Arsenic<\/h3>\n<\/div>
In 1851, doctor and explorer Johann Jakob von Tschudi wrote an article in a Viennese medical journal about the residents of Styria, southeast Austria. Readers learned that while the Styrians lived a conventional, hardworking existence in this mountainous region, they differed from most people in one, curious way: a dedication to eating arsenic trioxide, commonly known as \u2018white arsenic\u2019.<\/p>\n
Various arsenical compounds were already in widespread use by this period, both as a renowned (and feared) poison and as a medicine.<\/p>\n
One of the most celebrated arsenic-based therapeutics was \u2018Fowler\u2019s solution\u2019, a liquid substance developed during the 1780s containing potassium arsenite. It was initially recommended as a treatment for malaria, but soon gained a reputation as a general tonic, an effective treatment for eczema and other severe skin disorders, and a cure for virulent diseases such as cholera.<\/p>\n
- Read more about why Arsenic was Agatha Christie\u2019s favourite murder weapon<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
But the existence of arsenic-eaters (known as \u2018toxicophagi\u2019) in Austria stimulated a renewed interest in arsenic\u2019s beneficial effects. In particular, there was a great deal of excitement over stories that the Styrians not only reported increased endurance and energy, but that they had acquired improved complexions, with sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks. In effect, arsenic could make you beautiful.<\/p>\n
While it was routinely reported that excessive and persistent use of arsenic could be at best an irritant, and at worst, fatal, its popularity increased. Indeed, there did seem to be some short-term benefits to users\u2019 complexions \u2013 not least because arsenic dilates the capillaries, giving the temporary effect of a flattering flush to the cheeks.<\/p>\n
Recognising a growing trend, a number of companies soon began offering arsenic-based cosmetics. By the mid-1890s, consumers could buy products such as \u2018Dr James P Campbell\u2019s Safe Arsenic Complexion Wafers\u2019 and even caramels made with tiny quantities of arsenic. The popularity of such products waned in the years immediately after the First World War<\/a>, but soaps laced with the substance were still on sale well into the 1930s.<\/p>\n
- Tapeworms, arsenic and magic soap: fact-checking history\u2019s weirdest fad diets and weight-loss gimmicks<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>2<\/span>
Radium<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Helen Cavendish, a stalwart of the high society salons dotted around Mayfair, London, was well regarded by her wealthy clients, and they trusted her judgment when it came to the latest in beauty treatments. So, in 1911, when she launched a range of products utilising the radioactive element radium, they were an almost-instant success.<\/p>\n
The discovery of radium in the late 19th century by the Curies had prompted a flurry of experiments to scope the limits of its potential applications. Scientists and, in turn, medical practitioners and entrepreneurs, would struggle to understand the complicated properties of radioactive elements. By the early 1900s, the curious and still mostly unfathomable properties of radium would find expression in a wide range of goods and services aimed at the general consumer.<\/p>\n
- Read more about Marie Curie<\/a>, the woman who stirred up science<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Most of these products were grounded in the theory of mild radium therapy, proponents of which argued that exposure to radium in minute doses (usually administered through radium- laced water or by breathing in radon gas) caused a small amount of stress to biological organisms. This strain would trigger a chain of psychological reactions that worked as a potent metabolic catalyst to improve joint movements, boost the immune system, and trigger a whole host of other positive changes in the body.<\/p>\n
Cavendish\u2019s Caradium line of products \u2013 which included shampoo, hair growers and face creams \u2013 were made with radium water and herbs under the supervision of a self-styled \u201cspecialist in radioactive toilet preparations\u201d. Rival cosmetics on the market included \u2018White\u2019s Radium Hair Food\u2019, Frederick Godfrey\u2019s \u2018Renair Radioactive Antiseptic Hair Tonic\u2019 and the \u2018O-Radium Hat-Pad\u2019.<\/p>\n
![\""Two\"]( "\\"\"Women\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Women at a beauty parlour in 1922 unwind with a radium-based Kemolite mud treatment (Photo by Topical Press Agency\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n While the dangers of radium are now much better known, there is little evidence that these products caused great harm to the general public, as the amount of radium (a hugely expensive substance) they contained was minuscule. One victim, however, was the wealthy US socialite Eben Byers (1880\u20131932), whose excessive consumption of a pain-relief drug named Radithor led him to die an agonising death from multiple radiation-induced cancers.
3<\/span>Mercury<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Mercury \u2013 also commonly referred to as quicksilver \u2013 has a long history of being used to treat skin problems. In the 1300s, the metallic element was typically added to animal fat to form a thick cream, which was then slathered on by patients affected by psoriasis and leprosy<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A few centuries later, a notable recipe \u201cto procure Beauty\u201d was published in Hannah Woolley\u2019s 1675 book The Accomplish\u2019d Lady\u2019s Delight in Preserving, Physick, Beautifying, and Cookery<\/em>, instructing readers to: \u201cTake four Ounces of Sublimate, and one Ounce of crude Mercury, and beat them together\u2026 in a wooden Mortar, and wooden Pestle\u201d before eventually laying the substance on the skin \u201cwith Oyl of white Poppy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mercury compounds known as mercury salts, which dissolve in water or alcohol, were usually more straightforward to use than the element in its purest form. These were the basis of medicines like calomel, used to treat everything from malaria to yellow fever, as well as products such as Dr T Felix Gouraud\u2019s \u2018Oriental Cream\u2019 (launched in the 1880s), which pledged to treat \u201cevery blemish on beauty\u201d \u2013 so long as you applied the cream using the company\u2019s branded velvet sponge.<\/p>\n
But the problem with mercury is that it accumulates in the body \u2013 the more you use, the more it affects you. It spreads rapidly through tissue, loosens teeth, causes stomach ulcers, damages the nervous system and ultimately causes death.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until 1936 that mercury chloride was finally removed from Gouraud\u2019s cream and the formula changed for good. However, calomel was not actually struck off the British Pharmacopoeia (Britain\u2019s official register of professionally approved remedies), until the 1950s, when more effective treatments for ailments such as malaria and yellow fever were discovered, and the fatal dangers of mercury confirmed.
