the side effects women experienced. this event was hosted by the daughters of the american revolution museum in washington, d.c. >> hello. i went to injured is what we are going to be talking about. the scope of my research here on cosmetics and beauty care products that americans of european descent were using in the 18th and early 19th century. is a research topic for you have to be specific, i will be talking about beauty standards that were basically present in eastern europe. and americans of european descent.

i would be delighted to hear door lecture. we will be going in reverse order from the title. starting with what was beautiful at the time. that is what the look you are going for. now, in the -- a quick note on sources. it can be a little tricky to find information. we have portraits. you can see what people look like, or what their porches -- portraits were painted as. as far as written material, it is a little tricky. these things were not really being produced commercially at the time. not yet. this is the 1700s. so they tended to be handwritten recipes and people's homes. you sometimes find them slipped in cookbooks. we will have miscellaneous stuff

at the end. there were a couple of books that have been published at the time that really focused on these sorts of recipes. so, it does require a little bit of detective work. one of those sources, the art of preserving beauty from 1756 contains a fictional and perfectly beautiful woman. a description of this woman. it is pretty well illustrated in this portrait. a portrait of queen charlotte of england. charlotte here has very pale skin. that was the ideal for western europe and in america at the time. her skin is not just pale, but the ideal was for glossy skin as well. there were numerous recipes for a varnish of the face, or to

give a face a luster. everyone is like no, no, get rid of that oil. that was not true at the time. you wanted your face to be a little shiny. she also has rosy lips and cheeks. that was very much an ideal. her hair in contrast to her skin, the idea was to be matte and not glossy. today you see shampoo commercials where she tosses her head and there is this light shimmering across her hair. they actually went in for the matte look in the hair. it was the reverse. her hair is most like the powdered in this portrait. the powders or starch-based, most of them. sometimes they were colored.

for gray like this you could use wood ashes. for flaxen hair and yellow ocher. it may be tinged any color according to your fancy. i've seen references to blue and pink. they are not trying to hide the fact they use powder and their hair. it is supposed to look like this. if you don't want to powder your hair, did you would rather dye it, the dye colors you tend to see our black, brown and gold. no redheads. that was not en vogue at the time. moving on to her teeth. the pearls are nice illustration. the ideal was to have white and perfect and nice milling teeth -- nice smelling teeth.

the sheer number of remedies against aching teeth, darkened teeth, bad breath, plus the skeletal remains of people of this time indicate that usually had bad teeth. but they did not want it. they would much rather have nice-looking teeth. let's go a little bit in the hygiene and not cosmetics. that at least with the ideal. and people wanted to smell nice. a little bit of hygiene, but for cosmetics used they had perfumes to try to cover up any odor. they did wash. i like to dispel that myth. it is not like nobody they. -- bathed. whether what they considered smelling nice is the same as

what we in the modern day consider smelling nice, we will never know because we can't travel back in time. i figure it's probably similar to the way if you travel to a different country these days you may notice they had different hygiene practices than you do, one way or the other. so my guess is that is how it was at the time. there was a standard of hygiene and smelling nice at the time which may be different from what currently is. there are a few perfume bottles that exist to support this fact. these are two in the dar collection. the one of the left is glass, and the other is metal coated with enamel. they both data the late 18th century. that is the look you are going for.

the question is, who exactly is wearing these? and to what extent? that depends on who and where you were. we have a continuum here. let's start of the left. the european aristocracy represents one end of the spectrum. these are all details. she has got some really exaggerated cosmetics going on. she is not trying to hide that fact that all that she has got rouge in the middle of her cheeks. she has got hair powder. she has something on her lip. she has the works. in the middle is english. in england they are looking at the same sort of ideal, but it is toned down a little bit. you can still tell she has her hair powdered.

she has roots in the middle of her cheeks. this is fun. modern day makeup, if anyone is wearing blush, you probably have it on your cheekbones. in the 18th century they put it right in the middle of the cheeks, either a big circle like on the left, for this sort of upside down triangle shape, like a yield sign. i love the profile because you can really see that in the one in the middle. so then sliding back to the other end of the spectrum here is a woman in america. she represents the most natural look of any of them. european visitors to america commented that women just don't wear a lot of cosmetics around here. that is not to say they didn't wear any at all, but it definitely went and more for the natural look and the european

aristocracy, either on continental europe or in england. this is the whole portrait that goes along with them if you want to see the context. i love her hair on the left. quite something. so, that is the 1700s. 18th century. by the time the 19th century came along the more natural look is definitely in. that is not just in america, but in europe as well. these are two portraits in the dar medium collection. -- museum collection. they do have rosy cheek and rosy lips. they have those going on. they have the pale skin. they are fashionable with their brown hair. it's a little harder to tell that they are wearing cosmetics.

