My Life as a Mid-Century Housewife - an Update

It's been four months since I wrote about my plans to be more like a 1950s, mid-century housewife (which you can read here).  So how have I done?

Well, coincidently this four months has also been a time or little income - the trials of being self-employed - so things like making all meals from scratch have been a necessity.  We treat our selves with takeaway for lunch once a week - usually sushi for me and noodles for my husband.  We do sit and have lunch together every day, which as we work together is usually easy,despite the odd phone-call.  My meal planning has consisted of me going to the supermarket, grabbing what ever meat and veg are on special and planning from there for the next few days.  I usually shop twice a week, to ensure we always have fresh greens - we are green smoothie nuts, and all six of us have one every morning.  And my vegie garden was planted - although it's almost finished now as it's hard to keep growing through summer here.

Napro tint cream, 1960

I have been trimming and colouring my own hair, which has saved a lot of money over the last six months, and as I have gone darker, this is easy to do.   I have also invested in pin-clips and setting lotion (which you can find here) and been experimenting with pin curls instead of using my heated rollers - which I think my hair is happy about.  And I've gone back to using real lipstick instead of the 8 hour stuff - the colour is so much better.

Cut a pretty figure, 1952

My wardrobe.  Well I did re-evaluate it.  And planned.  And then I bought a new dress with some birthday money from my lovely MIL.  I am sewing something though - a dress for my daughter (more on that later).

I have been working 8.30 to 3,picking up kids from school, going home and organising dinner, laundry and homework and then driving back to collect  my husband from the office (it's a 10 to 15 minute drive), so I haven't done that much housework.   It gets wept and mopped, toilets scrubbed etc, but the windows haven't been cleaned.  Now it's school holidays I may enlist the kids to help, but it's so hot we spend most of the day in the pool or at the beach. And truly, trying to keep it tidy with them all home is tiring!

Pledge spray wax, perfect for that timber laminate dining table, 1961

I have even been doing the ironing - I watch an old movie on the weekend and get it all done.  Keeping him happy in the bedroom though - I must admit not really.  I think we have both been too exhausted - and did just have our 23rd wedding anniversary - but I shall try these holidays!

Now that the rain is here the pool needs extra cleaning and the nature strip needs mowing - if I am lucky my husband will attend to those jobs. I must admit that I did get a bit slack with exercise, only walking a couple of times a week,   but now we walk every afternoon and play cricket with the kids.

So what are my goals now?

• to be fashionable and attractive - like the ideal housewife - but happy in my own skin;
• to get fitter and eat healthier - and drink less red wine;
• to have a lovely, tidy home that we like to spend time in and is always ready for company;
• to cook and prepare healthy meals that everyone loves, and avoid processed foods; 
• to actually sew and make an amazing dress- for me!
• to get involved in a community or volunteering event that I will also enjoy;
• to be more romantic with my husband; and
• to have a weekly family outing - a drive somewhere different and a picnic perhaps.

Of course I also need to make sure all the Christmas presents are bought and wrapped, and sent, and I am thinking about taking the kids on a road trip to the Sunshine Coast after Christmas.  Otherwise we may just pitch the tent in the back yard by the pool!

Deb xx

Hints on Handcare

I have been doing a lot of paining and cleaning lately, which makes the house look good (well better) but is not really great for my hands. luckily for me I came across this little tidbit in the Australian Women's Weekly, (from August 1956):

My new life as a mid-century house wife

As I get closer to my 400th post, I have been doing some re-evaluating and decision making.  This blogging experience has taken me from pure research to personal moments, looking at WWII and 1942, new technology and 1913, and now back to my favorite era - mid-century.  So, now what do I want, and which direction will my blog go in?  This could be a long post, but it's more for my own planning purposes than anything, so feel free to just look at the pictures.  There will be more news at the end though.

In my dreams, my home is immaculate.   The children are happy and never argue, the pets don't smell  and my husband has a drawer full of clean socks.

