3 day Open House May 7-9, 2009

The team at Rocky Mountain Soap in Victoria would like to invite our valued customers to a three day open house promotion: Free Gifts, Fantastic Discounts, a chance to try New Products in development and give feedback... exclusive and just for you, our way of saying thank you.

With the purchase $50 or more - 10% off
With the purchase $100 or more - 20% off
With the purchase $150 or more - 30% off

Free gift for you and your guests:
Customers in the rewards program/point system will receive a free gift (value $14) at the event. Friends who sign up to the rewards program will also receive a free gift. Bring your friends!

We will have refreshments, an opportunity to make your own Sugar Scrub, and a chance to discuss why natural matters to all of us.

May 7th (Thur) 9:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
May 8th (Fri) 9:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
May 9th (Sat) 9:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

These offers are available at the Victoria store only. Check here for updates.

Thank you for your continued support of Rocky Mountain Soap!

Kindly,

Victoria Store Team

Located at Mayfair Shopping Centre: (t) 250.382.7070.

Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB)

Today I got a flyer from a local well known grocery store advertising how they now had natural and earth friendly products. I was intrigued and so I checked to see if there were any personal care products. They listed one company with Natural Shampoo, Conditioner or Soap. This was good, natural is going mainstream. I checked the website of the manufacturer and looked up the ingredients. They said that their shampoo was a:NEW AND IMPROVED FORMULA - 99.9% Naturalthen they listed the ingredients and for the second listed, I was surprised to find:
COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE (FROM PLANT SOURCE)But, this is not a natural product at all. So, how they can claim the 99.9% natural moniker, I have no idea. More greenwashing at best, purposefully misleading at worse. Oh sure it is made from coconut oil which is natural, but they neglect to tell you what they do to the coconut oil.

To make cocamidopropyl betaine one reacts coconut oil with 3-dimethylaminoproplylamine (DMAPA) producing cocamidopropyl dimethylamine, which is then allowed to react with sodium monochloroacetate to get CAPB (cocamidopropyl betaine). CAPB can still contain varyng amounts of the initial reactants and intermediate chemicals, including amidoamine a known allergen. Natural? You decide.

CAPB is an obvious contributor to contact dermatitis and thus in addition to the fact that it is not natural, should be avoided if one is looking for natural products, in my opinion.

References:

Foti C, Bonamonte D, Mascolo G, Corcelli A, Lobasso S, Rigano L, Angelini G. The role of 3-dimethylaminopropylamine and amidoamine in contact allergy to cocamidopropylbetaine. Contact Dermatitis. 2003 Apr;48(4):194-8. PMID 12786723

Fowler JF Jr, Zug KM, Taylor JS, Storrs FJ, Sherertz EA, Sasseville DA, Rietschel RL, Pratt MD, Mathias CG, Marks JG, Maibach HI, Fransway AF, Deleo VA, Belsito DV. Allergy to cocamidopropyl betaine and amidoamine in North America. Dermatitis. 2004 Mar;15(1):5-6. PMID 15573641