they could be, but they had definitely -- if they are, it is toned down. it looks fairly natural. the main difference in the ideals of beauty from the 1700s to the 1800s was that the powdered hair is no longer in. you do see recipes for hair powder in the 1800s, but it is mostly scented. it is just scented usually. and you never really see portraits of people with powdered hair. obviously powdered hair. think of it as maybe a dry shampoo will little bit. so, to get these looks people are using different tools. usually they don't survive sadly, and neither did the original preparations. but portraits do, and here you

see my dr. pompadour putting on her makeup in the morning. there is a cape around her shoulder to keep powders offer her clothes. she is holding a square box with what looks like rouge and it. she has a nice little brush. probably a camel hair brush. i have seen written references to camel hair brushes being used. sometimes some of these tools do survive. i am mostly talking about cosmetic use in ladies, but this is a gentleman's shaving kit in the collection. it has got this little shaving brush down here that has lost

all of its bristles, but it has a couple of razors in it and on -- odds and ends. it's from the 1800s. we have a lady's combination descant vanity, circa 1820. it is a lap desk, which you may be familiar with. it opens up and it has all of your little powders and potions and space for scissors. for the hard-working lady on the go. that is the look you are going for at the time. some of the ways you could get that look -- let's delve into the fun stuff. [laughter] ms. cannon: what i mean by bad versus good.

the way i have grouped this, that refers to things that were morally unacceptable and also things that were toxic that you would be using. those categories overlap somewhat but not totally. some of the things morally frowned upon don't hurt you, and some of the things do. some of the things that were morally acceptable were fine, and some would kill you. this -- keep in mind there is a little overlap here. start with the moral acceptability. now what we call makeup today they would call paint. there was a couple of different terms. paint versus cosmetics. we will come to cosmetics later. they were not 100% consistent in the terminology they used. paint was something that. it was something you are

externally putting on your body that will stay there and change the way you look. so, like rouge, colored lip gloss, a skin whitener. those are all paints and generally frowned upon. somewhat in the 18th century, although they were more accepting of cosmetic use, even of paints, depending on who you were. the european aristocracy in the 18th century is like what is wrong with paints? load them on. by the 19th century there was this idea that it is not morally acceptable to change her appearance in any way like that. as with everything it changes over time and in geographic area. there were some fantastic

written quotes you can find against the use of paints. one of my favorite concerns -- it is a white material you would put on your face. like you would use foundation today, but it is white. it is not like tinged to match skin tone. it is less toxic than lead, so that is nice. still not great. i would not recommend you go in use it. it has this cute little trick where it is exposed to sulfur gas, such as might be put out by a coal fire, it turns black. there were all of these great morning tales to young ladies featuring as its prime protagonist/antagonist a woman who is celebrated in society,

and then exposed as a cosmetics user of paint when she is exposed to the fumes that -- and her face turns black. every person was alarmed by the sudden chemical change, but the lecture explaining the cause and a lady receives no further injury but a selye tory -- selye tory -- salutory lesson to rely on natural beauty instead of artificial in the future. that was an american source. another american source making 33 warns us -- 1833 warns us, by rubbing them with drivers powder. scented magnesium this just as well. if the ladies had rouge, perhaps they would, by mistake, put it up on their cheeks instead of their combs and spoil their complexions.

even though the natural look is in, women are still using this stuff. otherwise there would not be so many people decrying their use. if you want to go back to the 18th and 19th century and not be censured, those are the things you want to avoid. avoid paints. if you want to not kill yourself, the also want to avoid toxic things. so, let's move into the bad ingredients you could possibly use that would very much injured your health. so, the big ones. heavy metals. we will start with the upper left corner. that is white lead. it has been used for hundreds of years to whiten the skin. it is lead. it will poison you.

it was part of the reason it was used for so long is that it is very good at doing what it does. i have never tried it because it is lead and i don't want to experiment with lead. i have heard from those who have carefully done some experimenting, modern-day spiriting, there is basically no substitute for it. it is really, really good. it gives you excellent coverage. it stays on. [laughter] yeah, that is why it was used for so long even of people absolutely knew what it did to you. so -- moving on. upper right. that is mercury. mercury sulfide, also known as

vermilion. that was a nice red color used for rouge. don't do that. next is its cousin, mercury chloride. you often see it called in the other books -- and this should be a clue -- corrosive sublimate. don't put anything called corrosive sublimate on your skin. it was used for topical washes and to take away pock holes. yeah, it would take away stuff all right. last here is iron. the green is iron. that was also used as a wash. it is not may be as bad as the others but nothing that you should really be putting on your skin. it was used in dyes a lot.

you also see it called green vitriol. some are ok and some are not. green vitriol like this was not ok. white vitriol was zinc sulfide. which was actually ok. we have acids. they tend to be used for things like tooth preparations for whitening teeth. it strips away the enamel. that would work. don't do that. and sulfuric acid, called oil of vitriol. don't use that. it is used for teeth and was found to whiten the nails, sulfuric acid. and in the modern-day boot called hcl.

