause degeneration of nervous system tissue.

It is possible that exposure to aluminum could lead to an increased risk of certain cancers, brain plaques or Alzheimer's Disease."

Pure aluminum (metal) and inorganic aluminum from ore, alunite etc are in no way linked to any health issues.

There are concerns about organo-aluminum compounds - and although no 100% direct link has been established, they are not used in medicine just in case.

Now you could argue, that if you cook on very high flame in an aluminum pot with both fats and acids under high pressure and scratch your pot MAYBE trace amounts of organo-aluminium compounds might somehow be formed and then somehow enter your digestive track. Many many maybes and ifs in that but again maybe theoretically possible.

In now way can the alum from your block or from your deodorant be transformed in such a way...very pseudo-scientific quote.

Second Part
"Alum from natural sources may contain impurities, including toxic metals such as chromium. Because the chemical composition of natural alum is variable, it's best to avoid its use when there is a chance of ingesting the mineral or getting it into the bloodstream."

This could be said about everything - including the table salt you use - again very pseudo-scientific.

Alum today is typically produced on an industrial scale and the chances of other toxic metals being present is not really given. I would think the industrial production is way cheaper than the mining and purification processes that used to be in place...
 
Wouldn't get in a car if I played that safe.
Think I'll grab a pack and give them a try. Probably formed blocks but some of the cheaper shavings ones are too anyway.
 
Don't get the twist alum blocks.
The water eventually dissolves the internal threads, and they fall out, shattering, going everywhere.
 
Yes, I bought heaps last time I was in Malaysia and they were less than $1 each in AUD terms. Most of the time here they are $3 now.

Nothing wrong with them. A bit rough as others have mentioned but a little wet'n'dry fixes that.
 
Monsta_AU said:
Yes, I bought heaps last time I was in Malaysia and they were less than $1 each in AUD terms. Most of the time here they are $3 now.

Nothing wrong with them. A bit rough as others have mentioned but a little wet'n'dry fixes that.
Click to expand...
Holy hell, goes deep and dedicated for the tool box and uses a piece of wet & dry. Which by the way, is great :ROFLMAO:
You could just wet it and then use the towel next to you to smooth it out.
 
I've wondering where to buy locally, in such a small place like TAS, for avoiding the extra of shaving companies (it is for deodorant use)
any thoughts?
 
Alum dissolves in water. In the process it forms ions and could theoretically pass through the skin via osmosis as per any other dissolved salt (when wet). That would explain the tightness / dry feeling it induces on the skin. Al3+ is still a pretty big molecule though so probably not the biggest risk out there. I would love to avoid the alum in my anti perspirant if I could find a replacement that worked. But I have that much pit hair that it hardly touches the skin anyway - the ladies have more to worry about there - together with some weak evidence for higher concentrations of Al in some types of breast cancer near the armpit. As usual not enough evidence to be definitive but enough to make me wonder...

I don’t use alum on my face because it irritates and doesn’t help.
 
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