Polysorbate Debate

Have you ever looked at the ingredients of a product and wondered what all of the things were? Well today you will get to know a little more about one of those ingredients, polysorbate-20, 40, 60 or 80.

In my quest to make an aftershave I had to find an emulsifier to use. For those of you that don't know what an emulsifier is, simply put it is a compound that allows for oil and water to mix, somewhat. If you look at soap making websites you will find all sorts of different emulsifiers to use in your products.

I wanted to find an emulsifier that I could make at home or already had around. I had some beeswax and had seen beeswax as an emulsifier, but it also needed Borax. So I tried that and it didn't work so well. What I was missing was the fact that this was normally used with an oil base and mine was water based. So I had to look at other options that I would have to buy.

I noticed that a lot of the products that I use everyday have some sort of polysorbate in them and polysorbate was also on a lot of websites for soap making. So I decided to do a little investigating.

First was to figure out which one of the polysorbates that I needed to use. As I looked around it seemed that the more complex the oils the larger the number you wanted. For example, olive oil would probably require polysorbate-80 where some lighter essential oils would only need polysorbate-20. I had already tried the beeswax, which would be more complex, and I had added olive oil. So I decided to use polysorbate-80.

As I did my research I came across a forum where someone had posted a concern about polysorbates and the byproducts of their production. Further comments showed that the concern had come from a book that was at least 17 years old, but I decided to investigate a little more. As I looked I found a study performed by the Japanese government.

http://www.fsc.go.jp/english/evaluationreports/foodadditive/polysorbate_report.pdf

Doing some reading I also found that a lot of food products even use different polysorbates. The fact that the document showed no health hazards in food, aside from the small amount of people that might be a little sensitive to it, was enough to convince me that it would be okay on the skin. Now I just have to wait and figure out what works best in my aftershave.

Sewing... It's a GIRL thing... or is it?

Most guys don't sew. Ever!

If you have ever heard of the "Man Card" you probably know why. Most guys just don't want to be called a sissy or gay, which has reached a new level of sensitivity in recent years. But there are many things that could be useful that have to be sewn or purchased. 

Aside from the stabs at ones manhood, cost could be a problem. Few people want to sew things with just a thread and needle, or even know how. So if you don't want to sew by hand you need a sewing machine and those get expensive! So, guys usually end up buying what they need or going without.

Fortunately for me my wife likes sewing and we have had the opportunity to get her a few nice machines. This has given me the opportunity to sew a few things, although my wife is better at it and still does most of the sewing.

Recently I made a little bag from an old shirt and paracord to hold some cedar shavings. It was easy to do and was an inexpensive way to fix a simple problem, musty smelling cabinets. The cabinets where we store our towels don't smell really bad but don't smell great either. So I decided to take some cedar chips left from another project and put them in a cloth pouch to make it smell better. Within half an hour I had a completely free way to make my cabinets and towels smell better. 

To all the guys out there afraid to sew, give it a try! My manhood isn't harmed and who knows what else guys can come up with that only a guy could love! 

Shaving.... It's serious!

If you haven't ever given much thought to shaving you should!

Most people don't know that there is a lot more to taking care of your face than washing and shaving. Washing your face makes sense to most people and they will discover what works best for their skin. Some people just shower and call it good. Others have to use certain products for their skin to not freak out, but most guys don't know that shaving makes a huge difference.

The majority of the shaving products that the common beginning shaver is exposed to is the disposable razor or electric razor. Both products pull the hair as it cuts and tend to irritate the skin. Manufacturers even recognize this and advertise that their product is smoother than their competitor's product and the best out there. Some electric shavers even advertise the pulling action as an advantage saying that it provides a closer shave. I have tried both options and was left wanting. Honestly I dreaded shaving!

My wife and I were at bath and body works for their after season sale looking at the soaps and candles when I looked at the more men oriented section. While looking I found a menthol smelling lotion and I liked the smell and wanted to see if their shaving cream was similar. The shaving cream wasn't menthol scented but seemed like it might smell good. I thought I would give it a try because I wasn't the biggest fan of the mass produced canned creams, gels and foams that I had tried. This opened my eyes to a whole new world!

I had to figure out how to use this new shaving cream and stumbled upon the world of straight razors and straight razor shaving. Now I actually enjoy shaving and I take my time instead of rushing through it. I am just starting to get into the world of straight shaving and have much to learn.

Currently I am using a Dovo Shavette Straight Razor with the disposable replacement blades. While this option has some ongoing expenses it is a relatively inexpensive way to get into straight shaving and see if I like it. I know that there are some avid shavers out there that would say it's not the same thing, and I am sure they are right, but it works for me. Besides, if I use two blades a week I still have enough blades to last almost two years and they cost me less than 10$. Four blades for my other razor, which might last 3-4 months at best, cost about 20-25$. Can you say RIP OFF! Not only did they cost more but they also irritated my skin more.

So for the cost of maybe 6-8 replacement blades I bought a new razor and blades that will last me as long as 24 blades would with my old expensive razor would. This means that for a quarter of the cost I get a better shave and supplies that will last longer. This has also lead me to look into making some shaving products myself, like aftershave, but that's another post.

Self Exploration

All of my life I have loved to tinker!

When I was 14-15 I used money I made painting houses with my uncles to build my own computer. I spent a few years tinkering with that until I left on an LDS mission. While on my mission I got the opportunity to learn to take my bike apart and maintaining it.

After I got home I soon bought a car and was able to learn more about how to take care of it. I had always wanted to learn more about them but in high school I drove a vehicle that was technically my parents. The most I did with it was replace the timing belt and tensioner that broke while I had it. Some people might think that is quite the undertaking but I wanted to learn more. However, before I got to work much on the car it was totaled when I was rear-ended sitting at a red light. Honestly it turned out to be a blessing but I haven't stopped tinkering with my car, my wife can attest to that.

While doing Air Force ROTC, college, and a 30-40 hour a week job I was getting burnt out and needed a hobby that I could use to unwind. I decided to get into leather working. That was interesting but short lived because it can get expensive really fast! I think that this is a hobby that I may come back to one day.

A new hobby came along due to changes at work. I was working at a call center and had just returned from a 6 week study abroad in China and I was not liking being on the phones so I applied for a job in the quality department. I had always done fairly well in my quality scores and so I got the job. As I learned the new job my mind naturally looked at things I could do to help and improve whatever I was doing. This gave me a creative outlet. Soon I was working more and more with Excel and analytics. I wound up in a position that would unknowingly set me up to keep on learning. I got to be the sole person creating reports and data collection systems to help pass on quality information to managers. This was part of the companies growing phases that would wind up making my position obsolete as the company grew and changed.

I was so interwoven into the system that in order to make the transition management needed to learn what functions I had been performing and assess what they wanted to keep and what to get rid of. During this process much of my daily tasks were halted, can you say boring! I began to look for ways that I could help in the company and got to meet some of the coolest people I have had the opportunity to know, work force management. The small team that was work force management was a tight knit team of smart people that had a lot to learn from.

I got to meet them a little and interacted with them more and more as I learned Access and helped out with tasks they were doing. Soon I was making tools to link different departments  using Access and learning VBA and Visual Basic. Which sparked my most recent interest, electronics.

I have had the opportunity to take apart some old electronics and tinker with different things  to make random projects. The most interesting has probably been my musical Christmas lights. I even did an Instructable on it.

My wife has been doing a bit of blogging for a while and it has got me interested in html, CSS, and javascript. So I decided that I would start a blog. The name of my blog is based upon some ideas thrown around for an aftershave that I have decided to make for myself, which I might sell. I have decided to use this site for my family mostly at first, but with the option to expand.