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Author: ggbonner
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.carmack/282.3.1.1.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.3/mb....
Message Board Post:
The principle question about treatment of stones rests on whether they are your own
personal property or not. If they are your stones, then do whatever you want to them. They
are, after all, your stones. If they are NOT your stones, however, then best practice is
to not touch the stones at all. Even if what you are doing is 100% error-free, it is still
not proper.
But the idea that shaving cream harms tombstones has not been true for at least 40 years.
Shaving creams are now pH-balanced, etc., and studies have shown that shaving cream
actually PROTECTS the stones against the chemical weathering that it would otherwise
experience.
It is too bad that well-meaning organizations for preservation seem to each have one
person intent on promoting this nonsense. Just because the organization has an impressive
name doesn't mean that the one person in question has any idea what he's talking
about. And that is why the reference is always to "our professional
conservators" who remain nameless. If it were bona fide material, then the message
would be the same, and the expert(s) would be named, and their degrees in chemistry and
geology would be cited.
Given the abundance of study on this topic, the only people who continue to believe that
shaving cream harms tombstones fall into the same category as those who believe in
extraterrestrial visition, viz., they WANT to believe, regardless of the actual scientific
data.
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