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The Poisonous Beauty Advice Columns of Victorian England

36 points by samclemens 11y ago

kweinber 11y ago
It is interesting how pervasive this still is: from the Botullism toxin injections to the notions of femme fatales and songs about girls being "toxic", "poison", or having that sickly "heroin chic" look. What do you think the root of it is? Is it a fear of the potency of female sexual power?
- sandworm101 11y ago
  Don't overthink it. Clear young skin, a near-universally accepted standard for beauty is rooted in nature. Young fertile women have clearer skin. So that's the goal. To get there women want to ether cover over blemishes (the painted woman image of the op) or basically peal off a layer of skin to expose the more youthful skin underneath (the "natural" look popular today). a) Anything that peals of skin chemically, rather then abrasively, is going to be toxic. The high PH of the ammonia dissolves fats and oils ... ie living tissue. Google "chemical peel" for today's version. But dissolving skin is a very localized injury without long term side effects. You can wreck your face, but ammonia isn't going to give you cancer. b) The painting-over approach requires something that can sit on the skin for a period of time without either dripping or being absorbed into the skin. You need something that can block light when spread in a very thin layer. And it needs to be shelf-stable. So you are looking for metal compounds, the heavier the better. If you want white, that's lead or zinc oxide. Lead is cheaper. Its toxicity, its general eagerness to play havoc with all biological reactions, keeps it from rotting away in the jar. So the usefulness is directly tied to it being a toxic heavy metal.
  - simoncion 11y ago
    To nit-pick: "peel", rather than "peal". :)
sandworm101 11y ago
This isn't all that different than today's beauty regimes. Talk to teenage girls and models, the toxicity now goes far deeper than makeup. Acne is caused by bacteria. You would be shocked at how many young celebs basically live on antibiotics year after year. What that does to their immune system isn't good, but the shock it does to their digestive systems probably helps keep the pounds off. Clear skin is also a function of hormones, specifically estrogen. Estrogen is found in birth control pills. Many a young girl is on 'the pill' for that benefit rather than for her reproductive health. At the truly shocking end are the models that use diabetes and insulin to manipulate weight. The poster girl for this is Halle Berry. She is/was a true diabetic, but it is also clear she used her insulin dependency to keep thin. A former Mr Universe was the male face of this practice. https://www.diabeteshealth.com/scrawny-boy-with-type-1-diabetes-becomes-mr-universe/ https://www.diabeteshealth.com/scrawny-boy-with-type-1-diabe...
- paulddraper 11y ago
  The Mr. Universe article says he adjusts the insulin according to activity and diet, and that it can't be manipulated to help him past what a functioning pancreas would do. "People sometimes give him the eye, thinking that insulin might be advantageous in competition, but insulin is of no use to him in that respect because if his insulin ever goes high, he can’t shed body fat and get lean enough to compete."
  - oh_sigh 11y ago
    That's BS. Non-diabetic advanced body builders/strongmen/powerlifters/juicers frequently use insulin (termed "slin" in those circles) to achieve super-human results that even typical steroids by themselves can't provide. The guy is basically just saying he doesn't abuse it, because he's not allowed to. There is a massive wink involved.
    - paulddraper 11y ago
      You may by right; I was just reading the posted resource. You may consider posting one with fewer winks next time.
solidsnack9000 11y ago
There is an element of self-sacrifice implied by beauty regimes -- sacrifice of time, of health, of wealth. Perhaps this is a critical function of beauty regimes -- it allows them to function as a display behavior: as a means of demonstrating discipline and self-control and as a way to demonstrate deliberate and purposeful adoption of certain values.
supersan 11y ago
> Victorian beauty ideals were unsurprisingly obsessed with pallor: upper class white women chased even whiter skin, a symbol that their privilege never left them working in the sun. You won't believe how true this still holds in India. Skin lightning creams are a huge deal here (and I'm guessing almost all of Asia like Malaysia, Thailand, etc where I've seen this marketed heavily too). These creams contain stuff like Hydroquinone which is a known carcinogen. I'm sure they contain many other chemicals too. But people still use it. It's a huge industry. Recently, there have been lightning creams for private parts. It's so weird that someone would actually consider that. The funniest thing though is that white people who come here spend a lot of time sun-bathing to get their skin tanned otoh :)

