How far would you go to obtain clear porcelain skin?

 “Creating charm is the real wonder of the  facial wonder worker. These wafers are beauty’s first sincere aid-adding charm, while doing away with all possible harm. These wonder wafers build one up, clear the skin quickly and bring out all charms ” – such was the advertisement for Dr. James P. Campbell’s complexion wafers.

Around mid-nineteen century there was a trend of consuming arsenic in different forms among women in a quest for rounded figures, porcelain skin and brighter colours of the skin. Women either drank solutions or used them as cosmetic wash for the advertised effect-  “a sure way to get a better complexion”.  Most of these products were said to contain only trace amounts of arsenic, which thankfully was a good thing.

Note: Consuming arsenic is not proven to enhance complexion, it is however proven to cause various forms of skin lesions which are precursor to skin cancer and not attractive.

None of these products were verified, most claims were exaggerated and based on hearsay and romantic accounts of Styrian groups who used to consume arsenic called arsenic eaters (more coming in next trivia). These products were eventually discontinued by end of 19th century.

These products were recently digitised and displayed at the Smithsonian Museum and National Museum of American History  as a testimony to the fashion and cultural trends that history produced.

Read more at : History Myths Debunked;  Ultimate History Project