"She is just what you are, I fancy, and what I shall never be - a perfect lady. I may cold-cream my hands and May-Dew my nose, and mend my dresses, it will deceive nobody - not even Lord Dandy."-- Sara M. Hardwich, Plutus Adonis: A Mythical Hero (London, 1884), p. 159.
Will it help your skin? It may do.
May Dew was made of "a vegetable liquid" and was good for all sorts of skin ailments: Greasy Skin, Freckles, Wrinkles, Pimples, Blackheads, Crow's Feet, Blotches, Face Grubs [oh dear], Sun Burn, Tan, Ringworm, Chapped Hands, Sore or Chapped Lips, Barber's Itch and something called Tetters (meaning skin diseases such as eczema, see definition here).
In the The Canadian Practitioner (Bryant Press, 1888), the recipe for "May Dew lotion for pimples" is given; it consists mainly of glycerin and rose essence.
British perfumer Eugene Rimmel also made a May Dew lotion in the 1880s.
There is more May Dew, here, but it is not a "great French lotion" at all. It is literally dew that was gathered on May Day or Beltane, and is supposed to have healing qualities. It is supposed to be particularly good for the complexion - hence the May Dew Agency in 1880s Toronto naming itself this. There is also a line of modern organic cosmetics in Britain called May Dew.
Advertisement from the Canadian publication Ladies' Journal, 1884.
Edited to add: Bill of Life On Planet Bill reminded me that I had not chased down what "Face Grubs" actually were...When you Google the term this very post is the first thing you see at the top of the page - which is a bit horrifying! Anyway - I just looked at a couple of 19th century medical guides and I think that they are referring to blackheads, which they also called "fleshworms." Because when they are squeezed out, etc etc. Lovely, huh?
9 comments:
My word, what in the heck are face grubs? That sounds horrific.
Bill - Oh, I was going to see if I could find out. Because they sound so terrible! Will edit post if I do find anything...
oh....yuck! haha
Oh dear, "blackhead" conjers unpleasant memories of one's adolescent facial skin angst. "Fleshworms" as a term, makes me tremble with fear! What a wonderful post that incorporates so many elements and resources. Thoroughly enjoyable...even with a shiver!
Maureen
I was just fine right up to "fleshworms"....gah!
I just discovered your site via Entrecard about a week ago, and I am enjoying it quite a bit. I love these stories about patent medicines and such. I have a copy of the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog, and one of my favorite parts of it is the section on patent medicines, with cures for just about anything you can imagine.
I found a couple of links recently, that may or may not be of interest to you. The first is a 1907 article on nickelodeons, a new fad then sweeping the U.S. The other is The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. Don't know if you have seen either of these before, but they might be worth a look.
Karen Henry (Raleigh, NC)
Sandi - Yes, indeed.
Maureen - They really knew their way around terrible descriptive words back then...
Phyl - I don't like the tetters too much either, sounds like something you go to the vet for.
Karen - Thank you for the links! The first is new to me, and I love the second but thanks for the reminder, it's been too long since I visited the questionable devices.
"face grubs"
Um...EW!
CastoCreations - Yeah, that is the perfect word. Just - ew.
Post a Comment