The Many Uses of Pumice Powder
Pumice powder is quite a versatile substance and has many uses in both consumer and industrial applications.
Scrubs & Cosmetics
Fine grain pumice powder has been added to cosmetics, soaps, and scrubs for many years. A very popular recipe is known as mechanic’s soap, and was used by mechanics and engineers to scrub away the oil and grease from a day’s work.
Nowadays it is quite common in shower gels, cleansers, facial scrubs, and foot scrubs. Pumice is growing in popularity due to being a common replacement to plastic micro-beads, which are known to harm our environment and drinking water.
Common Consumer Uses
- Exfoliating Scrubs and Cleansers – A proven, natural replacement for micro-beads.
- General Cleaning – Works great to remove rust, soap scum, and other impurities from durable surfaces.
- Scouring Sticks – Pumice can be pressed into sticks or sponges and used to clean metal, concrete, and so on.
- Rubbing Compunds – Pumice-based polishes works well to restore shine to polished surfaces.
Abrasive & Polishing Applications
Formed from violent volcanic activity, pumice powder has a similar composition to glass, but due to it’s friability, it is actually a much softer abrasive. In-fact, fine ground pumice powder is one of the softest abrasives available.
In addition, because pumice powder has a neutral pH and is generally inert, it is often suitable in cases where other materials may not be used due to acidity, rust, or other issues.
Common Industrial Uses
- Cleansing Media – Pumice is beginning to replace sand in high-pressure blasting applications.
- Removes Rust – Can be used to remove rust from stainless steel, metal, or similar surfaces.
- Television Glass – Used in polishing television glass during manufacturing.
- Electronics – Cleaning and polishing circuit boards and other electronic components
- Dentists – Pumice is sometimes used by professional dentists to clean and whiten dentures.
- Textile softening – Used to condition denim and other fabrics during the manufacturing process.
