Well, this is not what you might think. This is not what Medusa uses to give her that silky shiny updo.Herpicide was a tonic that you put on your hair in 1912 to keep it "beautiful and abundant." It killed "dandruff germs," too - bet you didn't know they were germs. But the Girls are pondering this fact, and seem to be, if not enjoying the preparation, at least benefiting from it.
Herpicide ads also used the catchphrase "Going (Herpicide will save it)...going (Herpicide will save it)...gone! (too late for Herpicide)" - with a picture of three little heads [see Kerry Segrave, Baldness: A Social History, McFarland 1996, p. 67].
The unfortunate fact that "herpicide" also means a preparation that kills snakes, seems not to have deterred the makers of this hair tonic.
From the Toronto Telegram, October 1912. Check out this astonishing Herpicide ad (with a huge rabbit) over at JB's Warehouse and Curio Emporium.
8 comments:
I do not know if I would want to be classified as one of the"Herpicide Girls"!
Honestly, it sounds like an STD cure. But The Girls do seem like a fun bunch!
yikers!
Daisy - Me neither.
Bathany - Yeah, that was my first thought too.
Chat Blanc - Yes. Exactly! :)
i guess it's easier to use herpicide than have that "awkward talk" at starbucks with a one-night stand!
An unfortunate name. Snake oil probably came from that. No, that was much earlier, wasn't it? I wonder what was really in it. Fish oil would have made it shiny. And also have the advantage of attracting cats. Picecide?
The lady at the bottom of the picture appears to be wary of an approaching cat, so perhaps there may be more to this than I think..
bluecocktail - Yes, it probably is.
Max - Snake oil is earlier, I think - 18th/19th century snake oil salesmen, medicine shows, etc. A feline subtext would be interesting, and she does look a little bit worried. Maybe the medicine had catnip in it.
Post a Comment