Talc Diaper Powder

[DAQ]

I am curious if anyone knows about the chemistry of the old talc Johnson's Diaper Powder. Was there something inherent to the talc that generated the scent? Is that why they abandoned it when they moved to corn starch? I recently bought some "International" version on amazon that has the original scent. It is incredibly expensive per ounce/gram but has that super nostalgic scent. I like the new lavender scent but man do I miss the unmistakably babyish scent of the old stuff.

[Little Sherri]

The scent is a perfume that they apply to the powder. You used to be able to buy raw talc, at least in Britain, and it had no scent to it. I'm not sure where you're located, but in Canada, Equate, which is a Walmart store brand, has a cornstarch-based baby powder that smells "pretty close" to the original - it's a baby powder scent, and unless you have the real thing next to it, you'd never know the difference. I still have a bottle of the pink Johnson's and the Equate stuff is a very good reproduction of it. When you smell them back to back, the original is maybe slightly "fresher", but that's a highly subjective term. For day to day wearing, I use the Equate. 

Secret makes a baby powder scented women's deodorant that is very, very close as well. P&G owns Secret, and they also own Pampers, and I think the base scent they use on both is the same. The "PH Balanced" baby powder scented Secret can make any diaper smell like Pampers. 

[wetmonkey]

27 minutes ago, Little Sherri said:

The scent is a perfume that they apply to the powder. You used to be able to buy raw talc, at least in Britain, and it had no scent to it. I'm not sure where you're located, but in Canada, Equate, which is a Walmart store brand, has a cornstarch-based baby powder that smells "pretty close" to the original - it's a baby powder scent, and unless you have the real thing next to it, you'd never know the difference. I still have a bottle of the pink Johnson's and the Equate stuff is a very good reproduction of it. When you smell them back to back, the original is maybe slightly "fresher", but that's a highly subjective term. For day to day wearing, I use the Equate. 

Secret makes a baby powder scented women's deodorant that is very, very close as well. P&G owns Secret, and they also own Pampers, and I think the base scent they use on both is the same. The "PH Balanced" baby powder scented Secret can make any diaper smell like Pampers. 

Thank you for this lead! I am in Canada too and am looking for a powder that has more of that original smell as well.

[tuffy]

20 hours ago, DAQ said:

Is that why they abandoned it when they moved to corn starch?

They switched to corn starch because their talc mines were contaminated with asbestos. They had known it since the early 1970s and kept selling it. Eventually, the news started leaking out. Find out more here.

 

[safeandhappy]

Does anyone else remember how good the diaper aisle used to smell? I miss that.

[Dubious]

6 hours ago, tuffy said:

They switched to corn starch because their talc mines were contaminated with asbestos. They had known it since the early 1970s and kept selling it. Eventually, the news started leaking out. Find out more here.

 

Asbestos was used for/in lots of things around the same time they allegedly had problems with asbestos. 
But that's no excuse for selling products when they found asbestos in their products. 

Quote

In 2009, the FDA, responding to growing public concern about talc, commissioned tests on 34 samples, including a bottle of J&J Baby Powder and samples of Imerys talc from China. No asbestos was detected.

The problem was from the 70s to the early 2000, so the reason they stopped selling in USA is cause someone dug up old problems.

[DAQ]

14 hours ago, tuffy said:

They switched to corn starch because their talc mines were contaminated with asbestos. They had known it since the early 1970s and kept selling it. Eventually, the news started leaking out. Find out more here.

 

I know why they switched away from talc. I wonder why they switched away from that scent though.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

5 hours ago, DAQ said:

I know why they switched away from talc. I wonder why they switched away from that scent though.

As it turned out. That switch was bogus, which was in the news but was overshadowed by the first Trump impeachment. Google up "jama talcum powder overian cancer' That scent is still around in STOP & SHOP and to a lesser extant MARKET BASKET baby powder. Another mystery is why did DREFT abandon that scent, it can still be found in Dreft Blissfuls and can be used in several ways, including a very goos homemade bthe, body and baby oil and aa bubble bath

 

[tuffy]

3 hours ago, Little BabyDoll Christine said:

Google up "jama talcum powder overian cancer'

That study isn't conclusive and only dealt with ovarian cancer. Many other people contracted mesothelioma.

We'll never know why they changed the scent, short of asking someone that worked in their lab. Perhaps the corn starch altered the overall scent and they didn't try to fix it.

 

[DAQ]

25 minutes ago, tuffy said:

That study isn't conclusive and only dealt with ovarian cancer. Many other people contracted mesothelioma.

We'll never know why they changed the scent, short of asking someone that worked in their lab. Perhaps the corn starch altered the overall scent and they didn't try to fix it.

 

Because it isn't a chemical reason, I now would guess they did it as a branding one. If the smell was the same worh corn starch powder some people would assume it wa the same. Easier to make a clean break with new scent/new formula than old scent/new formula. 

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

16 hours ago, tuffy said:

That study isn't conclusive and only dealt with ovarian cancer. Many other people contracted mesothelioma.

We'll never know why they changed the scent, short of asking someone that worked in their lab. Perhaps the corn starch altered the overall scent and they didn't try to fix it.

 

We DO know: Ti is called "lawfare" it consists of crooked lawyers bringing monstrous class-action suits against companies in which only the lawyers make out. The compahy is heavily looted and the plaintiffs get a pittance. since the shyster gets about 30% of the swag and the plaintiffs , usually about 20,k000 in number divvy up the rest. The clue was in the recent radio ads to join such a suit, the ad says "A medi stydy..." NOT "a medical study..." You be the judge. As I said befor google up "jama talcum powder overian cancer". The net reult is that J&J was afraid to take the crooks on. It was for this kind of thing that arch-Libertarian David Brudnoy wanted  to have the laywers, as officers ofs the court, paid a fixed salary by the state or Federal government