-- call it hydrochloric acid. it's not too particular about what it removes. and we also have strong aces. like lye, potassium hydroxide. that was used for dying hair blonde. almost all involved stripping away the color of your hair. i also found this in a 1772 recipe for thickening hair. that would not work. when you wonder looking at all these things people put in their makeup and cosmetics, you have to wonder if they know it was

bad for you. the short answer is yes. the new household receipt book from 1854 contained first aid for victims of poisoning, including every single item i just mentioned. they absolutely did know it was bad for them. they were written warnings. even part of the recipe with say things like here is step-by-step instructions on how you make this, but don't because it is bad for you. or don't use my favorite -- don't use it often. ok, great. so, also in my bag category are not just the poisonous things, but the gross. so, for example, to take away freckles -- this is from 1756 -- take the blood of a buck hare, diluted in the urine and filter

it through a piece of linen. it would not actually harm you but eww. you see snails a lot. take as many snails as you please and beat them into a mortar with a sufficient quantity of oil a sweet almonds. strain it, add some other things, washington the water of frog spawn and add a few drops of the essence of lemon to correct the bad smell. yeah. other things that would smell good, which i have also put in my bag category are what i call the big three. there were three animal-based perfumes that were huge throughout -- even earlier, the 18th and 19th century.

musk and civet and ambergris. they would not harm you. some are still using perfumes now, but the first two , civet in mosque, you have -- musk, you have to kill the animal to get the gland. i put it in the back category because it only gets right to kill animals for perfume. you are welcome to differ and give your lecture differently. and ambergris comes from whales. you don't have to kill the whale, it is fine, but i put it in the category because some of your smiling. raise your hand if you know what ambergris is. yeah. it is the diarrhea of diseased sperm whales. they poop it out, floating into the ocean, changing chemically.

if you find it you are rich because perfumers will buy it for a lot of money. i still think it is gross. i stuck it in with the others in the back category. it is also phenomenally expensive. i have never been able to get some of that myself to try it but apparently it smells very good. there you have it. the things that we get you killed or are just plain gross. if you don't want to poison yourself and you want to follow societal expectations, what should you do? well, the answer to the moral question is basically clean living. for example, the greatest beauty is in the expression of a lovely face. she will need to have good expressions on your faces. i want to see those smiles.

another one is "fresh air and pure water of the only cosmetics that can be used without prejudice." we have the expression of a lovely face, fresh air in pure water. then another one says you must abstain from all sudden gusts of passion, particularly in the -- envy. ok. i have a lovely expression on my face, i'm using freshwater, getting exercise, i am abstaining from gusts of passion. what happens if eating more help? that is where cosmetics come in. those are different from paints.

that is where cosmetics komen and those are different from paints. so, and unfortunately there was not a ministry of beauty to dictate these, but for the most part people used paints to me and what i described before, something you can visibly see. cosmetics men to things like what we would consider lotions, so they sink into the skin. something you would put on, levon on for some time and then wash off. like if you have ever used a mask. those are cosmetics and those are perfectly fine, mostly. it depends on who you ask. there are some crotchety people who would complain about those come above for the most part they are all right. here is a receipt from 1857 to soften the skin and improve the complexion. mix in a cup of milk, flour and sulfur. it smells funny, it is still used today, so that is not bad. let it stand for one hour or so, then without disturbing the

sulfur, rub it into the skin. it will keep it soft and clear. so that is a cosmetic that you would be fine to use. nobody is coming after you. and nothing in there that could harm you unless you are allergic to sulfur, which i am. so, those are the things you can use and still be morally ok. also, in my good category i have the ingredients that will not just not kill you, but will do it they say they would, because there are plenty of things you can find in the recipes that will not hurt you, but will also not help. i wanted to focus on things that would work. and when i referred to these ingredients as good or safe, i am assuming this means unless you have an allergy. so do not just indiscriminately take what i say and go home and write me angry letters when you have a reaction to something. so, unfortunately there is not a

lot you can do in the realm of whitening your skin, that would actually work. and be not harmful. zinc oxide is used later than when i am talking about, the later 19th century and that is one of the things you find in the natural sunscreens. but the time we are talking about, that is not really an option yet. so, there are watches like -- washes the one i read. the harmless ones do not work. the ones that do work are bleaching the skin, so do not do that. and you are on safer ground with rouges and blue colors. rim ever, these are considered paints, but they are, they are in the good category because they are fine. most of what i have over here as samples, you can use these.

