Toxic Beauty, Now And Then

Over the years, people have been able to try almost every approach or product to enhance their physical appearance. Enterprise firms and beauty moguls have therefore plotted to sell almost everything to us from water to poison for cosmetic treatments. While several cosmetic products ultimately have shown little effectiveness, a large number have also caused physical damage and even death. 

Now more strict rules are expected in cosmetic and cosmetic surgery than in the 19th century when plum powders and facial creams containing poisons were common. Even today, however, there are significant side effects and possible hazards, especially from cosmetic procedures. 

cosmetic injections, such as platelet-rich injections of plasma and factious fillers, have recently been documented to contribute to a large number of patients with chronic and potentially disfiguring bacterial diseases. While these types of non-invasive procedures are common, spending over $1 billion annually on cosmetic jab alone in Australia, research indicates that nearly one-fifth of patients may have such complications. 

Natural Health Issues By Using Chemicals

There are still potential concerns about the side effects of using Botox (Botulinum Toxin Type A) to combat or stamp facial wrinkles even though the greatest possible care is taken. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration issued an alert that Botox “may spread out from the field of botulism injection, to produce symptoms of botulism,” such as muscle weakness and breathing difficulties.

Also, the most popular beauty items are still associated with potential risks. Take lipstick, put it directly on the thin skin of the lip, readily ingested during wear, and reapplied repeatedly throughout the day. Manufacturers are not allowed to mention lead as a lipstick component, because it is known to be a contaminant, although most include plum and colors, at much higher concentrations. In 2011, an FDA examination of 400 lipsticks found that each contained lead. Nonetheless, the FDA recommends an appropriate amount of up to 10 parts per million lead. Alison Matthews David states in her book Fashion Victims: The Hazards of Dress Past and Present that plum was for centuries a common ingredient in cosmetics “because it made colors fair and opaque and created a desirable ‘whiteness,’ which meant freedom from tough outdoor labor and racial purity.” 

Alison Matthews David states in its Fashion Victims

The Hazards of Dress Past and Present, that plumbing has been a common ingredient in cosmetics for centuries “because its colors were even and opaque and created a desirable ‘whiteness’ that meets both freedoms from hard work and race pureness.” 

In the 1860s, “Bloom of Youth

Laird’s American facial lotion promised to whiten the face, benefiting “women afflicted with tan, freckles, roughness or discolored skin.” However, in a number of women the skin lightener contained such a large amount of plumage that it induced “wrist drop” or radial nerve paralysis. 

One man was “wasted to a skeleton,” while a housewife of St Louis is recorded as dying of plum poisoning after intensive use of laird’s long-term and a home-made preparation containing “white flakes and glycerine.”

A gendered culture

In A Book on Beauty of 1892, disgraced skin specialist Anna Ruppert wrote that a woman never should overlook her appearance because “the noblest beauty will soon be lost if she is unattended.” Her article today has a range of significant reactions to beauty culture. 

First of all, it remains mostly women who are looking for cosmetics. Ruppert’s advice to the Victorian woman was that it was important to retain her look to maintain a happy marriage. Our new, postfeminist view is that women now want to obey the ideals of appearance and mode. 

Secondly, beauty is still seen as a continuous work and maintenance operation. Procedures such as Botox can pre-emptively be used to avoid wrinkles and shrinkages, but they need regular usage overtime to keep up their effects. Thirdly, and most critically, the gendering of cosmetic applications ensures that women suffer most from harmful products and procedures. As Matthews David points out, cosmetics and teachers are less rigorously supervised than products such as shampoos and deodorants that come into the ‘personal care’ category.

A series of macabre or gruesome stories were composed of many decades of lax attitudes towards cosmetics and now noninvasive cosmetic procedures. From plumbing youth bloom to cosmetic fillers provided under dubious circumstances, the past of toxic cosmetic products reveals how detrimental it has been to women to fulfill the standards of appearance.