COSMETICS. Substances of diverse origin scientifically compounded and used (I) to cleanse, (2) to allay skin troubles, (3) to cover up imperfections and (4) to beautify. They have been used in crude forms by both men and women since the earliest times. It is quite probable that cosmetics had their origin in the East, but it is necessary to turn to Egypt for the earliest records of these substances and their application.
The st (Thinite) dynasty is variously placed at 3,5oo to 5,000 years B.C., when it was customary to bury comforts and luxuries with the dead kings. Toilet articles and unguents were included in these luxuries, and in the British Museum there are many beautifully carved unguent vases in alabaster which authorities have dated about 35oo B.C. Other interesting specimens are: Mirrors used in the 6th dynasty 2800 B.C. kohl vases in glass and stibium pencils used in the i8th dynasty soo B.c.; papyrus showing men and women having lumps of nard fixed on top of the head—isoo B.C. The opening by Mr. Howard Carter of the tomb of Tutankhamun, who ruled about 135o B.C., has brought to light many excellent specimens of the early art of the cos metician. According to eye-witnesses, the unguent vases, ex quisitely executed in alabaster, contained quantities of aromatics which were still elusively fragrant.
On other monuments and tombs in Egypt there is still ample evidence of past great esteem for these substances. For instance, on the large granite tablet inserted in the breast of the Sphinx, King Thothmes IV. (about 1600 B.c.) is portrayed making an offering of incense and of fragrant oil or unguent. At this period it is probable that the priests made most of these compounds; they were therefore the perfumers of their time, and the pursuit was considered a mysterious and much esteemed art. The con tainers were beautifully executed in all kinds of valuable materials. Ivory and alabaster were the principal substances used, while frequently carved wood, onyx and porphyry were fashioned into pots and vases. The constituents were naturally comparatively limited in both numbers and variety. For instance, some were grown in Egypt, while the greater proportion were most probably imported from Arabia. Amongst the former may be mentioned thyme and origanum, together with a substance called balanos which appears to have been extracted from the shells of some unidentified fruit, while of the latter, myrrh, frankincense and spikenard were of great importance. Sesame oil appears to have been one of the most favoured vehicles for the aromatics, although both almond and olive oils were undoubtedly used.
The ancient Egyptians were probably the inventors of the artificial bath, which habit, in later years, was treated on a much more elaborate scale by the Greeks and Romans. This form of ablution was probably necessitated by the terrific heat of the Egyptian land; it was followed by the liberal application of per fumed oils and unguents. Doubtless these were employed to give the skin more elasticity, as well as to impart a balmy and pleasing effect. The use of cosmetics had not escaped the atten tion of the Egyptian ladies, who enhanced their personal beauty by the employment of somewhat crude paints. These practices reached their zenith in the time of Cleopatra. It seems probable, from discoveries in Egyptian tombs, that the highest degree of cosmetic art was attained in the embellishment of the eyes. This effect was produced by painting the under side of the eye green, and the lid, lashes and eyebrows black by the application of kohol—the product being made from antimony (sulphide?) and applied with an ivory or wooden stick. Combs and polished metal mirrors were also used by the Egyptian ladies. Henna was, and still is, much favoured for dyeing the finger nails, palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Good and well preserved specimens can be seen to-day in the British Museum.
