@ OP ReflectiveAuto:
RE:"Zymol Premier Car Wash Review"
First of all, I must say...
Your thread, that reviews this particular Zymol product, has been pleasantly treated,
with respectful opinions/comments by many AGO members.
Congratulations on that achievement!
Soap/Detergents/Shampoos?
Over the millennia, the human-race has gone from rendering/saponification(?)
of various animal fats (including human---think sacrifices)
for soap-making---for a perceived/demanded communal degree of cleanliness…
To today's "modern-renditions" (usually meaning synthetic/more toxic) of soaps/detergents/shampoos---syngents.
[And, it seems, that marketing (in varied forms) has played a significant role]
[Note: I will never be able to remove the memories of those halcyonian, yet malodorous, days
helping Grandma render her concoction of lye-soap on the back porch!
]
OK…Enough memory-lane-ing…
Instead I'll try to focus on shampoo;
(but, as far as I know, soaps/detergents are often the basic 'building-blocks' for shampoo-formulations.)
Breaking it down (etymologist-style)...
SHAMPOO =
SHAM:
1. Anything that is not what it purports or appears to be
2. Something false, fake, or fictitious that purports to be genuine
3. Counterfeit
...and...
POO:
1. Excrement; poop; stuff sometimes found in diapers
2. Poo-poo can mean a way of
dismissing an idea or suggestion
To be kind:
I’ll just say the above is my way of
dismissing the morphing/buzz-wording of car-washing soaps into
car-washing shampoos---basically…IMO…a soap/detergent with specific ingredients/surfactants for
vehicle-surfaces cleaning purposes.
(The same as they are specifically formulated for
other-surfaces cleaning purposes.)
On the other hand…I’ve been brainwashed (pun intended) into believing that shampoos are what I should use for the:
Hair (on the noggin’---if any)-cleaning processes….
-Don’t know about anyone else, but I would be averse to using something labeled/advertised as
hair-detergent.
-And for the manufacturers of beauty-products: It wouldn’t be a very good marketing-tool.
Surfactants…
-Without delving into hydrophilic/hydrophobic/lipo-this-or-that too much…
It should suffice it to say that lipids is a very large and diverse “family”/group that range
from the fatty-acids to include soaps, detergents, waxes, steroids, and vitamins, among others.
-Chemists know which chemicals/ingredients to blend in order to have a soap/detergent/shampoo containing
the correct amount of specific-surfactants that will form the best:
Contaminates encapsulating/emulsifying aggregates, called micelles, for a car-specific cleanser...now called by some: Shampoo
Foam/Suds:
-Almost all surfactants will foam/suds to some extent…some more, even a lot more, than others.
[Special NOTE/Request to OP ReflectiveAuto:
It would be very interesting to find out the ingredients/chemicals listed on this Zymol’s car wash product's
label
(and even its MSDS) to find out its foaming agent.
Would it be possible for you to supply this information? Thanks.
]
I noticed these posts:
I.
Well Zymol said it does not have chemicals to harm paint. I'm very happy with it...I just placed a order for some carwash and a surprise Zymol wax...
II.
Then just use water...I think suds have a lot too do with the cleaning process...hence soaps for foam guns...
-As for
I.:
FWIW…I don’t believe there are too many car-wash shampoo manufacturers deliberately including
"harmful to paint" ingredients/chemicals…
Although some may be extra-salted more than others! :nomore:
-As for
II.:
Water is the universal-solvent. I have washed many a garaged vehicle,
laden with dust---not with any of the outside-world of contaminates/road-film…
with a water only hosing-down. Of course this was followed by air-hose/leaf blower drying method…
followed by a typical quick-detailer---what is referenced by some as a drying-aid.
I’m in agreement with most of what some AGO members have already pointed out/expressed as their view-points:
Thanks for the review. One note though, suds don't actually mean anything as far as how safe or effective a soap is. Just take ONR for example. It is next to impossible to get to suds up, but it's one of the slickest products out there.
+1
Whats everybodys obsession with suds anyways? They do absolutely nothing.
The real important part in shampoos is the lubricity. Lubricity is what prevents dirt from marring your paint. Manufacturers make their shampoos "sudsy" to make their product appealing because the public in general believe it is the suds/foam that lifts away the dirt from the paint and helps clean it.
The fact of the matter is with foam guns and foam cannons is, a thick foam sticks better to the paint allowing longer dwell time to soften up contaminants and dirt hence the market was opened up to high foaming shampoos made specifically for foam guns/cannons. However, foam guns/cannons are somewhat gimmicky(debatable) and useless with cars that have gone extended periods without a wash (reasons being, once a car as been cycled through weather and dirt has settled onto the paint the light cleansing properties of shampoos are not strong enough to loosen that bond no matter how long it is allowed to dwell without agitation.)
There are tests done on other boards proving foam/suds alone(given long dwell times and rinsed off) have no real cleaning ability on its own.
When I worked for Zep the trained us that suds did not matter. In fact we were trained to pour the product into the water and gently mix. But I like the looks of suds, it gives me a nice visual indicator of what I have done and what I need to do.
And…My favorite/best-explanation(IMO) of suds/foam is as follows: (Thanks
RMM!! :dblthumb2: )
The surfactant present in the formulation is what produces the suds. The choice high/low-sudsing depends on the application: sometimes suds are needed (for instance, to provide some "cushioning" effect), sometimes they are "needed" (people like to see them), sometimes they are not.
So, suds have nothing to do with the cleaning process: they are "the smoking gun" of the surfactant used.
In closing:
-Sure!!...There's a lot more
"Chemistry" to soaps/detergents/shampoos than what has been lightly touched upon.
For example, I saw this experiment somewhere:
-Pour a small amount of your car-wash solution/shampoo into
a lid and allow it to dry-up. See what is left behind from the evaporation process.
-
And...Besides what has already been said...
IMHO…The foamy/sudsy effect of soaps/detergents/shampoos is purely aesthetic…
It has
NO cleansing properties.
-
Good Luck!! ReflectiveAuto...with your choices for vehicle-appearance product-lines, and their products.
Bob
