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

COSMETICS IN INDIA retaining an optimum moisture in the cream. The careful choice of certain emulsifying agents also helps in attaining a high degree of emulsification (hence contributing to the retention of moisture and stability of the product). But all these mean a lot of manipulation, requiring specialised knowledge at every stage. It has been customary with many Indian manufacturers and retailers to keep the cream jars inverted so that, should the product sink in the unopened jars during storage and/or shelf-life, the jars may appear full when opened ! Hold the jars erect and lightly tap them on the palm you will be surprised to find that quite a portion of the jars will be empty. No perfect remedy has yet been found for this defect, which seems to be peculiar to India, and people have taken for granted that this defect is an intrinsic property of the vanishing cream itself. H•tIR OILS Other cosmetic preparations, like cold creams, lipsticks, rouges, nail polishes and enamels, liquid shampoos, deodorants, etc., are slowly finding their place in the make-up kit. Another class of cosmetic preparations, which compares very favourably with vanishing creams in popularity, i• represented by hairdressing prepara- tions, perfumed and medicated oils representing the most important items. Medicated oils have been very well accepted in the Indian market, the oils most commonly used for the purpose being castor oil, sesame oil and coconut oil. There are many more specialised hair oils which enjoy far greater popularity than any other hairdressing preparations in India, because of their real or supposed medicinal properties. The manufacture and use of such oils have been known in India since time immemorial. Most of them are prepared by maceration processes (some, with j asmin, rose and henna per- fumes, being prepared by a modified enfleurage process). There are many medicinal herbs like Trifle, Shekakai, Brahmi, Jaborandi, Amla, etc., which are used in the preparation of hair tonics and, in effect, these have stood the test of time very well. Sesame oil has been the most commonly used base for such oils, though one firm specialises in using coconut oil in their preparation. Hair oils are prepared in India by a number of processes, viz.: (1) hot maceration process (2) cold maceration process (3) water extraction process (4) modified enfleurage process. In the hot maceration process, the dried medicaments are crushed to a coarse powder and soaked in the oil base. The oil-medicament mixture is then slowly heated, with constant stirring, taking care to see that no charring of the oil takes place. When the oil has extracted all the medicinal principles (which stage can be judged by the colour and odour of the oil) the residue is allowed to settle after removing from the fire. The clear oil is drawn off