Cosmetics were also used by Jewish women, for it is written (II Kings ix. 3o) that "when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window." This is explained more clearly in the following passage : "Thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thine eyes (probably with kohol), and deckedst thyself with ornaments" (Ezek. xxiii. 4o, and see also Jer. iv. 3o). In the Koran aromatics play an important part. The use of eye paint is suggested by Sura lvi., "And theirs shall be the Houris with large dark eyes like pearls hidden in their shells." The Romans, during their early history, showed very little interest in enhancing their personal appearance, and it was only after their migrations into Southern Italy, then occupied by the Greeks, that they acquired a more intimate knowledge of the aesthetic side of life. Nero became emperor of Rome in A.D. 54, and by this time both cosmetics and perfumes had assumed an important role at his court. He personally used cosmetics liber ally, and his wife, Poppaea, made no secret of the artificiality of her toilet. Among the many things they used were white lead, and chalk to whiten the skin; Egyptian kohol for the eyelids and lashes; fucus, a sort of rouge, for the cheeks and lips; psi/otrum, a species of depilatory ; barley-flour and butter as a cure for pimples and skin eruptions; and pumice-stone for whitening the teeth. The ultra-fashionable ladies of the Roman Court devised a method for bleaching their hair by means of a kind of soap which came from Gaul. The Romans made all sorts of pretty containers for their perfumes and cosmetics, of which there were three principal kinds : (I) solid unguents or ledysmata; (2) liquid unguents or stymmata; (3) powder perfumes or diapasmata. The solid unguents were generally of one specific perfume such as almond, rose or quince. The liquid unguents were most fre quently compounds containing flowers, spices and gums, these substances being digested in either olive, ben or sesame oil. (Frangipanni was invented by one of the Roman nobles.) The early inhabitants of Britain appear to have derived much pleasure from the use of crude cosmetics. Importation of toilet articles from the East dates from the time of the Crusades when the knights brought back many of the cosmetics prized by ladies of the harem. Until the reign of Queen Elizabeth these sub stances became more and more popular. The toilet preparations employed by the ladies of the court were kept in strongly per fumed boxes called "sweet coffers." These were considered a necessary part of the furniture of their bedrooms. A recipe for making a beautiful complexion at the time of Elizabeth was to take first a very hot bath to induce excessive perspiration, and to follow this up by washing the face with plenty of wine, to make it fair and ruddy. This latter treatment was even in those days fairly expensive, and Mary Queen of Scots is alleged to have even bathed in wine, on which account she applied for an increased allowance. This luxurious habit was not uncommon with the elder ladies of the court, but the younger ones had to be content with milk ! Both sexes adorned themselves with cosmetics at the court and powder and patches were fancied. With the advent of the Commonwealth all these luxuries were discarded, but as soon as Charles II. was restored to the throne they became popular again. Milk baths were indispensable to beauty, and in later years the ladies of the Court adapted a new practice of powdering their hair, but this soon fell into disuse. By the i 7th century cosmetics were used to such an extent by nearly all classes that in i 77o, according to G. V. Septimus Piesse in his "Art of Perfumery" (1879), a bill was introduced into the English Parliament which contained the following drastic provision :—"That all women of whatever age, rank, profession, or degree, whether virgins, maids, or widows, that shall, from and after such Act, impose upon, seduce, and betray into matri mony, any of His Majesty's subjects, by the scents, paints, cosmetic washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high heeled shoes, bolstered hips, shall incur the penalty of the law in force against witchcraft and like misde meanors and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void." This vogue was not confined to England, but spread equally quickly throughout France and Italy. Cosmetics were much favoured at the court of Louis XIII. and one of the greatest users was the beautiful Anne of Austria. From Spain were im ported creams of vanilla and cacao and almond paste, all being used liberally to whiten the skin of the fair ladies of the court. Louis XIV. did not approve of the artificial enhancement of the courtesans and consequently cosmetics fell into disuse, but were again revived under the Regency when the "Poudre a la Marechale" was in vogue. The Emperor Napoleon I. was very susceptible to the artistic refinements of his time, and the Empress Josephine brought from Martinique cosmetics which she always continued to use. The French at this period made a definite move to place the manufacture of these artistic aids to beauty upon a scientific basis, and to-day throughout both Europe and America the production of cosmetics is one of the most interest ing, scientific and remunerative businesses.
Cosmetics are used mainly to finish artistically what nature has left undone, and while the indifferent products of a few years ago were shunned owing to their crude colours and tex ture, they are now of such great purity and artistic finish that there are preparations to suit all types of skins and colourings. Harmful raw materials are eliminated by the chemist, and it is true to say that the best makes of cosmetics are prepared under scrupulously clean and antiseptic conditions, and that there is practically no risk of damaging even the most delicate skin by using them. The old argument that it is unhealthy to clog the pores of the skin no longer holds water, because, just as a man removes with soap and water the dirty dust of the street, so a lady removes clean cosmetics from her skin with creams a few hours after their application. Moreover, while they are in use they form an excellent protecting agent against adverse atmos pheric conditions. Facial massage is much appreciated by those who desire to retain a clean, supple and unwrinkled complexion, but modern surgical science has evolved a treatment known as face lifting, by which wrinkles can be removed or filled up, the shape of the nose improved, and defects of the chin or ears eliminated. The operation is performed with local anaesthetics, under highly antiseptic conditions, and without danger. This method of rejuvenescence does not, however, pretend to dispense with the use of cosmetics, since plastic surgery only improves contour.