Borox, a vintage cleaner (and modern plaything)

No weight loss this week - I actually put on two kilos - that what happens when you go away for a weekend, and have your mother in law stay the week before!  I did get up early and walk on the beach though, with husband and dogs.  I even saw the sunrise!

Anyway, another vintage cleaning post today - Borax. It's a real vintage must have product - a laundry booster, cleaner, pesticide, preservative and so much more. It's not entirely green, as it can build up in the soil causing it to become toxic, but it's great for those really tough stains and cleaning jobs, that you may using other, even worse and more mysterious, chemicals for. It also has other uses.

Borax, cleans and Purifies, c. 1900

When the kids saw, and dug their hands in, my home made laundry liquid, they immediately said – Mummy, you made slime!  Not quite, but what a good idea.

Here is a basic recipe for Slime:

Ingredients

• 1 teapoon borax powder
• water
• 120 ml (4 ounce) white liquid glue
• food colouring (optional, blue or green is best)

Utensils

• teaspoon
• bowl
• jar or measuring cup
• measuring cup

1. Pour the glue into the jar.
2. Half fill the empty glue bottle with water, shake and add to the glue.
3. If desired, add food colouring. Otherwise, the slime will be an opaque white.
4. In a separate bowl, mix one cup (240 ml) of water with 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of borax powder.
5. Slowly stir the glue mixture into the bowl of borax solution.
6. Place the slime that forms into your hands and knead until it feels dry. (Don't worry about the excess water remaining in the bowl.)

The more the slime is played with, the firmer and less sticky it will become.  We only had red food colouring (the kids have been making green milkshakes), so we added an extra tea spoon of borax powder and made a firmer slime, more like silly putty (or flubber as Olivia called it). It's a lot less messy.  Store it  in the fridge - if you can get it off the kids!

Borax is a form of hydrous sodium borate that occurs from the evaporation of saline lakes. It is normally colourless, white or light grey, but can be tinted light shades of blue, green and yellow - they would be great for slime!

Borax crystals

The name borax comes from the Arabic ‘buraq’ meaning ‘white’.  It was first discovered in Tibet in dry lake beds, and in the 8th Century AD borax was transported in caravans along trade “the Silk Road”. Borax was used by Arabian goldsmiths and silversmiths and was used in ceramic glaze in China from the 10th century AD, borax was used in ceramic glazes (and still is).
 
Most of the world’s borates today come from the southern United States. In 1872 F M Smith, the founder of The Harmony Borax Works (now known as Rio Tinto Borax), discovered borates in the Nevada desert and by 1883 had established 20 mule teams to haul the minerals out of Death Valley More than 130 years on, the company is still one of the world’s largest producers of borates, meeting almost half of world demand.

A twenty mule Borax hauling team

In 1930 until 1945 The Pacific Coast Borax Company (late US Borax) sponsored Death Valley Days, a radio and television anthology dramatizing true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. From 1952 to 1975 the show went to television,with Ronald Regan hosting the show in 1964.

Borax ad, 1905

Borax is my new favourite chemical at home - it kills ants and cockroaches, gets stains off carpets, helps wash my dishes and boosts the cleaning in my home made laundry liquid.  In industry Borax is used to modify the structure of glass, making it resistant to thermal or chemical attack, for use in ultra-thin LCD screens, heat resistant glass and fibreglass.  Combined with zinc, borates are used in flame retardants to coat electrical cables and in cellulose insulation, and can even be used as a nuclear containment shield. It is also being used to treat building materials to prevent termite and white ant infestations.

20 Mule Team Borax Advertisement c. 1923

 You know I am not keen on using the dishwasher too often, but with this powder I do not feel as guilty!

• 1 Tablespoon Borax
• 1 Tablespoon baking soda or washing soda

Mix the Borax and baking soda together. Then, add to your dishwasher's detergent compartment, and run as usual. It works well and doesn't leave any residue on the dishes. I put white vinegar in as a rinse aid too - it's much cheaper than Finnish liquid and works just as well.

