----- Original Message ---- From: JoAnn ka7suz@concentric.net >>>Our professional conservators tell us >From the page first cited (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gbonner/misc/shavingcream.html): "Misleading/erroneous comment: "Our professional conservators tell us it is definitely not a good idea to use shaving cream on porous gravestones..." Source: Association for Gravestone Studies Why it is misleading/erroneous: This is logical fallacy known as appeal to false authority. Do any of these "professional conservators" have names? Of course not. The fact of the matter is that the hoaxers rely on you believing that these "professional conservators" exist. If you ask for some names, then you will be met with another of the hoaxsters tactics...the goose chase. Why not just list the conservators' names with the comments supposedly attributed to them? Because it's a hoax." >>>Indeed, even with vigorous scrubbing and lots of rinsing, the cream fills in the pores of a porous stone and cannot all be removed. Where is the evidence that backs up this assertion? Water is just about the smallest molecule in the known universe. How in the world could any constituent of shaving cream (except the water itself) get into a place where a much SMALLER molecule cannot? It defies logic. Why would you look to AGS as the last word on the issue? Nobody affiliated therewith has any professional expertise in chemical weathering that I can find. Every time I ask for someone of that group to offer evidence to support their claims, it turns out it is nothing more than the opinion of a weed-puller somewhere. They are surely fine for graveyard preservation and cleaning of stones, but when it comes to chemical weathering they are simply out of their area of expertise, and are no more authoritative on the subject than the man on the street. Esther S.