Best Friends

Best Friends

Back To Bed Please?

Could I go back to bed?  Please?

Mascara Had What In It!

Mascara and eyeliner go together like salt and pepper.  You seldom wear one without the other, especially when it is a special event. I've often wondered about the history of both because I grew up in a household where my mother did not wear anything more than a bright red lipstick.  I sometimes use mascara and eyeliner but I usually end up looking like a child wearing her mother's makeup.

There is evidence that mascara dates back to Ancient Egypt when they mixed honey, charcoal or soot, water and crocodile dung to create kohl which they used as an eyeliner, mascara, and colored their eyebrows with it.  Kohl was an all round product.  In addition, men used mascara as often as women in Ancient Egypt.

The use of kohl spread to Greece and Rome where it became a part of the daily routine because society wanted long, dark, and curled lashes. In addition to kohl, women used burnt cork to help create the dark lashes.  Once the Roman Empire fell, Europe no longer welcomed it's use because the forehead was considered the sexist part of the body and women plucked their eyelashes and eye brows.

When Queen Elizabeth took the throne, red eyelashes became popular and women tried to dye them to match but were often unsuccessful thus losing them.  The use of mascara became associated with those who were rich and powerful as a vanity item.  Mascara didn't become popular again until the rule of Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria used makeup and wore elaborate clothing as the ruler.  She set a trend for women from the middle and upper classes needed to use makeup and dress properly every day.  This lead to women adopting intense beauty routines that could take several hours a day to complete. Mascara made up an important part of this routine because it allowed women to have long dark lashes  that every women needed.  In the early days of the Victorian era, women made their own mascara because it was not marketed but everywhere they turned, they found ads promoting its use to meet the societal ideal.

It wasn't until 1913 that a Frenchman released the first nontoxic version of Mascara to the public. His product was a combination of coal dust and Vaseline.  Although the product was both messy and inconsistent, it still became a hit around the world and was often referred to as "Rimmel" named after its inventor.

In 1917, a women, Mabel Williams went to work with a drug company to market her own version of mascara known as Lash-Brow-Inc which had Vaseline and oils to make lashes shiny.  Her company , Maybelline, marketed it in packaging similar to Rimmel's but her mascara came in a cake with a separate brush and her marketing was much better. In 1938, a company introduced a lash product guaranteed to make the brows and lashes dark but due to it's toxic ingredients, many women lost their sight.

The next major improvement in mascara came in the 1940's when water-proof formulas hit the market.  The ingredient, turpentine, made the mascara waterproof but it could cause allergenic reactions but it proved to be quite popular. Then in 1958, Revlon introduced mascara in a tube with a spiral tip wand.  Two years later, the same company introduced colored mascara to the public.

Maybelline proved its staying power when they introduces a water based mascara in 1971 that is still popular even today.  Since then, clear mascara, more colors, smudge proof, and so many more mascara formulas have hit the market, making it extremely popular.

So now you know more about mascara.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day but know on Monday, I'll be looking at the history of eyeliner.  I'll have my usual pictures over the weekend.

The Jump To Hairspray.

 I remember an aunt who always teased her hair so it stood out around her hair.  She'd apply so much hairspray to it that it would not budge an inch should she ride in a convertable.  Even when she hit her 80's, she'd still whip it into shape while finishing the look with hairspray.

The only thing I ever used hairspray for was and is to remove permanent marker from clothing.  White Rain hairspray always did a good job of that but I never got around to using it in my hair.

I've often wondered when it came into use.  Did it come around at the beginning of the 20th century? Or was it earlier? Or later.  Hairspray is made up of a fine mist of chemicals that came out of a can with a propellent or a pump.

You can thank the people who created spray insecticide in 1943 for use by the military to keep bugs away.  The beauty industry decided the ability to spray chemicals would do well to propel hairspray but it didn't hit the market until after the war was over.  Three years after the war ended, someone developed a resin like substance similar to shellac that held hair together because it coated the hair strands with a sticky film.

 It wasn't until 1950 that Helene Curtis created the generic term "Hairspray" for the newly released product "Spray Net" designed to hold hair in place so the hairstyles looked good.  By 1955, Spray net was selling all over the world. At this time, aerosol cans were powered by fluorocarbons or pressurized gas.