Electric dishwasher, 1930s

To kill ants and cockroaches, mix together equal parts Borax and sugar. Then, place where the ants will find it. The bottom of the bin is good.

Deb xxx

Homemade laundry liquid

 

Now that I am only working part time I am finally getting around to doing those things around the house I haven't’ had time for – like cleaning the laundry.   Once done, I actually had room to do the other laundry job I’ve been wanting to do – make laundry liquid. It is actually a vintage product too.  William Shepherd first patented liquid soap in 1865 – he probably had a wife who was sick of powder marks on her dark clothes! Liquid soap works better for more traditional washing methods, such as using a washboard and there is a smaller chance of residue being left on clothing. It is also much better with modern machines that use as little water as possible, and therefore make it harder for soap powder to dissolve.

I love doing laundry!

B.J. Johnson also developed a liquid soap formula in 1898, and his company (the B.J. Johnson Soap Company) introduced Palmolive soap the same year, made of palm and olive oils.  The soap became so popular that B.J. Johnson Soap Company changed its name to Palmolive, and by 1900 was the world's best-selling soap.  Due to Palmolive’s popularity other companies began to develop their own liquid soap in the early 1900s. There are many recipes for liquid soap and laundry liquid floating around the internet. I have collected a lot of recipes over the years, and I thought I’d give this one from an old greenie magazine a go.

Liquid Laundry Soap

Ingredients:  cup of flaked (Lux) or grated soap (sunlight, sard or homemade), 1/2 cup borax, 1/2 cup washing soda and 4 cups of water.

Borax is a naturally occurring mineral (Hydrated sodium borate, Na₂B₄O₇ -10H₂O), that is soluble in water. It can deodorize, inhibit the growth of mildew and mould, boost the cleaning power of soap or detergent, remove stains, and can be used with attractants such as sugar to kill cockroaches.  Borax can build up as boron in the garden if you  use your grey water, and its harmful to plants, so leave it out if you need to.

Equipment: medium sized saucepan, a slotted spoon or whisk to stir with, 10 litre bucket,  funnel, jug and lots of empty glass or plastic bottles or jars (I used an empty yoghurt bucket, I buy it by the 5kg now).

Method: measure the ingredients into the saucepan.  Bring the mix to the boil, stirring as it heats.  Make sure all the ingredients have dissolved, then pour the mixture into the 10 litre bucket. Fill the bucket to the top with water from the tap. 

Allow the detergent to cool completely.  The mixture will thicken up as it cools turning it into a sort of gel.
Once it’s cooled, use a funnel to fill old bottles with your liquid detergent.

Fill to about 2cm below the top of the bottle so there is room to shake before use, as the mixture will separate – we didn't ad any of those nasty coagulating chemicals. Nor did we ad a foaming agent, so the mixture does not make bubbles like you may be used to – this does make it good for front loaders though.
Label, so no one accidentally drinks or eats it. I am working on a better label design!

Use: 1/4  cup per load

You can put the liquid on to stains and leave for about 10 minutes to an hour before putting in the wash (use part of your 1/4 cup). It's also great for washing around the house – cupboard doors, wall, floors etc.
You can add essential oils to your laundry liquid to give it a nice fragrance, but it’s just as easy to add a drop or two of the oil to the machine as the wash cycle starts – this way you can use different fragrances for different loads.  Lavender is nice for sheets, and eucalyptus for the kids school clothes.

If you prefer a powder to a liquid, you can mix soap flakes, borax and washing soda in the same quantities as above but without the water, and store in an airtight container. Shake well before each use, and add 2 tablespoons per wash.

Total cost:  To buy the ingredient cost about $15 (Australian), but I will be able to make at least four lots of liquid.  When you do as much washing as I do (five kids) it's a great saving. The equivalent amount of the Eco Store Laundry Liquid I like to buy would cost about $125!

