Useful or Useless Information

[MirandaH]

This thread is cracking me up!

Since the human body is considered to be closet to a pig's body if working in a field that deals with decomp, I'm guessing rather than beef tallow, once rendered, we could plug the amount into soap calc under lard.

I am very curious now about human tallow and what sort of bar of soap it would make.... I'm sure if I look, some serial killer has already done this and I just haven't come across it yet, or they haven't bothered to pipe up about it. If I had to guess, it would be Ed Gein.

I'd say I would render into a couple of logs.

The Nazis did experiments making soap from human fat.

Not only did the Nazi do it, (which, not to sound completely morbid, considering the photos I have seen of the people they killed, I can't imagine there was any fat let in them and it must have taken a lot of them to make anything) but an artist did it in recent years with his own fat from lipo. Apparently, he showcased the soaps at an art exhibit with a sink and had people at the exhibit actually trying it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/orestes-de-la-paz-soap-fat_n_3230944.html

http://orestesdelapaz.com/

Also, a few months ago, I saw this on an Avery label package. The name on the label in the picture on the package is Tyler Durden and the address is the address for the house where they made the soap and planned project Mayhem in the book (not the same address in the movie). I imagine the people who run Avery have no idea and it was kind of a joke by the person designing the package, like the adult things put into Disney movies.

When I looked for the link on Avery, they had changed the packaging, but some other sites still have the old packaging for sale, like this one:

http://www.bettymills.com/shop/prod...ntent=Office&gclid=CLisyY_38bsCFRNqfgod324Atg
I am a wealth of worthless knowledge.

 

[Lin]

Didn’t the guy on the ostrich oil thread say that ostrich oil and people oil and very similar?

I think he meant similar to sebum, skin oil, not body fat. Like of the vegetable oils jojoba* is the most similar to sebum which makes it great for skin.

*jojoba being a wax ester, not a true oil

 

[boyago]

Also, a few months ago, I saw this on an Avery label package. The name on the label in the picture on the package is Tyler Durden and the address is the address for the house where they made the soap and planned project Mayhem in the book (not the same address in the movie). I imagine the people who run Avery have no idea and it was kind of a joke by the person designing the package, like the adult things put into Disney movies.

When I looked for the link on Avery, they had changed the packaging, but some other sites still have the old packaging for sale, like this one:

http://www.bettymills.com/shop/prod...ntent=Office&gclid=CLisyY_38bsCFRNqfgod324Atg
I am a wealth of worthless knowledge.

Your not supposed to talk about it.

 

[houseofwool]

Oh holy buckets, Deanna, HOW do you know about the fatty acid composition of human fat?

 

[eyeroll]

The Nazis did experiments making soap from human fat.

You lose, judy......Godwin's law.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

 

[DeeAnna]

"...Oh holy buckets, Deanna, HOW do you know about the fatty acid composition of human fat?..."

:wink: Amazing what a person can find on Google. I linked to a research paper that was looking at the connection between diet and the fatty acid composition of the person's body fat. The thinking being that what you eat ... ends up in your fat. Nothing remotely related to ghoulish activities or cruel Nazi research experiments.

I can doctor my critters and sometimes my husband (when he'll let me), but that's about it for my medical background. My only interest in human body fat, outside this thread, is that I possess a little more of my own than I'd like.

 

[Relle]

Lot's of info that I didn't know or want to know about human body fat :shock:. I'd better get rid of some before some soap maker pulls me off the street .

 

[DeeAnna]

Actually, Judy is correct. In 2006, tests on a sample of soap made by Nazis during WWII showed it contained some saponified human fat. Judy said ~experiments~ and that is also correct ... this was a limited scale experiment.

And with that, I'm bowing out of the conversation ... my "ewwwww" reaction is getting really intense!

 

[eyeroll]

Oh, I had no doubt judy was correct. I was just making a joke about the nature of the internet.

 

[neeners]

during decomposition, some humans can turn into soap. there's a woman called "The Soap Lady" in the Mutter Museum. I remember reading this somewhere or watching it on Bones (the tv show). highly interesting!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I wonder if that is enforcable in a will - wanting to be made in to soap rather than buried.....................?

You know you're addicted to soap when.......................

 

[MirandaH]

Your not supposed to talk about it.

Which is yet another reason I never would have made it in the Project Mayhem/Paper Street Soap Company house. Not only could I not deal with making soap out of people, I just can't seem to keep my mouth shut. Another prime example below.

during decomposition, some humans can turn into soap. there's a woman called "The Soap Lady" in the Mutter Museum. I remember reading this somewhere or watching it on Bones (the tv show). highly interesting!

Totally awesome that you knew this Neeners! Sadly, I knew about this as well (figured I would probably be the only one, lol). I didn't go into it because I felt the artist info was enough disgusting for one post and the subject makes me think about Caylee Anthony and that just gets me really upset.

It's called adipocere or grave wax. It happens all the time to corpses that are left to the elements outside in low oxygen, damp environments or underwater and not properly preserved or in graves where the people were properly preserved and they are in a warm air tight casket. It has something to do with gram-negative bacteria, but I can't remember at the moment and don't want to drag out my old textbooks.

