Thread: Alum block turned moisturiser into superglue!

Just tried a moisturizer I haven't used for ages (Kiehls cream) after putting on a good rubbing of bloc alum. It immediately turned to a very thick pastey glue that left my face white (I'm talking Laurel and Hardy style custard pie white). It was really hard to wash it off, too.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

Luckily this occurred yesterday evening and I wasn't going anywhere, so only my gf had to witness me looking like a mime artist.

Uh ya interesting... On that note I often lather up my face and then wash it off with cold water, a habit I developed with Proraso that I now do regardless of menthol or not. One time I used my alum block first before that last pass and it made some pasty stuff all over my face. It was kinda gross and the brush had to be washed a few times. It wasn't really hard to get off my face, just some additional rubbing.

You should try mixing the stuff again and see if it would bond some objects. Could be a poor shaver's crazy glue.

I think that pastey white gunk/glue was a product of your constant faceturbation.

Originally Posted by poona

I think that pastey white gunk/glue was a product of your constant faceturbation.

Easy Graham, I've only got so many ribs! Hohum!

This has been known to happen with some moisturizers and no I don't know why.

Must be some kind of reaction with whatever the alum is made out of and something in the moisturizer. Good to know this can happen though, I always rinse my face off with water after using the alum block.

Yep, alum will mess up every kind of unguant, lather, soap or ointment known. Denaturises the lot of 'em. If you use it before putting on a thick, gloopy AS balm, it suddenly become thin and runny like water. With shave creams or lather it will completely soak up the soapiness. I've noticed the same effect with styptic. If I get a couple of blood spots during the shave, I'll apply the Pinaud liquid styptic. Stops the bleeding fine, but if you try to lather up over where you put the styptic, the lather just dies on your brush.

So does using the alum, then rinsing it off not negate the use of it?

Originally Posted by welshwarrior

So does using the alum, then rinsing it off not negate the use of it?

I'm not sure, I didn't think it was supposed to be left on I just thought it was an astringent that closes the pores and then could be just rinsed off.

So I did a little reading on this to figure out what alum was and found some info on the web that may help to explain what is going on here, at least I've developed a theory.

So alum is basically just a salt that has a bond with a bunch of water molecules, the block stuff is said to be either potassium aluminum sulfate or ammonium aluminum sulfate. It's generally in the form of a hydrate (bonded with water). Without the water it's just a white powder (the salt) .. so my guess is what is happening is somehow the moisturizer is reacting with the alum to de-hyrdate it and leave the salt behind. I'm sure it could be reduced to the salt again by other means also, like heating would probably boil off the water.

http://science.jrank.org/pages/5422/...m-Sulfate.html

Edit: Oops realized problem was the glue thing ... maybe the salt reacting with something in the moisturizer or the salt maybe just being sticky when partially dehydrated