page_title: Pumice
section_title: Personal care
hierarchical_section_title: Pumice / Uses / Personal care
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Puimsteenzeep van zeepfabriek Het Klaverblad, HaarlemEnglish: Pumice soapDeutsch: Bimsstein Seife
context_page_description: Pumice, called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light colored. Scoria is another vesicular volcanic rock that differs from pumice in having larger vesicles, thicker vesicle walls and being dark colored and denser.
  Pumice is created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. The unusual foamy configuration of pumice happens because of simultaneous rapid cooling and rapid depressurization. The depressurization creates bubbles by lowering the solubility of gases that are dissolved in the lava, causing the gases to rapidly exsolve. The simultaneous cooling and depressurization freezes the bubbles in a matrix. Eruptions under water are rapidly cooled and the large volume of pumice created can be a shipping hazard for cargo ships. The pores of pumice and pumicite can have sizes from a wide range. Namely, the size of the pores can be as large as parts of micrometre and more rough pores with sizes up to 2–3 mm. The main difference between pumice and the pumicite is in the size of the grains.
context_section_description: Pumice has been used as a material in personal care for thousands of years. It is an abrasive material that can be used in powdered form or as a stone to remove unwanted hair or skin. In ancient Egypt skincare and beauty were very important to all classes and makeup and moisturizers were widely used. One common trend was to remove all hair on the body using creams, razors and pumice stones. Pumice in powdered form was used to whiten teeth in ancient Rome. Nail care was very important in ancient China; nails were kept groomed with pumice stones and to remove calluses. It was discovered in a Roman poem that pumice was used to remove dead skin as far back as 100 BC and likely before then. It has been used throughout many eras since then, including the Victorian Era. Today, many of these techniques are still used; pumice is widely used as a skin exfoliant. Hair removal techniques have evolved over the centuries, however abrasive material like pumice stones are still used. "Pumice stones" are often used in beauty salons during the pedicure process to remove dry and excess skin from the bottom of the foot as well as calluses. Finely ground pumice has been added to some toothpastes as a polish, similar to Roman use, and easily removes dental plaque build up.  Such toothpaste is too abrasive for daily use. Pumice is also added to heavy-duty hand cleaners (such as lava soap) as a mild abrasive. Some brands of chinchilla dust bath are formulated with powdered pumice. Old beauty techniques using pumice are still employed today but newer substitutes are easier to obtain.
caption: Pumice soap bars
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