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When we buy products
that have natural ingredients, we’re also buying
the history that goes along with them. For
centuries, people have used aloe vera, herbal
salves, rosewater and kaolin to beautify
themselves. You can still buy kohl and henna, two
cosmetics favored by Egyptian royals. There’s a
definite emotional appeal to using the same makeup
Cleopatra used!
Another ancient ingredient that’s just finding its
place in twenty-first century cosmetics is silk.
We’re all aware of what silk can do as a clothing
fabric, and its history stretches back thousands
of years and across continents. Silk was traded on
the spice routes, in some cultures its use was
limited to the very rich and noble born, not only
because of its costliness, but by law. In World
Wars One and Two, silk production was relegated to
the war effort, and women painted lines up the
backs of their legs to mimic the look of the
seamed silk stockings they could no longer buy.
The silk that had been used for dresses, parasols
and unmentionables went to make parachutes.
These days, silk production has modernized to the
point that this once dry-clean-only fabric can now
be made colorfast and washable. I love silk
bedding in the winter, because it’s light, but
very warm because of its tight weave. (Silk pillow
cases were once prescribed to keep salon-sprayed,
sixties hairdos intact. I love my white silk
pillowcases because they feel cool on my face, and
they make my hair softer and easy to brush.)
But the recent revolution in silk is in cosmetics.
Silk proteins are added to shampoos and
moisturizers, adding strength and softness to the
structure of hair and skin. Filaments that once
took soldiers from flaming planes safely to the
ground now smooth skin in lotions, powders and
foundations. All this from a strange little worm
that refuses to eat anything but mulberry
leaves...
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Would you knowingly expose yourself to chemicals that irritate your
skin and dry your hair?