The results? I am very happy - things are clean - there's no strong chemical or soap smell, but the washing smells clean. I was going to take a photo of my washing fluttering gently in the breeze, but it's been raining so much here even my line under the veranda is getting wt, so  I am using the drier at present (we had 30cm in 24 hours).

 Anyway, making laundry soap is so easy, why not give it a try?!
 
If you use white vinegar as a fabric softener, at least for the towels every so often, not only will it leave them nice and soft it will get rid of any soap residue in the machine. It's also good n the dishwasher as a rinse aid.

I love vinegar too - go here for fifty uses for white vinegar, and here for uses for apple cider vinegar (I drink it in water every morning, instead of lemon juice, as it's much easier, and use it as a toner).

Deb xxx

Cleaning the Old fashioned way

Twenty years ago when I started cleaning the green way most of my friends thought I was crazy.  My grandmother, however, understood.  She still used bicarb soda to clean her sink and freshen the fridge – it was normal for her an when I started researching safe ways to clean just before I became pregnant with my first child – at the same time I became vegetarian – she encouraged me.  Basically I wanted a safe and clean environment to bring a baby into.  My husband had terrible asthma as a child, so I wanted to limit chemicals that may have contributed to that – and yes I also researched breastfeeding, another great asthma preventative it turned out.  My grandmother also understood why I wanted to breastfeed, which my mother didn’t, but that’s another story.



Just before I was pregnant with my third child in 1999 we moved into our dream eco-house- built of stone and timber off our block, with a grey water system, composting toilet and rainwater tanks. I had to use natural cleaning products, as chemical were incompatible with the composting and grey=water systems.  I joined Enjo, the first company who used micro fibre clothes and water for cleaning, and bought all there products for myself with the commissions I earned over one year. Twelve years later I still have the mop/broom which I use every day, as well as many of the cloths.  I still made up my own vinegar cleaner back then too, with a nice scent, as cleaning with just water was  hard thing to get into, especially for visiting mothers.



It turns out that green cleaning is now trendy, as well as being vintage!  And as a bonus, it is much cheaper, and the ingredients or products take up less room than  a standard range of cleaners. My favourite cleaner is Bicarb soda – I even use it for my teeth when I am feeling very brave – but here is the complete list of products.  I also use a beeswax polish for wooden furniture –the kids know I love it and bought some for me in a market in Mansfield, Victoria – it has lavender in it and is lovely! If I don't have any I use olive oil with a squeeze of lemon juice.

INGREDIENTS FOR HOMEMADE CLEANERS

• White vinegar
• Bicarb soda
• Lemon juice
• Washing soda crystals
• Borax (look near draino in the supermarket, or the pest aisle at the hardware store).
• Pure laundry soap (sunlight or homebrand ) or lux flakes, or homemade soap
• Tea tree oil (I also use lavender oil too as I love the smell)
• Eucalyptus oil
• Oil of cloves
• Ammonia - an old fashioned if not straight green cleaning aid
• Liquid bleach – not entirely green, but you need it now and then, especially if you have small boys or live with humidity and mould like I do.

 
HOW TO
I buy big bottles of bleach, ammonia and vinegar, and put them into smaller spray bottles – labelled carefully – and I have a refillable plastic container for the bicarb with holes at the top so I can sprinkle it.  I have three cleaning kits, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. The bathroom one I also use for the bedrooms if I need to.



Vinegar – mixed with half water and about a tablespoon of eucalyptus oil in a spray bottle – great for the sink (it removes soap traces), cupboards, glass, stainless steel fridge, dishwasher, stove top and oven front and toilet (in and out). Everything really. Use newspaper with this spary for really shiny mirrors and windows.

Bicarb soda  – to scrub the kitchen sink and pots, bath, shower recess. Sprinkle in the toilet if its really dirty, and mix with a little tea tree oil and water to make a stronger bathroom cleaner. Sprinkle on your hair in the shower instead of shampoo, or on the carpet before you vacuum.  Put some on your toothbrush to brush your teeth.  And leave a small container in the fridge to get rid of odours.

