70 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS cosmetics. Take heatless permanent waving for example. There is no doubt in my mind but that part of the trouble there can be laid at the door of surface-active agents. This in turn leads us to consider a broader aspect of this same prob- lem, and the chemist to fit that job. I am thinking of the man who can and will keep up with new materials. Offhand, you may say that any chemist will do that. Yes, and no, or maybe we should say more or less. Some of us seem to have more of a natural curiosity than others. And some of us keep up with literature in a haphazard fashion, while others go about it methodically. And last but not least, some of us after trying new materials or methods without suc- cess a few times, become pessimistic :and develop a conservative resist- .ance to all new things. That is a worse attitude than that of the fellow who indiscriminately falls for everything new. At least the latter will now and then come up with something of value. The ideal of course, is the man with scientific curiosity, tempered by good judg- ment. He is a scarce phenomenon, but oh, how valuable in research. Finally, there is a type that de- serves a mention even if it is hard to describe him. He is the expert in -"imagi.neering." Or if you don't like that word, he is the practical day dreamer. I almost hesitate to mention him because it is sometimes hard to distinguish him from the fellow who is just plain lazy. But practical day dreaming requires one thing the lazy man never acquires: background and knowledge of the past. The Good Book tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. Our industry may well remember that. And the practical day dreamer is the one who can go back over old and maybe forgotten or discarded products and judiciously pick out something that with a changed process, a variation in appearance, or an extension in applicability can be revived and turned into a "new product." I admit, frankly, that I cannot set up educational speci- fications for that type of chemist, but I know that every research director in his heart is fervently hoping to discover one of them among his crew. You may feel that I could sum up my many words by saying that the cosmetic industry can use chemists with almost any type of qualifica- tion. That is very close to the truth. And the future of ou'r indus- try depends on how well its need for chemists becomes recognized-- and filled. The simple cosmetics of 30 to 40 years ago do not satisfy milady of today any more than the haphazard production methods of yesterday will produce a good com- petitive product now. But neither are our products of today going to satisfy the consumer 30 to 40 years hence. There is going to be a de- mand for many improvements. To- day, for example, the terms emol- lient and lubricating are synony- mous when applied to creams. Actually, lubrication involves noth- ing more than creating a slippery

ß OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHEMISTS IN THE COSMETIC INDUSTRY 71 surface. Too Often this slippery surface is mistaken. for the real softness of true emolliency. The creams of the future will be more emollient, and less lubricating. Re- search on skin reactions will see to that. And this will no doubt be achieved without involving reagents with therapeutic action. Or let us take a rather well-known problem. Brushless shaving creams of the future will not suffer from their greatest drawback of today-- that of clogging the safety razor. Research will see to that, too. You, yourself, can add to the list of needed product improvements. There are many, and it is up to the' cosmetic chemist to see to it that progress is made in the right direc- tion. If improvements keep ahead of demand, the industry will pros- per. If not--but let's not think of that. The responsibility of the chemist is great and will be greater. In fact,' whether it be admitted to- day or not, the future success or failure of our industry is in the hands of our chemists.