So a good friend of my wife has started work in a suburban shopping centre massage and chinese acupressure place.
Mrs Smurf went on a visit to see her, (and being dragged along mostly as a chauffuer) I saw an Ad in the store for an “Ion Cleanse” treatment. I’ve heard people talk about this a bit lately.
I am naturally sceptical of a lot of “new age” therapies, and I can’t bring myself to buy the whole “expelling toxins” story. After one of these treatments however the tub of water is indeed full of some sort of crap. But what is it and where does it come from?
This is the story from one website (which I personally think sounds like a bunch of hokey nonsense)
Does anyone know the straight dope on this treatment? I know this friend well enough to know it is not straight-out fakery but what is it?
Here is a link to a webpage which “fully explains” the techinque.
And even if it wasn’t complete bunk, they’re basically claiming that the slightly basic pH of seawater (about 7.5-8.5 apparently) transfers hydroxide through the skin, at which point it is dispersed throughout the body. This is so much crap I need a shovel. You don’t have to be a biochemist (and I’m not) to be able to realize it’s a scam.
You’d be better off just drinking a solution of baking soda. Much cheaper and burping is always fun, plus it will be just as effective. Or if you insisted on soaking your feet in a slightly-basic solution you can still do it for about 70 cents a box (I think that’s what I paid for my last box of Arm and Hammer baking soda.)
And, in any case, blood is naturally slightly basic. If your blood pH is acidic (which is below about 7.35), you’ve got other problems and should be seeing a doctor anyway.
I realise the whole thing is bunkum, and after reading that website on the link, which I only looked up this morning before posting I was even more :dubious: about the process. After all apparently this littel doohickey is capable of nuclear fission - it seperates a hydrogen atom out of the water making HO molecules right :eek:
My problem now is my wife and mother in law have signed up for a session of this thing :rolleyes: Now it’s ‘only’ costing them 15 bucks or something so if it’s not hurting them and they have a good time, we can call it an entertainment expense right It cost about the same as a movie.
Even better value: they pay the $15, and have a good time, and are entertained. And you get to laugh about how gullible they are, without paying anything*. So 2 people are entertained for the same $15.
*If you are too open about laughing at them about this, you may indeed pay the price. But it won’t be a financial price.
Well, no. Water, of course, is capable of self-ionizing to H3O+ and OH-, though the pH remains at 7 in pure water. Nuclear fission, by definition, requires that an atom of one element is split into two atoms of lighter elements. We’re discussing acid-base chemistry here. Or did I just get whooshed?
When I saw this my immediate reaction was “Looky, they’ve come up with a new way to separate the gullible from their money!” My only question is - what turns the water black? After all, that’s the ‘proof’ that this snake oil is working. Also, after you have been completely “de-toxified”, the water no longer changes color. Does anyone know the mechanism behind this?
Not completely whooshed Asterion The website was trying to sound scientific and technical with their “losing a hydrogen atom”, and “ions flows” so I was just making fun of their claims, I thought it sort of sounded like they were describing a nuclear reation in the foot pond :eek:
Oh and Rhubarb, yeah that is what I was hoping someone might know. What is all that crap that accumulates in the water? I know the friend of ours who works there quite well, well enough that I can confidently say she wouldn’t be a party to it if it was a complete fraud, like the little “ioniser” bit they actually stick in the tub is secretly filled with grease and crud before each seassion and slow releases it into the water or something.
Maybe it gives the skin a good acid bath, and it is all dirt and skin oils or something?
One possible test is to run the thing for the recommended 30 minutes by itself, without putting any feet into the water. Does the same kind of crap accumulate in the water, when there is no body to be ‘cleansed’?
(That’s a common test for ‘ear candling’ – light the ear candle and let it burn without being inserted into any ear. Afterwards, you will see the cone has accumulated the same kind of debris that it supposedly pulls from an ear, but without being in any ear.)
Oh god you had to mention ear candling didn’t you. :rolleyes: (Sorry my wife is hmmm, being nice, uhm very gulli… nope, uhm happily believes a lot of this stuff and I believe I heard the term ear candling as another ‘treatment’ she was thinking about getting done.
Off to see what that involves now as well. For some reason I keep imaging someone walking around with a light candle stuck in each ear
Terrific, thanks Otara great link. That’s exactly the sort of info I was looking for. How do these people get away with this stuff? Although I guess Snake Oil has been sold for probably thousands of years, what’s going to stop them now. There were probably Ancient Mesopotamians selling the latest new breakthrough miracle cure!
I guess it goes to show how strong a placebo effect can be, because I’ve heard one or two people absolutely swear by this thing.
(Now the far more important question for my health and safety, do i risk sending this link to my wife )
The “cleanse toxins from your body” come-on also is behind the current Kinoki foot pad scam. Gosh, I can’t imagine how a pad in contact with my feet could ever wind up dirty-looking.
My Labrador retriever had minor ear surgery and has had to wear a silly-looking bandage wrap around her head for days and weeks at a time. It gets really scuzzy and discolored - must be the toxins expelled from her body. :rolleyes:
The fascination with “toxins” also extends to the “colon cleanse” craze.
It cost about the same as a movie.
The website was trying to sound scientific and technical with their “losing a hydrogen atom”, and “ions flows” so I was just making fun of their claims, I thought it sort of sounded like they were describing a nuclear reation in the foot pond :eek: 