Lemon Juice - A naturally occurring mild acid, great addition to cleansing pastes, can remove lime scale from taps and sinks – and smells delicious! It can help to neutralise the smell of vinegar. Once you have juiced your lemon, fill one half with bicarb soda and pop it into the back of one of your fridge shelves to make it smell fresh and citrusy.

Soap – to wash dishes, either in a soap saver or made into liquid soap, and hands.  Make into laundry liquid or powder for clothes and the dishwasher.

Washing soda – (sodium carbonate)  is a natural mineral that can cut through grease and softens hard water – it goes into laundry liquid. You can also use them as a general washing up liquid if you have sensitive skin. It is also good for removing stubborn grease marks off oven tops and removing mould and scum from baths and showers.

Borax – (sodium borate) is also a naturally occurring mineral.  You can buy it at the hardware store  as an ant killer. It removes stains and boosts the cleaning power of soap so is good in laundry liquid. It’s also in some tooth whiteners – but I wouldn’t eat it. It is not a totally green cleaner, it can build up toxicity in the soil, so use sparingly. Go here for a good pro and con look at borax.Borax substitutes are also available.

Tea tree oil – is a great disinfectant and mould inhibitor. It also smells great and helps keep bugs away.
Eucalyptus oil -  I mix it with vinegar as mentioned, but straight it is great for removing sticky labels and with water is a great air fresher or ironing aid for mens shirts.

Oil of cloves -  in a spray bottle with water – the most amazing thing to get rid of smells on furniture, carpet, in the car etc and once you have cleaned off mould with a bleach solution, it prevents more mould forming

Lavender oil – mix with water in a spray bottle and use as room freshener and for the ironing
Bleach – mixed in a spray bottle with water – great for mould and all the really gross things you deal with with kids and pets

Ammonia  – it is great for inside the oven. Put two cups of water in a baking dish with ¼ cup ammonia, put it in the oven and let it heat up for 5 minutes, then leave overnight. In the morning scour with a paste of bicarb soda and water.  Mix with water for a really clean floor (about a capful per bucket of water). WARNING – don’t open the lid and sniff the bottle – you could pass out. Seriously.  Also, NEVER mix ammonia with bleach.

Now I just need hubby to whip me up a caddy like this.

source

Happy cleaning!

Deb xx

A fresh, fragrant fridge & soup

A busy day of Drs appointments (another story) and cleaning the kitchen, especially the fridge , ready for my big weekly shop. I also moved furniture around a little - I wanted a little nook inside to sit and read, and have the evening pre-dinner drink, as it's so hot outside at present and the mozzies love to eat me alive.

  

The chairs were on the veranda, so are a bit dog-eared, or dog-chewed really.  The table was a $5 thrift shop find that I painted distressed white, and my 'new' cushion with the american flag was a thrift shop find last week ($2). The pictures are vintage 1942 food ads.

Here's my clean and shiny fridge  -well, ok, just imagine it looks like this - I forgot to photograph it. Also imagine everyone is smiling as they help me put away the groceries! In reality it's more like 'oh mum not that healthy yoghurt again, and celery, really?!"

I wish

My trick for cleaning the fridge is to use bi-carb soda and hot water. I can't help with making the kids smile.

Bicarb also absorbs odours in the fridge, so what I do is this:

I juice half a lemon (and add it to hot water for my morning perk up, wow, still getting used to that one) then fill it with bi-carb soda.

Then I put that in the fridge, usually in the top tray on the door so it doesn't get lost or knocked over, and tell the kids not to eat it.  "No, it's not sugar guys. But go head, give it a go."

Then, at the end of the week, when the fridge is empty-ish again, I add a little hot water to the lemon, turn it upside down and use it to scrub the fridge. Once the major dirty and sticky bits are dealt with, I then wipe it all down with more hot water. Easy! Fresh and lemony with no nasty chemical smell.

