Hair Dressing with Quinine
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Eau de Quinine compound hair tonic was introduced in the 1850s by Ed. Pinaud’s (Edouard Pinaud), a Paris parfumerie. Advertisements indicate that the product was sold into the 1960s. Quinine is a toxic alkaloid derived from the cinchona tree. When heavily diluted, it was used in hair products, specifically as a treatment for hair loss. Pinaud’s was advertised as the favorite hair dressing of "Cultured Women" and the only tonic "used by the crowned heads of Europe." It was an "indispensable preparation for the refined toilet" with a "delicate fragrance that overpowers the unpleasant effects of excessive oiliness on the scalp. Pinaud’s product was imported to the United States from France and many barbers apparently tried to pass off domestic preparations as genuine Eau de Quinine. In the mid-1920s, Pinaud filed an injunction against companies making the counterfeit product.
Comments
Toxic alkaloid? Tonic water? People started taking it to help reduce symptoms of malaria. German spas started mixing it with Gin, to make it more palatable, and the British adopted it to the point where it's almost the national drink. Tonic water sold today has a much lower level of quinine than it originally had, but it still has quinine in it.
Posted by mjbird on 04/27/18 at 08:08 AM
@mjbird: To make what more palatable...the gin or the tonic water?
Posted by Big Daddy on 04/27/18 at 10:26 AM
"...injunction against companies making the counterfeit product," as opposed to their genuine fake product.
Posted by Virtual on 04/27/18 at 10:59 AM
68% alcohol; I wonder how many Americans "treated" their scalp from the inside out during the Prohibition years, especially with the presumably cheaper counterfeit products. "It's not bathtub gin, it's bathtub hair tonic, Mr. Ness. I even have a bunch of fancy printed labels that proves it."
Posted by Fritz G on 04/28/18 at 05:53 AM
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Category: Advertising | Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil | Hair Styling | Nineteenth Century | Twentieth Century