The first experiment of 2009!
To kick off the New Year in the right way, we deployed the Kinoki Cleansing Detox Foot Pad array last night.
After developing parameters and aggravating friends and acquaintances with my enthusiastic description of the array, I just had to wait for an auspicious day to deploy the 14 Kinoki Cleansing Detox Foot Pads. The first week of the New Year seemed like a good time, since most of us have been studiously consuming festive amounts of holiday-related toxins for the last couple of weeks.
So last night I set up the gear, stuck some foot pads to some feet, and subjected them to all manner of other treatments and interventions. And this morning I gained new insight into Kinoki’s claims.
Pad 1: On my freshly cleaned foot
Pad 2: On my not freshly cleaned foot
Purely in the interest of science (of course), I have been no Puritan toxin-wise. And so I was the first to undergo foot pad application. They’re not at all uncomfortable – the flexible mesh stickers held the pads to my feet quite nicely as I slept. Before applying, I first washed the left foot with soap and water.
This morning, both of these pads were g-ross. Grey, stinky, slimy-looking. Even so, I do not feel magically different or substantially less toxic.
Pad 3: Spouse’s freshly cleaned foot
Pad 4: Spouse’s not-so-clean foot
Spouse was kind enough to also wear a set, helpfully writing “G” on his unwashed foot so that I’d know where we stood grime-wise. This morning, Spouse’s pads were identical to mine – perhaps a little damper and therefore more gross-looking. No major differences though, and I do like to think that we have different toxin concentrations.
Pad 5: Fridge
Pad 6: Fridge on a potato
Pad 7: On the counter on a clean potato
Pad 8: In the dryer on a clean potato
Pad 9: On the kitchen counter
Pad 10: In the clothes dryer
None of these pads showed discernible changes. Fortunately my dryer has this handy plastic rack thingy that you can deploy when drying something you don’t want to bang around in the machine. Like, for example, a potato. Even so, I’m sure I’ve just voided a very important warranty.
Pad 11: Originally a cold tap-water bath: Changed to counter with no mesh backing
We decided halfway through deployment that the mesh backing that you use to stick these things to your foot may be responsible for some kind of chemical reaction in the pad. So we left this one out on the kitchen counter without any backing contact. This morning, the pad showed zero change, thereby debunking this theory. Which, honestly, makes me kind of sad because I would have thought it rather clever of the manufacturer.
Pad 12: Cold Brita water bath
Pad 13: Hot Brita water bath
Both gross. Just like the ones we wore on our feet. I think we’re on to something here.
Pad 14: In the yard
I stuck this one to the front of my house. Built in 1940 in a bustling metropolitan area, our house has been subjected to all kinds of pernicious influences. I figured it couldn’t hurt to suck a few toxins out of it, unless the toxins are in fact what’s holding our little Cape Cod together. Man, that would have sucked. Can you imagine the conversation with our homeowners insurance company? “Yeah, I dunno. I guess that these pads are just too good.”
Fortunately, after spending the night outside, this pad showed no effects. And our happy home is safe.
Conclusion: Water is the answer
It seems clear to me that moisture is the issue here. I tore open one of the little packets to find a grey powder that smelled – as advertised – somewhat like lavender. After adding a spoonful of water, the powder turned darker and smelled kinda icky.
Mystery solved. I’ve got a spare box of these things, though. Anyone else want to give it a try?
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You are too damn funny.
i pity your future children when it comes time for the lower school science fair. keep up the good work.
My tired husband and I are currently on a New Year’s 2 week detox with significantly modified diet and pills. I decided to keep track of it out my website and share recipes that actually taste good while you detox (not all of them were good but anyway). I’m sure the biggest effect of the detox is the modified diet more than the pills but by laying down some cash for the pills it makes us stick to the diet.
We are craving sweets like crazy but we are 25% of the way there. Read our journey each day over at
http://www.confessionsofafoodie.com/category/detox-cleansing-diets/
Sincerely,
Foodie
So, add moisture, get yucky goo. Perfect recipe.
I would now be curious to see what a chemical analysis finds in the two sets of reactive pads – - I’m sure it would be about the same in each.
Well I put this patch on my foot last night right before bed. My foot was cleaned very well beforehand. I didn’t walk around or anything with it on my foot and I do not sleep in socks. Also my feet do not sweat while I sleep. Mine came out gross! I don’t see where any moisture would have come from in this case!
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I love the theory behind these pads. Wood vinegar in a fibrous pad with some powdered herbs sucks metallic impurities out through your epidermis and pores via osmosis? So what happens (aside from the 2nd degree burns) if I don terry cloth and leap head first into a vat of fermenting kimchee? Do I become a bulletproof Korean Achilles, or just wish I had brought some rice with me?
“Kelsey Says: my feet do not sweat while I sleep. Mine came out gross! I don’t see where any moisture would have come from in this case!” Kelsey’s feet don’t sweat! I bet she don’t poop, either!
My feet do not sweat at night, in fact I usually sleep with a fan on me year round. So to claim that foot sweat is the reason for the change is probably inaccurate. There are a great many things that we do not understand, and to claim something as a scam or bogus because we cannot understand how something works is a shame. Are we back in the 17th or 18th century? I can’t see it so it doesn’t exist?
In response to Kelsey, Svlad, and Jay’s comments everyone’s feet have sweat glands. Although some feet may not appear to the human eye as sweaty, all feet sweat to some degree. The skin of the bottom of all human feet and all human hands is made up of sweat glands. I could say my feet do not sweat while I sleep at night just like my hands do not sweat late at night and I could look at my hands and feet and not see or feel any moisture, but my hands and feet just like everyone else’s hands and feet have microscopic sweat glands on the palms, which is why Thea came up with the theory of the chemical reaction with water and the powder inside of the detox pads.