The other thing I do, before I tackle the cleaning, is to make 'clean out the fridge soup'. I use all the remnants of veg lurking in the bottom of the crispers – those limp carrots, the broccoli with more stalk that florets and that little bit of cabbage that was too good to throw away……I start with a chopped onion and garlic in a little oil, then add all the other chopped veggies. When they start to release some of their juices I add 1 cup of stock or tomato juice and a few cups of water and simmer on medium to low heat until the vegetables get soft. I also add a tin of (rinsed) beans, and some herbs to taste, then heat till its all hot. I like it chunky, but the next day I blend the soup up with a little milk for the kids and ola, "cream of vegetable soup." Who doesn't love soup?

1950s can soup ad

Tomorrow, I tackle the oven.  The fun just never stops!

Deb xxx

Washing Dishes Vintage Style

My family think I am crazy, but I actually enjoy washing dishes. Well I enjoy it more than rinsing dishes, stacking the dishwasher and then unstacking it again – especially in the morning.  It’s nice meditation time, or chatting time if you have a helper. It’s funny how the kids will chat to me more when we do the dishes than they do at the dinner table.
   

When I was a little girls growing up in the 70s, there was an campaign for Palmolive dish washing liquid with the catch phrase 'Dishwashing Liquid?You're soaking in it!" It was meant to be the detergent that actually made your hands softer. I don't think it really did, although Palmolive was originally made from olive oil so it may have back in the day, but I don't think it's bright green colour could be good for anything.  The campaign was obviously successful as it ran for 27 years until the late 90s, with american actress Jan Miner (October 15, 1917 - February 15, 2004)  playing Madge the manicurist. Madge did a lot to make washing dishes more glamorous - she certainly made me want to do dishes! Hmm, and I also became a manicurist.........the power of advertising!

Palmolive ad c, 1969

I do the dishes twice a day during the week, and three times on weekends when everyone’s home for lunch.  Tea and coffee cups used in between get left in the sink with a little water in them, and any other dishes as well.  I use environmentally friendly detergent or soap, and when the weathers been dry I like to use a big tub in the sink so I can pour the dirty dishwater onto the garden.  At the moment the gardens a bit water logged, so I don’t worry.  I used to have a metal soap saver and wash in sunlight soap, but at the moment I am using a supermarket eco detergent that was on special.  I also like castille liquid soap – the lavender one is wonderful. I use fabric dish cloths, which I found at the supermarket, but overlocked rags or cut down towels are good too. I am going to try crocheting some soon – I found a great pattern here.  I also use a dish brush and steel scourer. The timber dish brushes with replaceable heads are great and good to use if the water’s still very hot.

         
Liquid castile soap, vintage metal soap saver,  sunlight soap. eco dishbrush, metal scourer, cotton dish cloths

There are many ways to wash dishes, but this is my basic technique:

Firstly all the plates/bowls are scraped into the chook food bin, which saves pre-rinsing.  I part fill the sink with straight hot water and soap, put the dishes in to soak for about ten minutes, then scrub with a brush if I need to or wipe with the dish cloth, but usually they have just about washed themselves by then, rinse the top/inside of each plate/bowl under the tap, so that the excess water goes into the already partially full sink, and put on the dish rack.  Hot water seems to make things dry faster, and I don’t rinse the backs, just the  parts where food or liquid will be. 

 

Then I ad the glasses/cups to the sink and wash and rinse those. Then any pots, which have already had hot water put in them straight after dishing up if possible – I like the steel wool for those. Lastly cutlery, and I drain the sink and ad a little more hot water to rinse them in. I like to let each round of dishes air dry on the rack if I can do other things in between time (sweep the floor, wipe the table, runt he kids bath etc), otherwise I lay a tea towel on the bench and extend my drying room.  If I have a drying helper they use a fresh tea towel each time.  After the dishes are put away I spray the sink with a vinegar and lavender cleaner and wipe and rinse it, and wipe down all the benches. Then the dish cloth and towel go into the wash and clean ones are put out. Easy!

  
Here is a sweet little song from the1930s called Washing dishes with my sweetheart.  The lyrics start about half way through, but there are lots of lovely images of vintage kitchens as well.

enjoy!

