11. Obtaining milky white skin was once a feminine priority
During the latter half of the nineteenth century urban women detested the look of skin tanned by exposure to the sun, or even worse, the appearance of freckles on the face. Parasols and sun bonnets were fashion essentials, but even with zero sun exposure many women of style and taste desired an even whiter look, a clear indication that labor in the out of doors was not a part of her life. During the Victorian Era women of fashion in London, and later in New York and along Philadelphia’s Main Line, resorted to the use of arsenic to achieve the color, or rather the lack of it, which they sought. They used arsenic in two ways, both of which were potentially toxic, and no doubt led to the weakness which was then referred to as the vapors.
White arsenic was concocted with cider vinegar and chalk to make a sort of gruel, which was then eaten daily until the desired paleness appeared. Arsenic was also blended with soap into a paste which was rubbed into the areas of exposed skin, the face, neck, bodice, and arms. Thus arsenic was ingested into the body through both means, as well as exposure to its fumes when the gruel was heated, as it often was to encourage full dissolving of the powders in the vinegar, which masked its taste. Helpful manufacturers marketed several soaps which contained arsenic as the world learned more about microbes after Pasteur discovered how to kill them (his process, called pasteurization, was applied to beer before it was used on milk), and the Victorian belle was thus aided in her quest for pale skin.