Hi all! I have seen mineral spritzes that say they have "heavy water." I was wondering if that gives better staying power? Is regular mineral water or rose hydrosal just as good? What would be the best to set the makeup? Do I need one at all? Thanks!

From my internet research I found that heavy water is just like regular water except that the hydrogen atoms have an extra neutron written as D2O instead of H2O.

I did find one site that claimed heavy regenerates tissue damage by radiation, moisturizes the skin, and does other stuff but I am skeptical. First a study on mice that drank heavy water show that it caused degenration of tissues NOT regeneration. Of course this was in very very high doses given internally and sometimes things in low doses has the opposite effect in high doses or things bad to digest are good for the outside of your body. (I certainly wouldn't drink any of my lotions!) Second heavy water is used primarly in nuclear reactor and can be used to make nuclear weapons so heavy water is something most countries monitored and controll closily. It seems pretty weird to be showing up in cosmetics.

Maybe it is really good for you but with only being able to find one company that claim benefits, I think it's best to stick with regular water or hydrosols for right now.

Hi Cleon,

AL used to use Heavy Water (Deuterium Oxide) in their Orange Blossom Mineral Mist. That stuff was great! Now that they don't sell it anymore many women do use a hydrosal or mineral water, but I would prefer to use the Orange Blossom Mist, of course. To me the heavy water was more hydrating than plain mineral water. I also read a site that said that heavy water protects skin from free radicals and has antibacterial benefits.

If you do a search on "heavy water" in this forum you can find other posts from people about their experiences with heavy water.

HTH!

Thanks for the info kcchiefsgal25. I'm skeptical by nature so it's nice to hear from people who have actually used it.

Anu-paradox:

You are welcome.

Another thing about heavy water and nuclear reactors. My husband has a master's degree in nuclear engineering (and is a nuclear engineer for a company that makes nuclear fuel) and I asked him about reactors and heavy water. Heavy water is not used in US reactors (used to be used here during WWII), US reactors use plain old water or graphite. Canadian reactors use heavy water. Actually the heavy water that first goes in a reactor is not really regulated. It is the heavy water that comes out after a reactor has been running that is regulated as it contains radioactive tridium. It is the tridium that is found in heavy water after a reactor has run that is used to make nuclear weapons.

Just thought I would clear that up.

--Lori

Thanks again! The problem with the internet is there is just as much misinformation as there is information. I guess that is one reason I am skeptical but lucky there are lovely and intellegent ladies here to set me straight.

OK, from a PhD in materials sciences!: this heavy h20 is technically radioactive! seriously. but it prolly won't hurt you. its really just a gimmick.

I can tell you one thing... D20 is one seriously expensive ingredient! I used to squirm when buying it for the Orange blossom mist. ouch.

I don't think Jane Iredale would be using D20 if it was either gimmick or a dangerous ingredient. (Jane's not too much into gimmicky things, from what I've seen over the last 5-7 years of watching closely)

JI's D20 spritz has been around for a while and is a very respected, effective product.

Yep, one does really need to do their research on the internet, you can read diverging info on so many different things!

K

oh yeah, that was one thing i was going to add but forgot: heavy h20 very expensive! so be wary of anything that is not pretty expensive if it claims to be heavy h20. scientifically speaking, i can't understand what good heavy h20 would do for makeup, really. it seems to me that regular water would do the same thing. and like i said, it prolly won't hurt you- it prolly has a long half-life. however, i honestly wouldn't put it on my face on a daily basis.

OOOOOPS! i was WRONG! i forgot that just because its an isotope doesn't mean its radioactive! i apologize. OK, so i did my research- real research, this time. this D20 should be stable. however, it acts the same as regular water. you might as well use AL's mineral water instead of paying the big bucks for D20!

Hey girls--I believe that heavy water is used around nuclear reactors because it evaporates slower than regular water since the molecules are heavier. I'm not a chemist, so please don't take this as gospel, but this is my understanding.

On your face, this just means that the moisture stays on your skin longer, providing you with moisture longer. It is inert. It won't harm your skin.

where i work they use it to see how h20 is flowing, to observe a flow process, because you can see a difference between it and the other fluids, but there is no real indication that it behaves any differently from regular h20.

One thing about heavy water which makes me doubt any claims to it's efficacy in cosmetic formulas is that heavy water doesn't stay heavy when it contacts air. Deuteriums will happily switch places with hydrogen atoms from the H2O in the air. This happens just by being stored in a non-vacuum sealed container. Spraying a mist of heavy water means greater exchange due to the increased surface area of the fine particulates of the spray, so there's very small likelihood of heavy water actually making it onto anyone's face. So, certainly not harmful, and probably any benefits come from other ingredients and/or the now "no longer heavy" water in these sprays (and regular water is pretty much an excellent thing to spray on one's face!).

I wish I could have tried ALs version of the water. Why did AL stop making it? It'd be nice if they came out with a rose scented spray... I've been using MB spray and also plain evian in a bottle. I never stick to one spray.