# Alum **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 24, 1999, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673 "1999-04-24T05:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 1999, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/1 "1999-04-24T05:16:00Z")
Re:Alum I once read in a book that prostitutes in the old days (19th Century) sometimes used alum to…Um…put some “grab” in their vaginas. Anyone else heard about this or am I nuts? ( I realize that the two are not mutually exclusive 0 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 1999, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/2 "1999-04-24T14:26:00Z")
Your memory regarding nineteenth-century prostitutes is accurate. Alum was used as a tightening agent, not simply to add more ‘grab’, but also to simulate youth and virginity where these characteristics were absent. * * * Fragano Ledgister Last season’s fruit is eaten And the fullfed beast shall kick the empty pail ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 1999, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/3 "1999-05-01T22:59:00Z")
Ewwwww. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 1999, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/4 "1999-05-07T00:48:00Z")
I was reading that one of alum’s major uses in the past was for dying clothes. Alum treated cloth held its colors better. The Medici family of Florence helped build their fortune by controlling Italian sources of alum. When a large deposit was found near Volterra, the Medicis formented a war to conquer the city. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 1999, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/5 "1999-05-07T04:13:00Z")
[[The Medici family of Florence helped build their fortune by controlling Italian sources of alum. When a large deposit was found near Volterra, the Medicis formented a war to conquer the city.]] Hey, thanks for the info! That’s a great story, though I’m not discounting the possibility that you just completely made that up. Jill ---
**Author:** ![cdipierro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cdipierro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdipierro)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/6 "2000-02-10T22:45:00Z")
Hey, I didn’t see any mention of Alum’s use in shaving, as styptic. Its the best way to seal up a nick…a wee bit painful though. -clint ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2000, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/7 "2000-02-11T00:57:00Z")
The column being referenced is [What is alum, and will it make someone’s mouth shrink, like in the cartoons? (Apr-23-1999)](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/malum.html) ---
**Author:** ![thefireswamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@thefireswamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thefireswamp)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/8 "2000-02-19T09:54:00Z")
bought a new deodorant; potassium alum crystal. i’m curious about the actual chemical ingredients. i know alum can be sulfates of several metals. i just want to avoid aluminum even in a stable state. any idea if this is aluminum free or not? if not,are there any health concerns about using these crystal deodorants? it works like none other yet i want to be careful; after all, this is America, where it’s legal to market a product that may well endanger our health. please advise. * * * ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/9 "2000-02-20T06:43:00Z")
Fireswamp, let us know if it makes your armpits pucker, eh? ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/10 "2000-02-19T22:58:00Z")
[[after all, this is America, where it’s legal to market a product that may well endanger our health.]] Products are more thoroughly testing in the U.S. than in most other countries. I don’t think there is any evidence that the aluminum present in antiperspirants is dangerous to your health. You might try antibacterial soap instead? Jill ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/11 "2000-02-21T17:19:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Products are more thoroughly testing in the U.S. than in most other countries. Unless, of course, there’s enough political clout behind something for the worms we send to Congress to tie the FDA’s hands. _e.g.,_ the vitamin scam and so-called homeopathic “medicine”. * * * John W. Kennedy “Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.” – Charles Williams ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/12 "2000-02-26T00:17:00Z")
Cecil has made mention of the possible health risks of aluminum exposure. Basically comes down to, “Maybe, but we’re not sure.” Me, I’m still using aluminum-based antiperspirant. But I’m a daring kind of guy. Here’s the link: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/971219.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/971219.html) ---
**Author:** ![KimKatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@KimKatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimKatt)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/13 "2000-03-02T17:41:00Z")
You can check out this link for the “Alum War” story, and the whole history of Volterra, for that matter. [http://www.toscana-toskana.de/tuscany/volterra-history.htm](http://www.toscana-toskana.de/tuscany/volterra-history.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2000, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/14 "2000-03-09T01:26:00Z")
Wow! I was sure suprised to find a topic I started almost a year agao still active! * * * Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it. ---
**Author:** ![Wood\_Rehling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@Wood\_Rehling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wood_Rehling)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2000, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/15 "2000-04-02T18:32:00Z")
We used to put alum water on the marching band’s mouthpieces as a prank to make them pucker and only able to produce squawks. ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alum/1673/16 "2000-04-05T03:56:00Z")
The Perfumed Garden (as you probably know, a 16th century muslim book on sex), has an entry on alum too. [http://www.bibliomania.com/NonFiction/Nefzaoui/Garden/chap18.html](http://www.bibliomania.com/NonFiction/Nefzaoui/Garden/chap18.html) > [@](#): > > If a woman intends to contract her vagina, she has only to dissolve alum in water, and wash her > sexual parts with the solution, which may be made still more efficacious by the addition of a little > bark of the walnut tree, the latter substance being very astringent. > > Another remedy to be mentioned is the following, which is well known for its efficacy. Boil well in > water carobs (locusts), freed from their kernels. and bark of the pomegranate tree. The woman > takes a sits bath in the decoction thus obtained, which must be as hot as she can bear it; when the > bath gets cold, it must be warmed and used again, and this immersion is to be repeated several > times. The same result may be obtained by fumigating the vulva with cow-dung.