Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Cosmetic recipes of 1834

Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Lavender
Loretta reports:

Like many of you, I wondered what exactly a “Kalydor” was.  The dictionaries, both OED and online offered no defnitions.  But further investigation showed me that this was a brand name for one of Rowland’s famous lotions.  In the days when trademark protection was nonexistent, it appears to have been generally adopted, much to Rowland’s aggravation, for facial lotions, rather in the way Kleenex® is used for facial tissues.

Rowland was often warning about inferior and dangerous imitations, but this one might have escaped notice.  Many of us are familiar with the use of lead in cosmetics in earlier times.  Mercury (quicksilver) was another toxic ingredient—but who knew?  Not us kids, way back when, who played with it.

On the other hand, ingredients for the the scent bags are innocuous (at least the ones I can identify) and might be fun to make.



Excerpts are from The Toilette of Health, Beauty, and Fashion, 1834

1 comments:

Sarah said...

Jasmine flowers were also dried and used to scent gloves that were stored in the dried blossoms, personally I've had trouble getting jasmine to dry nicely though I have no trouble with lavender...

 
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