Cosmetic Products of yesteryear...

September 9, 2006

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From a post to a email list:

Apropos of a post on the banning of toothpaste as a carry-on, and reversal to tooth powder and shaving soap…..

I remember  Gopal Tooth Powder and Nanjangud Tooth Powder, both  pink in colour, and also great-tasting, all the apparently abrasive bits gave a nice gritty, crunchy texture to it!…(Nanjangud came in those paper packets, which would now be called eco-friendly, unlike the plastic of Gopal Tooth Powder…) I  know because I have eaten vast quanitities of it. And Vicco Vajradanti tooth powder (was black and tasted pungently of cloves)…. <DIV> </DIV><DIV> {Aside: I always thought of Nanjangud as a brand name for tooth powder and only realized loooong afterwards that it is a town near Mysore where the family( B V Pandit )who made the product, hailed from…..Very ironic actually, because Nanjundeshwara, the presiding diety there, is so called because he (Shiva) tried to swallow the poison that was thrown up during the churning of the Ocean of Milk…Nanjunda, one who has eaten poison, Ishwara, God, Shiva….and they made a product for the mouth…}</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>I too would like to know if all these, and Colgate tooth powder,which used to become a smeary, gooey paste in the mouth, still exist….</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>Oh, those products of yesteryear, the Afghan Snow ( a kind of vanishing cream) and the Himalaya Bouquet (talcum powder) and the Eyetex (collyrium)  and the Cutex (nail polish) and the  Hamam and the Lifebuoy (toilet soaps)  and the   Cinthol Soap and Powder  “with the secret ingredient, G-11”, which turned out to be hexachlorophene, which was later banned…

Well, those are my Indian brand memories; I also remember the very famous “Burma Shave” campaign in the US.

Now I am thinking of Woodward’s Gripe Water and Waterbury’s Compound…but that’s another post!</DIV><DIV><SPAN class=sg><DIV> </DIV></SPAN></DIV>