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SONETT Quality range To know how to evaluate a product’s quality comprehensively, the product itself must be closely examined first: its ingredients, manufacturing processes and biodegradability. However, product quality is also influenced by financial considerations, the people who manufacture it, the social structure of the company, the interaction of the manufacturer, retailers and customers and, last but not least, the impulses, motivations and models of the manufacturing company itself. When talking about product quality, we distinguish between 3 different quality grades: Quality grade 1: Sonett products incorporate no ingredients which could be environmentally hazardous, a danger to health or which trigger allergies. All ingredients are completely biodegradable. In concrete terms, this means: Sonett detergents and cleansers basically contain no artificial fragrances and colourings, no synthetic preservatives, no enzymes, no phosphates and no optical whiteners. We also use no petrochemical or semi-petrochemical surfactants, no petrochemical or poorly biodegradable bleach activators, etc. Active washing substances: At the heart of all detergents and cleansers are their active washing substances. As a basic principle, we use pure plant-derived soap whenever possible. Soap is the active washing substance which is naturally closest to man and the environment. It is completely and rapidly biodegradable and has one outstanding feature compared to all other active washing substances: it combines immediately after use with the calcium in the waste water and thus neutralizes itself in its effect on living organisms (primary degradation). The calcium soap is then 100% fully biodegraded by microorganisms into C02 and H2O (secondary degradation). To support the soap’s function, we use fatty alcohol sulfates and sugar surfactants manufactured from coconut oil and sugar derived from corn-flour and potato starch. Due to their natural internal molecular structure, which remains unchanged, these surfactants are easily detectable by microorganisms and are therefore rapidly and completely biodegraded. In terms of tolerance by man and the environment, this group of surfactants comes the closest to soap. We use no ethyoxylated products such as ether sulfate or fatty alcohol ethoxylates. The use of these is widespread in so-called “bio” detergents, with the description “non-ionic surfactants based on vegetable or regenerative raw materials, slightly biodegradable”. Behind this statement, which sounds good to a layman’s ears, are hidden mainly surfactants, which to some extent consist of regenerative raw materials and were modified in their molecular structure with the aid of the highly toxic, carcinogenic gas ethylene oxide, which is extracted from crude oil derivatives. Ethoxylated products contain, due to the way of production, dioxins. The biodegradation (secondary degradation) occurs slowly and not completely. (However, according to the legal regulations, it is still considered to be “slightly biodegradable”, since, under legislation to date, only the disappearance of the surface-active property of a surfactant is evaluated.) A complete declaration, especially in the “bio” domain, would be extremely desirable here, instead of the rather unexpressive terms like “anionic surfactants” or “non-ionic surfactants”, etc. Enzymes: Enzymes for easier degradation of fat, protein and starch at low temperatures are not used in our products as a matter of principle. Technical enzymes, as are used in detergents, are always contaminated with a range of different adjuvant substances, which are known to have an allergy-triggering effect, in addition to the allergenicity of the enzyme itself. In addition, there is the whole problem of genetic engineering. Today, almost 100% of all enzymes used in detergents are derived from genetically modified microorganisms. If these organisms, artificially modified by humans with an extreme lack of balance, manage to get into the environment, the consequences are not at all clear and are also irreversible. (see SONETT information: Genetic engineering in Detergents) In the mean time, we are consuming metabolites of these manipulated organisms as “rennin” in high-quality Swiss cheeses, as a fermentation accelerant in French champagnes, as a baking additive in our bread and as “valuable vitamin enhancement” in so-called functional foods. Fragrances: Natural essential oils are added to some SONETT products. These are used, on the one hand, for their germ-inhibiting effect, and on the other hand for pleasure and well-being during washing and cleansing. Natural essential oils, which have been developed in the course of the year under light and heat, have a harmonizing effect on the entire human body and have therefore been used successfully to heal physical and psychological diseases. Synthetic aromatic substances from industrial waste products and crude oil derivatives cause the opposite effect and lead to irritation of the nervous system and senses. This has been proven by studies of hyperactive children in the USA and Europe. Cheap essential oils are often adulterated with synthetic aromatic substances. Obtaining truly pure ethereal oils requires a high degree of experience and co-operation, because of the expensive research involved, and boils down to a question of price. The criteria of this 1st quality grade are met not just by Sonett but also a wide range of other providers of organic detergents and cleansers, albeit with a very different intensity and consistency of selection. Quality grade 2: In addition to the criteria of quality grade 1, we increasingly use raw materials from certified biodynamic or organic cultivation, for example olive oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil, palm oil, essential oils, balsamic additions and alcohol. What is the purpose of using raw materials from certified organic cultivation in detergents and cleansers? In ancient cultures, the cleansing of the body and clothing was a ritual act. By means of ritual ablutions, people released themselves from the impurity of their baser instincts so as to turn towards