So if your dishwasher breaks down, don’t stress – just wash the dishes the old fashioned way and have fun!

Deb xx

As usual, more vintage dish washing images on tumblr.

Wash Day Blues, Sore Hands & Hand Cream

I've been posting about washing and laundry recently. Here is a little 10 minute snippet from The 1900's House, which shows the ladies of the house on washday.  It gives a  good feel of what  washday was like before washing machines were invented. At the end of the video the girls make their own hand cream for their ruined hands, and then start on the ironing.

After centuries of home made preparations, hand and body creams began to be commercially manufactured in the late 1800's. Early ingredients came from plants and animals, such as olive oil, bees wax, whale oil and lanolin from sheep's wool, and from the 1860's formulas took advantage of mineral oil (baby oil) and petroleum jelly (Vaseline) created in the production of gasoline.  The basic assumption was that fats and oils helped make the skin soft and supple, although in truth mineral products do not absorb into the skin, although they  can keep moisture in the skin by making a barrier.

 

           Old Vaseline Ad, c. 1890s source and glass jar, c. 1910 source

Glycerol, or glycerine, was added as a lubricant and humectant, to enable to the creams to be absorbed into the skin.  Glycerol is also a component of glycerin soap, like the famous Pears soap, first produced and sold in  London in 1789 by Andrew Pears, which was advertised as a complexion soap and for babies, as well as for "soft, white hands" as it's moisturising properties help prevent excessive dryness compared to some other soaps.

  

Pears is still available today, although I fear it is much an inferior product.

Cold cream was also commercially manufactured by the late 1800s, although it had been invented centuries earlier by a physician named Galen, in second century Greece. Galen's cold cream was based on beeswax and water, with olive oil and rose petals for softness and scent, respectively. From the 1780's whale oil was used instead of olive oil, and later mineral oil and then from t he 1970s, thankfully, jojoba oil.  Borax was also added early on to give the cream it's white appearance. 

Cold cream, and Vanishing cream, another popular product in the early 1900s were both used a a healing cream great for chapped hands, before they became popular complexion creams.  American scientist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) invented a medicinal cream in 1846 which contained healing witch hazel, which he named "Golden Treasure." In 1846, the "T.T. Pond Company" was formed, and when Pond died in 1852, the company named his cream "Pond's Extract."  

When the children hurt themselves, 1913, source

 From 1886  the company advertised nationally under the name of Pond's Healing . By 1915 Ponds moved from healing to beauty,  and so "Pond's Vanishing Cream" and "Pond's Cold Cream" were created.  Both products are still available today.

  

      Vanishing Cream ad, 1912 source and How to relieve chapped skin in one application, 1916, source

Vanishing creams are called that because they seem to vanish into the skin (not the other way around).  Another early vanishing cream was introduced by Burroughs Wellcombe under the name Hazeline Snow. Also made with witch hazel, it was first marketed in the 1890s as a medicinal cream,and was included in first-aid cabinets that the company produced for sale around the world. Hazeline is also still available today.

1912 Burroughs Wellcome first-aid cabinet
 containing Hazeline products, source

   


In 1900 German Dr Leifschuz patented a smooth ointment he called Eucerin "the beautiful wax", and sold from 1903 under the name Paul Beiersdorf und Co.  Dermatologist Professor Unna wrote in 1907 that it was a cream "easily prescribed by the doctor", "sold by the pharmacist" and "creates a good feeling for the patient due to its smoothness and cooling effect." It was available in the US from the  1920s under the name Eucerin Original, and is still available today.

My favourite hand cream is a balm I buy here locally, made with beeswax and olive oil and essentials oils of lavender and rosemary.  I call it Mum's special cream, and the kids ask for it as soon as they have a scratch, a mozzie bite or even a headache.  One day soon I will make my own - I found a nice easy recipe here.  

Have you made your own cream? Any good recipes or pointers?

Deb xx