COSMETICS IN INDIA 51 The after-bath toilet evidently used to take up quite a lot of time. The hair, after drying, was perfumed and warmed with the frankincense of Lodhra dust, Dhupa (gum benzoin), etc. The body was then smeared with a paste, prepared by mixing sandalwood dust, camphor, musk, saffron, etc., grinding them together and kneading the mixture to a fine paste with rose- water. This preparation was applied to the skin because of the medicinal properties of some of the ingredients and in order that they might keep the body always pleasantly scented. More or less as an ornament, the Tilaka or vermilion spot was impressed on the forehead by men, women and children alike. Women used to smear their breasts with several pastes for the cooling effect thus imparted. Eyebrow pencils and eye shadows were used. Lips were painted with a lac dye and finished with Lodhra dust, although the chewing of betel leaves with the other necessary ingredients was equally popular for reddening the lips. Men used to chew scented tobacco along with betel leaves as a means of sweetening their breath. The above is only the barest outline of the beauty culture of ancient India. Unfortunately, elaborate information on the subject was not hitherto available so easily to the modern student of cosmetics who was, therefore, naturally led to believe that such beauty aids had been largely introduced into India from foreign countries. More and more information on the subject is being brought to light by several Indian authors, and there is no doubt that exceedingly instructive and interesting information will be unfolded if the talented research workers in India divert their attention towards the revival of ancient Indian cosmetics and modify them to suit the present-day needs of the country. COPING WITH TRADITION AND CLIMATE Manufacturers of cosmetics in India are nowadays faced with a number of peculiar difficulties. To start with, a vast majority of people in India still prefer the traditional Indian methods of beauty culture, notwithstanding the changing conditions and the eye-catching advertisements in favour of modern cosmetics. This ancient art is something in which they have a firm belief (even to the extent of being very uncompromising and absolutely con- servative) because, in this case, they need not rely upon the veracity or otherwise of newspaper advertisements. Traditional methods have been passed on to them from their forefathers and they practise them almost as rites and rituals, although not to the same extent as did their ancestors. If you tell such a conservative Indian that by using modern cold creams, skin foods and vanishing creams, etc., he or she can keep his skin always in a velvety condition and that he would do well to use them, out comes the instantaneous reply that he needs no special preparation for that purpose

52 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS he has taken good care of his skin as a normal practice, he will tell you, by using several oils (which he knows by practice are good enough for him) for massaging the skin (face and limbs) at night and washing off the excess in the morning with a fine paste of soap-nut powder. He further argues that this practice does keep the skin in a velvety condition, and even if, by chance, he were to skip this treatment for a day or two, his skin still does not look ugly by any means. This very deep-rooted and pre-formed prejudice has been the greatest obstacle in the way of popularising modern cosmetics in India. In fact, any preparation presented in a modern type of container is regarded with some suspicion, since all modern cosmetics go in such packings. He further holds that a product good' in itself does not require a "camou- flaging" container to sell it ! Secondly, the geographical position of India itself presents a number of intricate problems to large-scale manufacturers of cosmetics and importers of foreign cosmetics in India. This is a country where one can experience all types of climates, right from the scorching and blazing sun of Thar down to the biting frost of the Himalayas. There are places where the rainfall is inconspicuously small and also places where the heaviest rainfall in the world is recorded. The relative humidity varies from 20 to 90 per cent. Perhaps there is no other place in the world where such extremities would be found ! VANI SHING CREAM Considering vanishing creams, the most commonly used modern cosmetic preparation, we find that it is quite difficult to prepare a good product which will be acceptable in all parts of India during all seasons of the year, with the result that the manufacturer will have to go on changing the formulation, depending upon the area where the product is to be used and also the pre- vailing climatic conditions. One would start profusely perspiring after using a normal vanishing cream during the rainy months and summer months in places where the relative humidity is on the high side. Several authorities have opined. that this could be minimised by reducing the per- centage of hurnectants used therein. A product with a subnormal content of humectants will, however, be lacking in easy spreadability, and will have a strong tendency to "vanish" in the container itself. This is probably the reason for the premature drying up of vanishing creams in India--whether of Indian make or imported ones. Even the usual percentage of hygroscopic agents will not be sufficient to retain the requisite amount of moisture during the summer months. The addition of certain special humectants and other auxiliary materials will doubtless solve some of these difficulties, but all of them have their limitations. For instance, glycerin, the conventional humectant in India, can partly or wholly be replaced with diethylene glycol, which is less hygroscopic than glycerin and at the same time capable of