4<\/span>Cantharidin<\/h3>\n<\/div>
The blister beetle (a collective term that actually includes around 7,500 different insect species) excretes the fluid cantharidin, a poisonous agent that causes swelling when it comes into contact with the skin. Historically, this phenomenon led the blister beetle \u2013 also known as \u2018Spanish fly\u2019 \u2013 to be used as an aphrodisiac, because in small quantities, the secretions trigger an allergic reaction that inflames the genitals.<\/p>\n
Preparations made with cantharidin (cantharides) were in use for thousands of years. The Roman historian and politician Tacitus relates a tale about Augustus<\/a> Caesar\u2019s wife, Empress Livia, serving dinner guests a meal laced with Spanish fly to spark illicit activity and leave them vulnerable to blackmail.<\/p>\n
- Spanish fly, holy bread and mashed worms: history\u2019s weirdest aphrodisiacs and love potions<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Meanwhile, the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates<\/a> writes about the power of blister beetles in helping those suffering from swelling caused by excess water retention \u2013 a condition then known as dropsy (and now, as oedema).<\/p>\n
Patients affected by other ailments such as ulcers, piles and skin disorders were also regularly treated with medicines made from the crushed and powdered bodies of these insects. But despite being known to cause nasty blisters, along with other unpleasant side-effects such as nausea and dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), cantharidin found its way into several well-known brands of hair tonics on sale during the 19th century.<\/p>\n
![\""A\"]( "\\"\"Martha\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Martha Matilda Harper, thought to be shown in this c1914 photograph, built a formidable American haircare empire (Photo by Library of Congress)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Powdered beetle (plus sage, salt, quinine and alcohol) was included in the Moscano hair restorers invented by Martha Matilda Harper (1857\u20131950), while cantharides were a key ingredient in \u2018Barry\u2019s Tricopherous for the Skin and Hair\u2019, trademarked in the 1890s.<\/p>\n
It was suggested that the resulting toxic reaction encouraged hair growth, stimulated the blood supply, and rebooted the follicle. An advert for Barry\u2019s Tricopherous clarified: \u201cIf the pores of the scalp are clogged, or if the blood and other fluids do not circulate freely\u2026 the result is scurf, dandruff, shedding of the hair, greyness, dryness and harshness of the ligaments, and entire baldness.\u201d
5<\/span>Petrol<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Outside of Vaseline Petroleum jelly, we don\u2019t often associate the use of petrol with beauty. But treatments using this substance, created by distilling and refining petroleum, were popular during the 19th century. Essentially, petrol acted as a dry shampoo, stripping the hair of accumulated dirt and dust.<\/p>\n
For home use, you could buy \u2018Madame Fox\u2019s Life for the Hair\u2019. The product, sold as a \u201cpositively harmless\u2026 infallible hair restorer\u201d was made using \u201ca Deodorized product of petroleum and the Extract of Leaves of the Bay Tree\u201d. Hair salons, which until at least the 1920s often didn\u2019t have access to hot and cold running water, relied on \u2018petroleum washes\u2019 to clean the hair of their clients while dry.<\/p>\n
- A brief history of changing hairstyles<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
But applying these lotions and then towelling them off sometimes led to fatal consequences. In July 1897, a woman named Fanny Samuelson died after her hair caught alight during a petrol wash at Monsieur Emile and Co\u2019s upmarket salon in London. At the inquest the following month, it was determined that the petrol was so unstable that the friction caused by merely rubbing the saturated hair would have been sufficient to result in combustion.<\/p>\n
Another equally unappealing alternative to petrol was carbon tetrachloride, a toxic organic compound that was also widely used as a solvent and as a fire extinguisher. Unfortunately, despite following guidance regarding the importance of ventilation, hairdressers soon found out that it wasn\u2019t much safer. The effects of breathing in the solution were similar to inhaling chloroform, and, at high concentrations, could affect the central nervous system and lead to death.<\/p>\n
- A brief history of changing hairstyles<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
- Spanish fly, holy bread and mashed worms: history\u2019s weirdest aphrodisiacs and love potions<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
- Read more about Marie Curie<\/a>, the woman who stirred up science<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
- Tapeworms, arsenic and magic soap: fact-checking history\u2019s weirdest fad diets and weight-loss gimmicks<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
![\""Two\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/GettyImages_3313594-53405ca-e1634721737538.jpg?quality=90&resize=558%2C413"\" "\\"\"Women\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""A\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Library-of-Congress_3b23514u-86a35cf-e1634721961831.jpg?quality=90&resize=319%2C413"\" "\\"\"Martha\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""A\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/GettyImages_2674369-2fa61e6-e1634722408783.jpg?quality=90&resize=611%2C413"\" "\\"\"An\\"")
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