Some of you who read this blog may be scratching your heads wondering wth that last post was about. I felt the same way when I stumbled across the old advertisement for feminine hygiene douche that did double (or triple and quadruple and on, as more of the facts emerged) duty as mouth wash for bad breath and a foot soak for the hubs. It would be the modern equivalent of handing over a tube of Vagisil to take care of loveys toothache.
I simply have a secret love affair with old advertising. I must as I'm drawn to it. It's ridiculous and fun, and reminiscent of pharmaceutical ads of today where there is an overload of information and instead of telling us we can use diet pills and be fabulous and have sparkling eyes while we're being fabulous, we're told all the horrifying side-effects, from explosive diarrhea to hair loss, a reversal in selling points. Anti-advertising, yet people still run to the doc for an Rx despite the risk of a weeping full-body rash and thrush of the brain stem.
I found that douche ad in a 1929 wedding planner. Not only does it advertise douche, it advertises photographers, jewelers, banks, florists and chocolatiers. It's most important messages, however, appear to be douching, using Clorox bleach everywhere, and learning to cook. There are a mess of really great from-scratch recipes in this wedding planner, to its credit, as well as great photographs. Vignettes of lives past. Alas, no perfume ads.
But what a way to kick off the Valentine's Season, eh?
I've really got to get cracking. I have yet to place all the perfumes on the Artfire site-- ooh! And I got all my website stuff straightened out, so I'll be working on that this year. I'm still developing some serums and elixirs with olive leaf infusions (nice stuff!), and I have four perfume projects with deadlines coming up. Eek.
Still have NOT done a thing with the butane extractor. I've decided to go ahead with the ambrette seeds as I've got a good supply of them, and they're pretty difficult to get anything from and I love killing myself with near-impossible challenges. It's just been too danged cold outside lately, and if you know anything about butane when it comes from the can, then you know it, the can it comes from, and wherever the butane goes into, gets sub-zero cold. And you can't do this indoors or you'll blow up.
but what was that stuff Justine? baking soda?
ReplyDeleteThey never say. But I'm happy you asked because it sent me on a research binge ~ I found this:
ReplyDelete"Takara Hygienic Powder.—Takara Laboratories, Portland, Ore. Composition: Essentially boric acid, ammonia alum, carbolic acid, and a
trace of menthol. Falsely claimed to be antiseptic. For "feminine hygiene," etc. Fraudulent therapeutic claims.—{N. /. 19371; November, 1932.]"
Apparently they were placed under investigation in the 30's for making false claims of their product.
"Bureau of Investigation
MISBRANDED "PATENT MEDICINES"
Abstracts of Notices of Judgment Issued by the Food
and Drug Administration of the United States
Department of Agriculture
[Editorial Note : The abstracts that follow are given in the briefest possible form: (1) the name of the product; (2) the name of the manufacturer, shipper or consigner ; (3) the
composition ; (4) the type of nostrum ; (5) the reason for the charge of mîsbranding and (6) the date of issuance of the Notice of Judgment—which may be considerably later than the
date of the seizure of the product.]"
Strangerer and strangerer . . .
wow, boric acid, ammonia and carbolic acid! sheesh, I wonder how many women used this...sheesh
ReplyDeleteOr how many women were rendered sterile or suffered from serious problems that this "miracle" was supposed to cure.
ReplyDeleteTruth in advertising means something.
Wow, the stuff they used to use - carbolic acid down there???? OUCH!
ReplyDeleteI have a similar book from my mum, she got it from the local council when she got married in 1964. Very useful advice in there. For example one should use finer wool when knitting underwear than for jumpers.....
Knitting underwear? How times have changed, eh?
ReplyDeleteCarbolic acid was used in a lot of hygiene products back then, despite the risks.