Dying to Be Beautiful : The Fight for Safe Cosmetics

205 Pages·2005·2.781 MB·English

by  Gwen Kay

L Gwen Kay is assistant
professor of history
U at SUNY Oswego.
F
I
T
U
A
Dying to Be Beautiful tells the story of how cosmetics came to
DYING TO BE BEAUTIFUL
Ebe regulated in early-20th-century America. In 1906, the Food
and Drug Administration was given the power to control food and
B
drugs. Not until 1938 were other products that went into or onto
the body, including cosmetics, similarly regulated. The intervening

years saw death by depilatory and blindness by mascara and a rise
E
in consumer and grassroots political activism. This book examines
Bwho fought for regulation of these inherently feminine products
and why it took so long for their goals to be achieved.

Gwen Kay argues that many activists, often at the
O
grassroots level, set the stage for changes in legislation.
The activists’ continued outrage, letters, negative press,
T
books, and just plain attention to these matters allowed
for the plodding Congressional committee hearings to
G transform into swift action in the face of a national crisis
provoked by a lack of regulatory oversight. Ordinary
The Fight for Safe Cosmetics
N citizens, doctors as individuals rather than as an
association, government offi cials acting in a personal
I rather than an offi cial capacity, and even manufacturers
concerned about less—reputable industrial cousins
Y
tainting the cosmetic industry’s good name all supported
D the effort to regulate cosmetics.
This is the fi rst book that substantively examines the
cosmetics industry in light of the 1938 Food, Drug, and
Cosmetics Act. Dying to Be Beautiful pays particular

Cover design: Janna Thompson-Chordas attention to the problems caused by cosmetics and to
the possible solutions offered, both before and after
www.ohiostatepress.org
implementation of the 1938 law.
The Ohio State University Press
Columbus
Gwen Kay
Ohio State
FPO barcode 0-8142-5138-2
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WOMEN, GENDER,AND HEALTH
Susan L.Smith and Nancy Tomes,Series Editors
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DYING TO BE BEAUTIFUL
The Fight for Safe Cosmetics
Gwen Kay
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS • COLUMBUS
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Copyright © 2005 by The Ohio State University.
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kay, Gwen.
Dying to be beautiful : the fight for safe cosmetics / Gwen Kay.
p. ; cm.—(Women and health)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–8142–0990–4 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 0–8142–5138–2 (pbk. : alk. paper)—
ISBN 0–8142–9066–3 (cd) 1. Cosmetics—Law and legislation—United States—History.
2. Cosmetics industry—United States—History. 3. Cosmetics—Health aspects—United
States—History. I. Title. II. Women & health (Columbus, Ohio)
KF3896.K39 2005
346.7304’23—dc22
2004021551
Cover design by Janna Thompson-Chordas.
Text design by Jennifer Forsythe.
Type set in Palatino.
Printed by Thompson-Shore, Inc.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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“A POSITIVE ATTITUDE, COUPLED WITH A SUNNY DISPOSITION,
GAVE ONE SUFFICIENT BEAUTY”
For Janice and Edwin Kay
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contents
list of illustrations ix
acknowledgments xi
introduction 1
chapter one
“Avictory of the women of this country” 9
chapter two
“The arts and crafts of the modern flapper” 30
chapter three
“Marring the fair face of nature” 54
chapter four
“Some protection to our health, our looks and
our pocketbooks” 76
chapter five
“The big cosmetic houses aren’t sorry that the
regulation has come” 106
epilogue 124
notes 128
works cited 171
index 184
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list of illustrations
Figure 1
Mrs. Musser demonstrating the ill effects of Lash Lure 5
Figure 2
Rexford Tugwell, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, 1933–36 79
Figure 3
1933 Chicago World’s Fair exhibit 83
Figure 4
Origins and path of legislation resulting in 1938 Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act 90
ix