Considering the effects of shaving cream on tombstones...do you really need an explanation from someone who has his Ph.D. in organic chemistry, and wrote a large section in his doctoral dissertation on the interaction of carboxylic acids (like stearic acid and the emollients in shaving cream) and other small organic molecules and surface solids, such as one might find on tombstones...and who studied geology under Dr. Michael Engel, perhaps the world's foremost organic acid geochemist? Okay, you asked for it: It is a hoax. The "shaving cream harms tombstones" hoax is the *same* hoax as the "ban DHMO" hoax. You can read about the "ban DHMO" hoax here: http://www.dhmo.org/ Here is what www.snopes.com (the popular online mythbusting site) says about the DHMO hoax (in part): "That said, this example does aptly demonstrate the kind of fallacious reasoning that's thrust at us every day under the guise of "important information": how with a little effort, even the most innocuous of substances can be made to sound like a dangerous threat to human life." Change "human life" to "tombstones", and you have a very concise description of the "ban shaving cream hoax. Gloria made this claim: "When you use shaving cream, the water in the tiny cracks doesn't completely evaporate (dry), because the emollients from the cream prevent it (that's what emollients are for!)." Unfortunately, like many claims in the world of genealogy, it is just that, a claim. Moreover, it is a claim in error. Samples of tombstone materials which had been slathered in shaving cream, rinsed, and then analyzed by HPLC and GC/MS have shown that no emollient/acid residue remains, and therefore, it couldn't be having any effect at the surface (it can't do anything if it is not there). Gloria also wrote: "The small amounts of fatty acids also tend to form a crust over the moisture in the cracks, further preventing evaporation." ...which is another claim that is refuted directly by the scientific analysis. All the surface analyses show there is NO RESIDUE, and every shaving cream constituent has ALREADY been certified non-residual by the formulation chemists at EcoSafe and elsewhere. This hoax is perpetuated only because people believe the claims made without doing ANY investigation into whether the claims made are true or not. Even a cursory investigation into the claims made will reveal that the claims are not just false, but demonstrably so. Please take a look at the "Ban DHMO" hoax site, and then look again at the shaving cream "information" and you will see that it is the same hoax. That is why both have spurious links to MSDS pages, both punctuate their material with fear-engendering terms (like acid rain), both include spurious links to authoritative-sounding places, etc. The ban shaving cream hoax was built on ban DHMO template, only substituting "tombstone" for "human life" and "shaving cream" for "DHMO". Brock Way "Gloria" <gjs11054@cox.net> wrote: First, forget about shaving cream. Using it is equivalent, in my book, to ripping the pages out of public phone books. You got what you wanted, and to .... with anyone else! Will shaving cream hurt the stone? No, Nature will hurt the stone. The shaving cream will just make it easier for Nature to do the job. Do you really need a technical explanation, for example from a chemist who minored in geology? O.K., you asked for it. Have you ever seen a rock cliff without rock chip debris at the bottom of it? I seriously doubt it. Breaking loose chips from the surface of rocks happens because water gets into all the cracks and expands or contracts with temperature. Eventually it breaks off chips. This happens just as easily, only the chips are tiny, with a gravestone. When you use shaving cream, the water in the tiny cracks doesn't completely evaporate (dry), because the emollients from the cream prevent it (that's what emollients are for!). The small amounts of fatty acids also ten! d to form a crust over the moisture in the cracks, further preventing evaporation. So the moisture is trapped there, dutifully expanding and contracting (or worst of all, freezing!) and breaking off tiny chips until the carvings have been blurred hopelessly. Was that a "C", "O", "Q", or "G" ? We'll never know. Can't you rinse the cream all off? No, because it's in the cracks! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com