Bath preparations consist mainly of crystalline carbonate or sesquicarbonate of soda together with borax, sodium phosphate and bay salt. Water softeners contain the dried carbonates of soda and of ammonia. They are fragrantly perfumed, and when added to the bath make the ablutions more pleasant, and by softening the water make soap lather more easily.
Dental preparations comprise tooth powders and pastes together with liquid dentrifices. The former contain among other sub stances precipitated chalk, calcium phosphate, magnesium car bonate, soap and pumice. The pastes are made from the powders by the addition of glycerine and water. The antiseptic substances include thymol, eucalyptus oil and carbolic acid. The liquid prep arations contain these antiseptics, together with tinctures of myrrh and rhatany.
Hair preparations are more numerous. Bay rum is made from oil of bay, rum and industrial alcohol. Brilliantines contain liquid paraffin or a good vegetable oil, and the solid ones a substance akin to vaseline. Non-greasy hair fixers generally contain traga canth, glycerine and water. Depilatories are based upon the sul phides of the alkaline earths. Hair tonics contain jaborandi, cantharides or quinine. Shampoos contain soap and borax, to gether with henna (for brunettes) or camomile (for blondes).
Lipsticks are quite harmless when made from almond oil, lano line, white paraffin jelly and cocoa butter. The colouring matters vary, but are generally carmine with one or other of the harm less lakes.
Manicure preparations include nail polishes ; the solid blocks contain tin oxide and waxes, and the liquid enamels celluloid with a solvent and colour.
Rouges contain carmine, eosine or one of the harmless lakes, together with starch, kaolin or zinc oxide.
Shaving preparations are based upon soap (with brush) or stearic acid (without brush). Shaving powders contain Castile soap and starch. Shaving blocks are either potash alum or fused boracic acid.
Skin creams cover a very wide selection. Cold cream is a finely divided emulsion of oil and wax with water. Vanishing creams are largely stearic acid emulsified with soap, and some times containing glycerine or lanoline. Massage creams may be prepared from "skinned" milk; virginal milk from tincture of benzoin and glycerine of borax. Astringent lotions are based upon alum and alcohol. Sunburn lotions contain calamine and zinc oxide. Mud packs are made from fuller's earth, glycerine and benzoin.
Smelling salts contain liquid ammonia or its carbonate.
Soaps are made by boiling tallow, coconut oil or palm-kernel oil to neutralization with an alkali. The resultant soap is salted out and converted into chips. These are milled by passing through granite or steel rollers, when they become strips and are sub sequently forced through a plodder at tremendous pressure. The long bars which come out are automatically cut into sizes, and are stamped by machines into the dainty tablets used in the bath-room.
Toilet powders are of diverse composition, but generally con tain zinc oxide, talcum, one of the starches and a stearate of magnesium. The colouring matter in face powders may be of either organic or inorganic origin (yellow ochre, etc.). Talcum powders contain a much higher percentage of French chalk, and sometimes a little boracic acid. They are all sieved through very fine-mesh silk.
All the above cosmetics are perfumed, but this aspect of the subject is dealt with in the article : PERFUMES.
There is no reason to suppose that European cosmetics did not make their first appearance in America with the first women colonists. During colonial times, and later, the use and ethics of cosmetics varied enormously, from Puritan New England to cavalier Virginia. In the southern colonies cosmetics flourished. Even in Quaker Pennsylvania, which occupied a middle ground between the "liberal" South and the "puritan" North, cosmetics were in use; and we find on the statute books of that colony the notorious act of 177o, by virtue of which a marriage might be annulled if it could be proven that the wife had, in courtship, deceived and misled her prospective husband by using cosmetics. Even where there was no social ban on them, but where living conditions made them too great a luxury, cosmetics were not un known. Some of these early subterfuges and substitutes still survive in rural America. Powdered chalk and fresh cut beet root are used to enhance the complexion ; and there is a supersti tion that the juice of the petals of certain varieties (dependent on the locality) of roses will impart a permanent rose bloom to the cheeks and lips.
