Beauty Across Time: Part 2
1800’s: “Enameling” the face with white lead salts is a fashionable—but sometimes fatal—practice.1806: William Colgate, an English immigrant, sets up a starch, soap and candle business in New York City. Frances Smith was made a partner in the following year and the firm became Smith and Colgate. William Colgate brought out his partner in 1813.
1830: Dr. Sitts, a podiatrist, develops the orangewood stick (adapted from a dental tool) for nails.
1837: William Procter, a candle maker, and James Gamble, a soap maker—immigrants from England and Ireland respectively—form the company known as Procter & Gamble. The company’s current brand holdings include Max Factor, Prell, Pantene, Crest, Olay, Clairol and Wella.
1850: Fowler’s Solution, an arsenic-based cream is marketed as a treatment for acne.
1851: A bathtub is installed in the White House.
1860: Significant facts affect fashion of the future. The sewing machine was invented and perfected and new synthetic dyes make intense colors available for fabric. It is also said that King Edward had a penchant for mature, buxom women—which led to an even stronger societal preference for older, curvaceous versions of beauty (including a love of gray and white hair!).
1866: Hiram Maxim applied for the first curling iron patent. Hiram also invented a machine gun.
Coming tomorrow: Extrafollicular Activity