the upper left is an insect that gives you a red or purple die. -- dye. and then we have i'll connect root -- that is my favorite for lip coding. -- coloring. because it is like the color of blood. and so it looks good on everybody because the reason the lips have color to them is your skin is thin and it is the blood showing through. and below that -- whoops. the two on the bottom are would -- wood. you have brazil wood on the right and ready sandalwood on the left, and they are used for rouges as well. a very good colors. one of them has more of a purple tinge, the brazil wood, so it does look good on people with cooler complexions.

the red sandalwood has an orange color to it, so looking good on those with a warm complexion. so you had options, it was not +like -- sure you didn't have a drugstore full of dozens and drugstord full of dozens and dozens of things, but you did have options at the time and is it when people were traveling they had to specify if they were sending somebody to buy ingredients, they did have to specify. so, we also are on safe ground with cents -- scents. most of them will not be harmful and they will do what you want them to do. floral scents were popular, lavender was a good one for men. people considered it. most nowadays it is for women. but it was fine in those days for the men to smell like lavender. and in the upper right, it is showing a flower, but the part you use is the root.

it has -- so it is called violet powder, it smelled like violets. if you are new at researching and you read violet powders and you order violet, that is why it is not smell good. i learned, they do not actually mean violets, it has the root in it and it just smells that way. and you have other options with the spices, like a nut make -- nutmeg, cinnamon and close. -- cloves. and the way you delivered the perfumes could be in and out of base or in like what we could consider a lotion. they called it something

different. they would say -- which is oil and wax based. you could make perfumes into pastels to put in your mouth. we would consider it a lost engine to sweeten -- lozenge to sweeten your breath or you could use them to perfume the room. and with preparations, you have to be careful. i mentioned the acids used that you want to stay away from, some with preparation were ok. the ones that are gently abrasive powders, keyword is gentle. they used cuttlefish bone, charcoal, resin, and orris root, and chock. -- chalk. many preparations call for honey to make it into a paste, but of

course that kind of defeats the purpose of brushing your teeth. a lot of the tooth powders are colored red at the time, which i found interesting, so now we color the toothpaste to match our teeth, but they colored the tooth powder to match the gums. so, uh, lastly an ingredient you might not think about that is safe for you to use in cosmetics is silk. so -- the lady on the left is putting on a patch, a beauty patch. and these were made out of usually black silk. they were coded with -- coated with a gum, this is gum arabic. and i have some if you want to try them. they were cut into shapes, down the middle i have shapes that i

have evidence for. and they were different places to put it on your face. and those it started acquiring names, although you find a different people give different names for these, so it was not like it was -- nobody quite agreed on all of this. center of the forehead some people called majestic. lips could have been called coquette. and you had to be careful, because at certain times and places people would indicate their political alliance by which side of the face they put the patch on. so if you are never sure, but one on each side and you will be fine. [laughter] katie: we do have some patch boxes, the one on the left is silver, the one on the right is coated enamel. they are both from the late 18th century, most likely. the one on the right had to have

been after we were a country, because it does mention the united states. it was made in england. so they are not going to turn down a market when they see one. so, lastly i have a quiz. [laughter] katie: these are ingredients that i have a, some of them i mentioned, some of them i have not. you will have to guess. and one of the problems when you are researching these things is that the names tend to change. there are some archaic names for ingredients that people used that are not used anymore, so when you are reading through the recipes it is helpful to know if what you are reading through is going to be harmful. so, show of hands please -- anyone who thinks benjamin is toxic? non-toxic?

ok. you guys are good. that is benzoyne gum. you can use it in incense. it is fine. it will not hurt you. how about brimstone? toxic? non-toxic? ok, 50-50. that is sulfur. and that is again -- i can't use allergic, but as long as you're not allergic, it should be fine. they still prescribe it in topical preparations, modern-day ones. how about to reduce -- suruse? toxic? non-toxic? nobody wants to guess. ok, that is white led -- lead. important to know.

ok. how about cinnabar? this one i mentioned by name. toxic? how about safe? ok. that one is mercury. mercury sulfide, that was the red one. it is also known as per million -- bramilion. how about dragon? toxic? do you want to put dragon on? how about non-toxic? yeah. it is used in confectionary, for making icing. it is a thickener. so you have probably eaten some. it does look a little weird. when you are reading the recipe. some of them say gum jagged. -- dragon. [indiscernible] katie: i cannot spell it.