With the growth of population and wealth, cosmetics have played an ever increasingly important role in America. The fundamental reason for this can be found in the climate. American women require more cosmetics than Europeans because the bril liant sunlight of the Western continents tends to burn all the colour out of the skin.
Hence American women will try almost any kind of preparation in the hope that it will improve their complexions. As one con sequence of this, it is far easier to introduce a novelty in America than in Europe. Some idea of the significance of this craving for novelty may be gathered from the fact that there are over a thousand different "brands" of face powder registered with the national trade association and the trade-mark bureau at Wash ington. However, a consideration of the history of cosmetics in America must be made—with due allowance for the factors of climate and the American proclivity to "try anything once"—in the light of the fact that American cosmetic habits and usages are, in the main, identical with those of Europe. Europe has always set the styles in cosmetics in America; and the conviction persists throughout America that European cosmetics are in nately and inherently superior to those of domestic manufacture. While this is true of perfumes, it is not so of cosmetics.
The keystone of the cosmetics industry is face powder (rouge is only face powder with deeper colouring). In the early days of the republic face powders were made, occasionally, with bases of lead or arsenic salts, but most commonly with a bismuth base. Bismuth was preferable for hygienic reasons. But it was dis advantageous in that it would discolour grey or brown in the fumes of candle or gas light, and it was expensive. In 1866 new impetus was given the industry, not only in America but all over the world, by Henry Tetlow's discovery that oxide of zinc made a satisfactory face powder base. It is harmless when ap plied externally (cf. "zinc ointment"), it will not discolour with oxidization, and, compared to bismuth, it is cheap—cheap enough to put face powder and rouge within the reach of every pocket book. This formula remains the formula of most reputable face powders in the world to-day. It is the accepted formula of the British and United States pharmacopoeias.
There were no further important developments in the field of American cosmetics until the appearance of talcum powder in the last decade of the last century. Talcum powder is simply powdered magnesium silicate, perfumed and put up in tins. It is used for dusting and drying the body, either after bathing or independently of the bath. Again, the climatic factor favoured the reception of the article. Enormous quantities of talcum pow der are consumed in the Americas, yet talcum powder has never attained a vogue in Europe.
The outbreak of the World War found the American cos metics industry prepared to take advantage of the unusual situa tion. It can hardly be said that European importations into America declined in the war years; but the tremendous increases in wages and number of female wage earners, together with the inflation of money and the concurrent tendency to extravagance, opened a market for American cosmeticians many times greater than that which existed before the war. Pre-war census statistics of the industry are apt to be misleading, as they were not very carefully analysed and classified. It is safe to assume, however, that the annual pre-war turn-over in cosmetics of all kinds, exclusive of soaps, was never more than 24 million dollars a year. The latest census bulletin issued by the Department of Commerce (Census of Manufactures, 1925: The Drug Industries, Washing ton, 1927), gives a comprehensive view of the development of the industry since the war. See table on p. 487.
It must be borne in mind that considerable weight is given these figures by the fact that several important foreign manufacturers whose goods enjoyed a wide sale in the United States have, since the war, to escape the high import tariffs, set up their own manu factories in America, thus bringing their output under the registra tion of the U.S. census. To this indeterminate extent the figures quoted above do not represent either increased consumption or price rises.
Exportations, begun 7o years ago, but scarcely important prior to the World War, have increased proportionately. American ex porters of cosmetics find Great Britain and the Colonies their best market. The growth of this trade with South and Central American countries has been greatly handicapped by high and, in some instances, preferential import tariffs.
Various efforts have been made to "regulate" the cosmetics industry in America. As a large user of industrial alcohol it has always come under the surveillance of the Internal Revenue Department. Since the passage of the i8th Amendment, the Vol stead Act, and the various State "enforcement" acts, its difficulties under this head have increased; although, in 1928, a certain level of order and stability has been reached. Cosmetics were brought, quite ineffectually, under the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. In the two years, 1926 and 1927, more attention has been given cosmetics by State legislatures. This interest can be attributed to (a) the example of New Hampshire, whose legislators first tried to pass a law prohibiting the use of certain cosmetics within the State, and (b) to the studies of the compositions of cosmetics conducted by the American Medical Association, with a view to determining what effects, harmful or otherwise, they might have.