At about the same time as Helene Curtis began selling hairspray, the company Alberto-Culver who provided hair products to the movie industry in California began selling their own hair spray and offered some serious competition.  Women began wearing styles that required hairspray to keep it in place and the amount sold increased accordingly.  As a result, companies began creating a variety of weights and strengths to meet the needs of women.

By 1964, hairspray was the number one selling item beauty product.  Unfortunately, the use of hairsprays declined in the 1960's and 70's due to a change in societal views so hair became freer and less styled. In the 1970's chlorofluorocarbons were outlawed so hairspray manufacturers had to rely on other ways to power hairspray.  Alberto V-O5 company released the first CFC hairspray in 1977 while other countries phased out this chemical.

Then in the 1980's grunge hit the scene and those styles required lots of hairspray to hold it in place and it caused an increase in its use.  Now it tends to be used by women who want their hair to hold in place through special events but many women no longer fix their hair the way they did in past times.

The creation of the aerosol spray lead to more than just hairspray.  It lead to spray paint, spray deodorant, and anything else that came out of can propelled by an aerosol.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day and I'll see you on Friday.

Automatic Dishwashers - Over 150 Years Old.

I usually end up living in places without dishwasher mostly because the water situation is such that it is better not to have one.  In addition, I grew up in houses without them.  My father used to joke that he didn't need one because he already had one - my mother.

I am not even sure when dishwashers became a part of American life.  I know my siblings have all had them in their houses but I don't know the year they began becoming popular.

The first patented dishwasher was released in 1850.  It wasn't terribly effective because it sprayed water on on the dishes while the person used a wooden handle to turn a wooden wheel inside the washer.  In 1886, a woman, Josephine Cochrane, made improvements because she was tired of servants breaking her dishes.

 She made sure the wooden wheel laid flat against the copper boiler and she designed the wheel so it could be turned by hand or moved automatically by a system of pulleys. Furthermore, it had wire frames inside to hold the dishes as the wheel turned and they were sprayed with hot soapy water.

When she showed off her creation as the "Lavaplatos" at the 1893 World's Fair, restaurants, hotels, her rich friends were all impressed with it so she began a company to make dishwashers for people.  Her company eventually became Kitchenaid.  People continued to make changes while several companies such as Maytag and Whirlpool appeared in the early 1900, all making dishwashers.  But it wasn't until the 1920's that dishwashers became more common in middle class families because  indoor plumbing with running water was found in more and more houses.

Furthermore, one change made to dishwashers happened in 1924 when an English inventor changed the wire holder to actual racks and changed things to a rotating spray rather than having it squirt in from the bottom as it did in Josephine's version.  It is said, this non-electric version utilized front loading instead of top loading.  The inventor, William Howard Livens, added a drying element in 1940, in between his work creating chemical warfare for the government.  At this time, dishwashers were still a luxury item due to the demands of the war.

Dishwashers did not become a commercial success until the 1950's when the war ended.  Dishwashers still sold to the wealthy but as kitchens changed to include wall to wall countertops and standardized sizing for both cabinets and appliances, dishwashers could easily fit under counters.
Than in 1960, another company, Miele, released the first fully automated model seen and soon dishwashers became standard kitchen equipment.  As of 2012, 75 percent of American households had dishwashers in the kitchen.

It is interesting that both the refrigerator and dishwashers hit the market at about the same time but the fridge sold better since most people were more interested in keeping food fresh and could work in houses without running water.

Now for a few interesting facts:

1. Cascade brand dishwashing soap carried out a survey and discovered that 79 percent of people will rewash dishes rather than unload their dishwasher.

2.  Dishwashers were not sold commercially to the general population in huge numbers until the 1950's because most dishwashers were purchased by restaurants and hotels.

3. At least one version released in the 1950's fit on countertops but didn't wash a big load.

4.  Scientific studies show that when you hand wash dishes you use 27 gallons of water while the dishwasher uses only 4.75 gallons for the same number of dishes.

5.  Although many still prewash their dishes before washing them, there is no need to because modern dishwashers are quite effective.

6.  Most modern dishwashers also have garbage disposal.  It is recommended people clean their garbage disposals out before they run their dishwashers.

So, I hope you enjoyed learning more about the dishwasher.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.

Also I am backing down to three days a week plus weekends due to the increased amount of work at school.  The next time, I will publish will be Wednesday.

And Cheerleading!

The wrestling is combined with a cheerleading competition.

Elementary and Middle School Wrestling

It is the weekend filled with elementary and middle school wresting.  Yeah!!!!!!!!!