Don't Be Fooled By Ingredient Hype

Jean Johnson
Mar 30, 2016
3 min read

Oh. My. God. Someone save me from the rhetoric and trendiness. Seriously.

I make AbScent...lots of my friends have adopted the term "poop spray", because what AbScent does is form a barrier on the water in your toilet bowl, and prevents the olfactory proof of your bowel movements from wafting into the air, announcing your accomplishments to the world.

I've tried to be delicate about it...doesn't work. Bluntness and a bit of dry humor seem to work. So does AbScent. And unlike the name brand with all the expensive advertisements and scatalogical plays on words, we don't play on trendy poppycock claims.

Yes, I'm aware that the other guy uses only natural essential oils; they tout on their website that they have no alcohol, no phthalates, no parabens, no formaldehydes, etc...which is fantastic...if you're snorting the stuff or using it on your skin. Bravo to them.

But this stuff goes into the toilet bowl. The toilet bowl doesn't have to worry about dry skin, or chemical absorption, now does it? So the rhetoric about how natural they are...mind you, we're talking about a product that coats feces...just seem a bit superfluous.

Don't get me wrong, I tried...and loved...the name brand's product...but I didn't want to pay $15 for a 2 ounce bottle (including shipping). So I researched, and I tried recipes until I found one I was pleased with, then I tweaked it until I was thrilled with it. Then I tested it on the stinkiest of subjects, and only after it passed all tests did I submit it to volunteers for further testing.

It's not rocket science...and for goodness' sake, please don't buy into rhetoric like "contains no" this or that unless it's a sensible claim. Soaps with "no sulfates" is reasonable and sensible, because it means that instead of using cheap, inferior products with sulfates (which aren't good for the skin), the soap is real soap, created by mixing oils and lye and going through the process of saponification.

But this product isn't going on the skin. Again, it's going on the water inside your toilet bowl. In that matter, alcohol doesn't matter. Parabens don't matter. Phthalates don't matter. Why not? I'm SO glad you asked!

Parabens are preservatives, used widely in body products, from shampoo to mascara. Preservatives are important for just about any product that contains water, because water is an excellent medium for bacterial and fungal growth. If you want a product to last more than a few days, and exist outside of a refrigerator, you need preservatives. And current scuttlebutt is that parabens may contribute to health problems when absorbed through the skin. I'll say that again. When absorbed through the skin. So a spray that's going onto the water in the toilet bowl is hardly a product where paraben use should be a concern. In my opinion, when the lack of parabens is touted for a product such as this, it's just playing to current trendy fears and hype.

Phthalates...and you're going to love this...are chemicals that are plasticizers. They're used to soften plastics. So yeah, the other guys make a huge deal out of not putting a plastic softener in their poop spray. Why stop at that? Why not advertise that their product has no nuclear waste, no arsenic, no agent orange, no cyanide?!? This is one of the more stupid things I've read today, and the day's only half over. This is why customers need to educate themselves and be wary of buzzwords and trendy claims.

Have I made my point yet? I truly hope so.

Look, any similar product, made well, is going to block the poop odor when you use the bathroom. The recipe is fairly straightforward, and unless you're dealing with some weirdo, isn't going to contain dangerous or toxic ingredients. And you should expect the person who makes it, to actually include the ingredients on it. We do. Others don't. Perhaps they have...or believe they have...good reasons to hide their ingredient list. I disagree with that philosophy. I think you should know what's in the products you buy, and I think you should understand the hype that advertising can throw at you.