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[conniefirechick]

I've been doing research for a number of projects.. one of them is Yeoman of the Guard for Savoyards this summer. My portion of it involves the hair, makeup, and jewelry research. and some of hte stuff is just messed up... here are a few of the recipes i found for making your face clear of imperfections (and skin

Comments

[zenala]

I think lye(sp? gotta love the olde-thyme spellings... ;-)) is actually a base, not an acid... But bases can be just as nasty.

Did I tell you the story about my grandmother restoring the daybed I have by scraping off the old paint with a piece of broken glass and a bucket of lye?...

But, yeah, I'd vote for *not* being authentic with make-up... *shudder*

[twilightfalcon]

Yah, I'm almost positive it's a base...I seem to remember it being used to make soap when I took my Art & Science of Fabric class.

says the biology major

[froglady83]

A strong caustic alkaline (basic) solution, obtained by leaching wood ashes.

Bases are nastier than acids usually, because you generally don't immediately notice them on your skin except as a slippery sensation....so it burns you before it hurts! (Although Lye is so concentrated it burns immediately...i'm referring more to personal experience in science labs...I once burned my fingerprints off with sodium hydroxide (lye, but less concentrated than you'd use for soap...like 3-10%)...I had white fingertips for a week!)

[twilightfalcon]

Wow...um, that's pretty fucked up man. And I agree with god bless maybelline & loreal!! ^__^

[buddycthulhu]

Well, at least with the only timey recipes they knew exactly what they were putting on their head and hair... the fact that people actually DID do these things to their faces and hair is testament to humanity's never-ending quest to counteract the inevitable approach of old age, as well as the wisdom that tends to accompany it. Eh, that's life, I guess. At least nowdays they only use mud and cucumbers and shit...

[ebonykain]

dude, that is fucked up! Mercury for the face and lye for the head.. Suddenly all those old superstitions about demons and witches and everything else make sense!