Neutratone is dedicated to perfecting a line of skincare and anti-aging products that are safe, effective, and easy to use. Even though we turn to medical science for an ideal of what is healthy and safe, it wasn’t always so easy for our human ancestors. Let’s check out 5 of the weirdest skin care techniques and products of all time!
Mercury Illuminator (via)
Mercury is a chemical element that has the distinction of being the only metal that takes a liquid form at room temperature. Oh, and it’s poisonous, too. That didn’t stop Europe’s fashionable elite during the 15th-18th centuries from doing whatever it took to achieve an out of this world glow. One technique involved the use of a mixture of white lead with a mercury sublimate. This concoction was applied to the face and used as a skin peel.
Chalk and Iodine (via)
As time went on, the medical community was able to understand more about proper skincare. This included letting the public know what really worked and what didn’t, and more importantly what was safe to use. Even though medical convention of the day advised against it, some Victorian beauties maintained a devil-may-care attitude. A typical skincare routine of the 18th century may have included a weird “snack” of chalk and iodine, which was believed to make the skin fashionably paler.
Vapor Baths (via)
Or portable Turkish baths. You may see some variations on the name, but the general hardware concept is the same all around. You sit inside a wooden box and once secure, the treatment can begin. The user can control the heat of high-temperature bath. Apparently, it was able to help out with oily skin and pimples. It doesn’t seem dangerous, but it is certainly confining and can’t be too comfortable!
Glamour Bonnett (via)
A trip to the salon in the mid 20th century might result in this unique skincare treatment. Effective? Maybe. Safe? Hardly. The glamour bonnet (more helmet than bonnett) was a gadget that was secured around the head. The atmospheric pressure inside the bonnet was decreased, which was believed to improve circulation and complexion.
Bleeding (via)
The chase for pale skin led to some pretty extreme treatments in the 6th century. One such skincare treatment was bleeding. As in bloodletting. But instead of doing it in order to relieve the symptoms of a disease, beauty bloodletting was taken to the max. The objective was to simply relieve the skin of as much of its natural color as possible, and leave a ghastly pallor behind.