the spiritual side with chastity. Bodily and spiritual-mental cleansing went hand in hand and were as one. In today’s world, washing, cleansing and rinsing seems to have become an activity to be performed as quickly and incidentally as possible - a necessary evil. In spite of this, cleanliness still possesses a not insignificant spiritual meaning: Why do we feel the need to wear clean clothing? Why do we feel so incredibly good snuggled up in a freshly made bed? Why do we organize and clean our house before receiving visitors or having a celebration? Order and cleanliness have something liberating and satisfying about them which is a reflection of the soul. The fact that the substances we use to wash and clean should also possess this sense of cleanliness is only logical – “unclean” substances give an impression of cleanness, but deceive the perception of purity with brightness, a soft and snuggly feel or an even whiter white. In the development of formulas for detergents and cleansers, a wide range of substances are available, derived from minerals, plants, animals and crude oil. If we apply the above criterion, then the selection is reduced to purely mineral and vegetable raw materials. Minerals and plants are pure per se. Only in animals and humans does the need to keep oneself clean arise. Crude oil is a plant substance which arose due to the exclusion of air and light and the action of high pressures in long-gone geological eras. Hidden deep in the earth’s strata, it fulfils its task in the structure of life of earth. When brought to the surface, it is an extremely hostile substance which destroys arable land, can barely be broken down by natural microorganisms and, as a fuel and energy source, bears much of the blame for the CO2 pollution of the atmosphere. However, this "purity law", involving restriction to mineral and plant-derived raw materials, and in particular the avoidance of petrochemical substances, only has very restricted validity. By conventional methods of cultivation, plants are disturbed, contaminated and violated in their development. With "normal" methods of cultivation, plants are no longer plants in the true sense. The use of artificial fertilizers alone reduces root growth dramatically. The leaves, flowers and fruit areas become enlarged and fattened, the taste is watered down and fragrances are diminished. Due to monocultures and the lack of sequenced crop rotation, conventional cultivation makes regular use of herbicides, pesticides and means of enhancing storage stability. Contamination due to chemical residues in the plants cannot be avoided and are therefore officially permitted. Exclusively yield-oriented cultivation also brings the natural imbalance between plants and animals to the extreme and beyond, e.g. in cows which drag their overdeveloped milk udders over the ground with difficulty or the corn which can produce its ears only with the aid of chemical stem shortening agents. Genetic engineering takes this violation of nature a step further. By tampering with the nucleus of the cell, the plant is forced to make a fundamental change to its metabolism and creative potential, solely to serve financial interests and without any appreciation for the essence of the plant. Plants treated in this way and raw materials from such plants, e.g. fatty oils or essential oils, have lost a large amount of their vitality and power in comparison to plants from biodynamic or certified organic cultivation. With the aid of holistic research methods, such as spagyric crystallization or biophoton measurement, etc., the quality differences between plant raw materials from biocultivation and conventionally cultivated plants can be demonstrated to spectacular effect. Now it could be believed that by chemical conversion, e.g. of oils to soap, by means of alkali solution and the effect of heat, none of the initial biological quality could survive. However, spagyrics itself shows us quite the opposite: Plants are enclosed for several hours in warm conditions with water and alcohol, and plant parts are incinerated and calcined at over 600°C. The spagyric essences and salts obtained show increased photon radiation, creative potential and potency if the plant itself was of higher quality. Therefore, the initial quality of the plant and its further processing is a decisive factor. In Sonett products, we therefore use large amounts of oils and essential oils from certified biodynamic and organic cultivation, as well as controlled collection from the wild. Where organic raw materials are not used, they are either mineral substances or they do not exist at the organic quality grade, e.g. sugar-based surfactants or fatty alcohol sulfate, or the high price of their use is a barrier. To consistently continue this quality commitment, one of our basic concerns is to manufacture washing and cleansing agents which are humane and thus also kind to nature. This claim of our 2nd quality grade, namely to use raw materials from organic cultivation if possible, is held by very few other manufacturers of ecological washing and cleansing agents, apart from Sonett. Quality grade 3: The 3rd level of Sonett’s quality is characterized by the use of balsamic additions, which we add rhythmically to the Oloid mixing machine and by use of mingled process water for the liquid SONETT products. The subject of rhythmization and the use of “life-promoting technology” is, to our knowledge, only addressed by Sonett in the field of washing and cleansing agents. Our concern is to counter the centrifugal movements of the rotating mixing and filling machines, which have a tendency to be hostile to life, with these rhythmic balsamic additions to create a life-promoting lemniscatic motion impulse. For this reason, we work with an Oloid, a specially shaped mixing vessel. This Oloid mixer does not mix by rotation, but rather it moves the mixture in a pulsating lemniscatic, i.e. figure-of-eight, motion. In the first crystal analysis studies, the specific quality of the additions treated in this manner could be observed. Judge for yourself how this preparation works with the following crystal images:
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