THE ROLE OF THE COSMETIC SCIENTIST IN THE PROTECTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH By RAYMOND E. REED* Presented at the/26lb Meeting, ,'treerican /lssociation for the ztdvancemenl of Science THE ROLE OF the scientist in the protection of public health is an important one indeed. Some of you may not appreciate how broad an assignment this is for the cosmetic scientist. A letter reached my desk about eight years ago that will help me make my point. It dealt with one ,of our better known products. June 21, 1951 Toni Company Chicago, Illinois Dear Sir: I took a Toni permanent about three months ago and it came out OK. My problem is ] just came from the doctor and he tells me I'm three months pregnant. The same thing happened last year. Is there something in the lotion could do this? I like curly hair just fine, but too many kids is a problem. Please write. Yours truly, XXXXXXXXXXXX I ant not sure that our symposium was intended to embrace this par- ticular aspect of public health, but I can report that the evidence thus far indicates that my product had nothing to do with it. The health implications of foods' and drugs are well recognized. The health implications of cosmetics, on the other hand, are less appreciated and less understood. Before discussing the role of the cosmetic scientist in the protection of public health, I should like to discuss briefly the role of cosmetics in our daily lives. From a physical standpoint, cosmetics are products that affect our senses. As basic as sensory reactions are to our very existence, it is nevertheless true that the moral critics of human society have been unwilling to accept cosmetics as playing any useful part in our existence. As pointed out by Wax (1), this point of view may well stem from the Bible, for Isaiah adopted the destructively critical view of cosmetics with his words: * The Toni Company, Chicago 54, Illinois. 274

ROLE OF COSMETIC SCIENTIST IN PROTECTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH 275 "And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink and instead of a girdle, a rent and instead of well set hair, baldness..." (2) In terms of our modern society, we have come to appreciate the sweet smell, the unrented girdle, the well set hair, and speaking for the male population, we, along with Isaiah, have adjusted to baldness. Most of us, as normal human beings, take pride in our cleanliness and good grooming. We appreciate the physical contributions of cosmetics on an individual, very personal basis. We want to look attractive and have a desirable sensory impact on ourselves--through our mirror--and others. I hold that from the standpoint of their physical contributions alone, a human society devoid of cosmetics would be a strange one indeed. But, beyond the physical is there not a deeper meaning to cosmetics? Do not these products also make important contributions to our mental well being? I have been very happy during the past several decades to observe the growing recognition of a branch of medical science called psychosomatic medicine. Illnesses originating in the mind, having no physical basis in the body, are probably as old as man. Sugar pills, in their day, cured many imaginary diseases. Vitamins, quite properly, have supplanted the sugar pills of yesterday as a sounder approach to therapy. More recently, tranquilizers, as mood medicines, have provided the therapeutic and ethi- cal touch that has long been needed. What have psychosomatic medicine and mood medicines got to do with cosmetics? I believe a great deal. Beyond their many physical reasons for being, cosmetics make a major contribution to our mental health every day. As husbands, you have observed, routinely, the contributions of even such things as a bubble bath to the mental well being of your wife--her change in mood, following a permanent wave or a simple shampoo--the mental lift following the application of makeup and lipstick. And as males, I think we should also admit that our daily ablutions affect our moods. Our showers followed by our shaving routines the use of shaving creams and after shaving lotions a little powder tooth paste and mouth wash an antiperspirant a hair dressing. In fact, with some of us, our most important psychosomatic treatments involve steam baths followed by massages with cosmetic oils and alcohol preparations. We emerge from these experiences tranquilized to a degree we have yet to experience fol- lowing the use of many drugs. There has been recognition in medical circles of the contributions of cosmetics to the treatment of the mentally and physically ill. Beauty treatments for women patients, as a part of hospital routine, are not un- common (3). I understand the contributions of these treatments to the mental health of patients are dramatic and easy to observe. I hope, through my digression thus far, to have disposed of an "old