36 points by samclemens 11y ago

It is interesting how pervasive this still is: from the Botullism toxin injections to the notions of femme fatales and songs about girls being "toxic", "poison", or having that sickly "heroin chic" look. What do you think the root of it is? Is it a fear of the potency of female sexual power?

sandworm101 11y ago
Don't overthink it. Clear young skin, a near-universally accepted standard for beauty is rooted in nature. Young fertile women have clearer skin. So that's the goal. To get there women want to ether cover over blemishes (the painted woman image of the op) or basically peal off a layer of skin to expose the more youthful skin underneath (the "natural" look popular today). a) Anything that peals of skin chemically, rather then abrasively, is going to be toxic. The high PH of the ammonia dissolves fats and oils ... ie living tissue. Google "chemical peel" for today's version. But dissolving skin is a very localized injury without long term side effects. You can wreck your face, but ammonia isn't going to give you cancer. b) The painting-over approach requires something that can sit on the skin for a period of time without either dripping or being absorbed into the skin. You need something that can block light when spread in a very thin layer. And it needs to be shelf-stable. So you are looking for metal compounds, the heavier the better. If you want white, that's lead or zinc oxide. Lead is cheaper. Its toxicity, its general eagerness to play havoc with all biological reactions, keeps it from rotting away in the jar. So the usefulness is directly tied to it being a toxic heavy metal.
- simoncion 11y ago
  To nit-pick: "peel", rather than "peal". :)

sandworm101 11y ago

This isn't all that different than today's beauty regimes. Talk to teenage girls and models, the toxicity now goes far deeper than makeup. Acne is caused by bacteria. You would be shocked at how many young celebs basically live on antibiotics year after year. What that does to their immune system isn't good, but the shock it does to their digestive systems probably helps keep the pounds off. Clear skin is also a function of hormones, specifically estrogen. Estrogen is found in birth control pills. Many a young girl is on 'the pill' for that benefit rather than for her reproductive health. At the truly shocking end are the models that use diabetes and insulin to manipulate weight. The poster girl for this is Halle Berry. She is/was a true diabetic, but it is also clear she used her insulin dependency to keep thin. A former Mr Universe was the male face of this practice. https://www.diabeteshealth.com/scrawny-boy-with-type-1-diabetes-becomes-mr-universe/ https://www.diabeteshealth.com/scrawny-boy-with-type-1-diabe...

paulddraper 11y ago
The Mr. Universe article says he adjusts the insulin according to activity and diet, and that it can't be manipulated to help him past what a functioning pancreas would do. "People sometimes give him the eye, thinking that insulin might be advantageous in competition, but insulin is of no use to him in that respect because if his insulin ever goes high, he can’t shed body fat and get lean enough to compete."
- oh_sigh 11y ago
  That's BS. Non-diabetic advanced body builders/strongmen/powerlifters/juicers frequently use insulin (termed "slin" in those circles) to achieve super-human results that even typical steroids by themselves can't provide. The guy is basically just saying he doesn't abuse it, because he's not allowed to. There is a massive wink involved.
  - paulddraper 11y ago
    You may by right; I was just reading the posted resource. You may consider posting one with fewer winks next time.

solidsnack9000 11y ago

There is an element of self-sacrifice implied by beauty regimes -- sacrifice of time, of health, of wealth. Perhaps this is a critical function of beauty regimes -- it allows them to function as a display behavior: as a means of demonstrating discipline and self-control and as a way to demonstrate deliberate and purposeful adoption of certain values.

supersan 11y ago

> Victorian beauty ideals were unsurprisingly obsessed with pallor: upper class white women chased even whiter skin, a symbol that their privilege never left them working in the sun. You won't believe how true this still holds in India. Skin lightning creams are a huge deal here (and I'm guessing almost all of Asia like Malaysia, Thailand, etc where I've seen this marketed heavily too). These creams contain stuff like Hydroquinone which is a known carcinogen. I'm sure they contain many other chemicals too. But people still use it. It's a huge industry. Recently, there have been lightning creams for private parts. It's so weird that someone would actually consider that. The funniest thing though is that white people who come here spend a lot of time sun-bathing to get their skin tanned otoh :)