I promise I am not a total creeper. Although I do think the Mutter Museum is amazing! They have pieces of Einstein's brain there. But I know an awful lot about decomp because I have been doing volunteer work in innocence cases for years and in college I had to learn all about what happens to murdered bodies. My mother in law gave me a photographic book on the Mutter Museum because she figured I would like that kind of stuff because she was around when I was learning about decomp and saw how interested I was. Again...not interested because I am a creeper. I paid close attention because when working in the legal field, you have someone else's life in your hands and I really wanted to maintain my GPA.

I wonder if that is enforcable in a will - wanting to be made in to soap rather than buried.....................?

You know you're addicted to soap when.......................

That's really an interesting question. I think I might look into it. You would be surprised what a person can have enforced in a will. However, I would imagine that a lot would have to be done in advance of death to ensure it could happen. In the US, we are pretty serious about keeping with someone's wishes, but at the same time, if for public safety reasons alone, they are also pretty strict about what can be done. For example, my cousin wanted some of his ashes spread at Haight/Ashbury, but my aunt had to get permits from the city to dump them there.

 

[neeners]

the Mutter Museum is on my "Museums to visit" list. i'm into that kind of stuff too, so you're not alone!

 

[boyago]

I remember reading this somewhere or watching it on Bones (the tv show). highly interesting!

I think I saw that one. Either Bones or another one of those shows loosely based on science. It threw up a red flag for me because the body was found in a oil drum and the soap filled it from top to bottom. I remember thinking about how much fat that would take but I don't remember if they explained where all that material came from.
Wasn't there a Native American mummy found called "the bog lady" that had also saponified in her anaerobic boggy grave?

 

[MirandaH]

I think I saw that one. Either Bones or another one of those shows loosely based on science. It threw up a red flag for me because the body was found in a oil drum and the soap filled it from top to bottom. I remember thinking about how much fat that would take but I don't remember if they explained where all that material came from.
Wasn't there a Native American mummy found called "the bog lady" that had also saponified in her anaerobic boggy grave?

It might have been in Denmark. There is one that is really old that was found in Denmark that was a woman, but I don't know if they gave her a name. If so, it would probably be "The Bog Lady." They call them bog people or bog bodies. I think that she was like 10,000 years old. There are also other ones in museums: Tollund Man, Lindow Man and Grauballe Man. But by far, Tollund man and the woman were the best preserved. They still looked like people peacefully sleeping, but very dark in skin color.

 

[boyago]

Did you know that the average person has enough stored fat in their body to make 7 cakes of soap..

Is a "cake" a defined unit?

Bonus question: Are there other soap based unit definitions? Is there a benchmark/standard for a "bar" of soap?

 

[mel z]

I wonder if that is enforcable in a will - wanting to be made in to soap rather than buried.....................?

You know you're addicted to soap when.......................

I do not work in the field of Wills, much less the wealthy that can make demands. However, in the U.S. probably not. If very, very wealthy, or if your body is in a country or an island that has no laws on, crap, I don't know delicate terms, on what happens when you go, then yes, you can! I would think the UK is similar in laws as the U.S., so make a few millions, or billions, buy your own Greek Island and create your own colony. {Chuckles to self, but remembers others do not deal with horrid crimes daily, and am out of order on The Soap Making Forum.}

That's really an interesting question. I think I might look into it. You would be surprised what a person can have enforced in a will. However, I would imagine that a lot would have to be done in advance of death to ensure it could happen. In the US, we are pretty serious about keeping with someone's wishes, but at the same time, if for public safety reasons alone, they are also pretty strict about what can be done. For example, my cousin wanted some of his ashes spread at Haight/Ashbury, but my aunt had to get permits from the city to dump them there.

***WARNING GRAPHIC - IF SENSITIVE DO NOT READ OR GO TO LINK***


The Body Farm. You can donate your body. Uumm, it is in Tennessee.................... Probably free for your remains to be transported, not necessarily turned into soap, but you can call and ask.

http://fac.utk.edu/donation.html

Sorry if this is creeping out the sensitive. I used to be, and I forget.

 

[MirandaH]

I have actually worked with the body farm before. Morbidly enough, I wanted to go there, but they don't really just let people in willy nilly. I was trying to get extra credit for school. But the lawyers that I work with have had to go Dr Vass to ask questions about two cases we worked on. I can promise you, they will not deliberately make you into soap...at least not in the sense the Gentleman was speaking of. And being that I only do criminal law and not civil, I have no idea about wills either, but I do have some people I can ask. They are really going to think I am nuts when I do.

I used to be sensitive too and I hope we haven't creeped too many people out. I have lost all sensitivity and I wish that weren't the case. Especially when I speak with victim's families about their loved one's murder cases. Sometimes I forget and am a little insensitive because I separate myself from the fact that these were real people in an effort not to take the cases personally so that I can do the best possible job of getting them justice. That's what 18 years of looking at crime scene photos will do to you, I suppose.

 

[Relle]

I think I'm sorry I started this thread.

It was just that the person I walk with of a morning mentioned to me that his granddaughter had a - Did you know question on a wrapper of something that she was eating and told me about it.

 

[DeeAnna]

Don't be sorry. Please! This thread has been enlightening and interesting, if a little unusual. We need to be able to talk about the "forbidden" things as well as the "normal" things on this forum. What is wonderful is how we've kept the conversation factual as well as interesting. Thanks for starting a intriguing conversation that has stretched my understanding of all things soap.