-- i'm sorry. [indiscernible] no, it is a resin. like gum arabic. so, oil of been -- ben. toxic? non-toxic? yeah, that is something you probably eaten as well. it is often used in cafeterias because it is a very stable oil that does not really have much of its own taste or smell and it has a long shelf life. you have probably eaten some and did not know it. what about oil of the tree all -- vitriol? you guys are right. that one is sulfuric acid. important to keep those straight. how about -- ? toxic? safe?

yeah, you know that as frankincense. sometimes it refers to other similar resins, but basically free consents. --basically frankincense. how about -- ? non-toxic? that is arsenic. it is used as a declaratory -- it will take stuff away. lastly, pearl white? toxic? safe? everybody is right. it depends on what you mean. pearl white can refer to oxide, the one i said at the beginning would turn black under some circumstances. and it is not as bad as lead, but you do not want to put it on your face.

or it could be a preparation made with actual pearls, which is fine. but they both use the term pearl white. so check. on which one is being referred to before you try it. ok. well, i would be happy to take any questions if you have any. yes? >> you mentioned at the outset that the europeans tended to use more cosmetics or paint than in the united states, or the colonies. was that a function of cost or availability? katie: it is culture, cultural as far as i can tell. i have not looked specifically into european use as much, just as a comparison to what we were doing in america. my research is mostly focused on american use, but it appears to be largely cultural, because we could get that stuff here too.

it is not like we could not. all these ingredients were available at apothecaries. yeah? >> i am wondering with the use of these products and cosmetic ingredients, is it mainly upper-class or is this universally used? katie: excellent question. so the more upper-class you are, the more likely you are to be using these. that is not to say that people who were sort of working-class were not doing things to improve their appearance, but they are less likely to be buying these, a lot of these ingredients were expensive. the upper crust and aristocracy were likely, more likely to be using cosmetics. the regular folks my like some of the cosmetics, not the paints, they were using things like oat bran in water and

washing their face with that. that would be something that would be easy to do. and in letters people would write, they would say, i have a sunburn, can you recommend something? and they would write back, my neighbor swears by this preparation. they were doing things, but not using the most expensive of ingredients. yeah? >> what happens if you do use lead? will it lead to death? katie: um, so let's see. lead poisoning. do you happen to know the exact -- >> it depends on the age, but you will develop severe mental disabilities, and at an older age you will experience where you can get a brain change from the lead and blood disorders. katie: she has a medical

so i knew that you would be better to give us that. there is one account i remember from later, the late 19th century, where the society beauty had lost the sensation in her arms. she was paralyzed in her arms and she swore up and down she did not use cosmetics whatsoever and it came out later she was using a lead based skin whitener, so it did damage nerves in her arms. yeah? >> you said elizabeth used whitener to cover her pock marks, was that also used in the 18th century? katie: they used beauty patches. so they started that way, but also they just used as a fad. so in the 17th century you see

people with patches everywhere. it looked like somebody just splashed a whole bunch of them in your face. by the 18th century, maybe down to one or two that were appropriate. and this is for the upper crust. normal folks probably are not wearing patches. definitely not in the 19th century. the fad had a pretty much finished by then. so the great thing about these patches is not only can you indicate your political alliance or accentuate a certain feature, but if you happen to have a blemish somewhere -- no, that was intentional. see, i have a patch. ok. any other questions? yes? >> i am curious, in the portraits and especially with the advent of photography, did that change -- or the painters capturing the way that the women

really looked, or idealizing her and did photography make a difference in how women would do their faces? katie: so glad you asked. as for the painters, you would have to go back in time and ask them, which we cannot do unfortunately. and with photography, we know the photographers noticed, this is 19th century and by this time nobody is supposed to look like they have cosmetics on, or paint, but photographers start saying, these women keep coming in and demanding to be made up because they want to look good in the photograph. and so i got some of my best recipes for later 19th century cosmetics from books written for photographers, to say, ok when the people come in to the studio and they do not like how they look and they want to, they want you to do them up properly, here

is something you can use. so yes, even i do find it interesting, people who would issue any kind of paints for their life, as soon as they come to the photography studio they say, this has to look good. so -- ok, if you are just dying to try anything i have some samples. thank you very much for coming out. and i hope that we will see you back soon. we have a symposium coming up at the end of march and it will be all about costumes based off of the current exhibit. so please pick up information. i have a clipboard for you to record your email if you are interesting in getting updates from us. and i will be over here. thank you very much for coming out. [applause]

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