Beauty Across Time: Part 6
Early 1900’s: Women request injections of carmine (a red substance derived from the cochineal insect) to recapture the “bloom of youth.” Instead it gives them pimples and other unsightly blemishes. Injections of paraffin are used to fill in wrinkles and sagging skin, sometimes resulting in lumps of wax.1900: Anthony Overton creates “High Brown,” the first commercial face powder marketed to African-Americans.
1901: Lillian Russell popularizes the “Gibson Girl” hairstyle.
1901: Berlin surgeon Eugene Hollander performs the first modern facelift. Sarah Bernhardt is the first celebrity to receive a facelift in 1906.
1902: Helena Rubinstein opens a small salon in Melbourne, Australian, where she instructs local women on skincare and sells "Crème Valaze," which she claims has restorative properties.
1904: Max Factor, formerly the official cosmetic expert for the czar of Russia, escapes to the U.S. and opens a theatrical makeup and hair goods shop.
1904: The Barber Supply Dealers Association of America holds its first convention at the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, at which manufacturers and distributors meet and develop business relationships. The organization becomes the Barber and Beauty Supply Institute in 1921.
1904: Patent #775,134 is granted to King C. Gillette for a “safety razor.”
1904: A newfangled undergarment called a “brassiere,” manufactured by Charles DeBevoise in France, appears in the U.S.
Coming tomorrow: Makeup Gets Its Closeup
