Bailey’s Rubber Complexion Brush

 

From The Chemist and Druggist Supplement, 25 October 1890

A harmless alternative to the arsenical preparations then in vogue for improving the complexion, Bailey’s rubber brush was intended to improve the circulation, clear the pores and allow the blood to free itself of impurities. Charles J Bailey of Newton, Massachusetts, invented the product in 1887, immediately patenting it in England, France, Canada, Belgium and the US. The brush was flexible with soft, flat ended cylindrical teeth designed to be gentle on the skin, stimulating a healthy glow without abrasion. Its advertising claims included smoothing out wrinkles and removing blackheads:

‘This state of the skin [enlarged pores] often occurs because the bath does not sufficiently soften and carry away the oily waste which the blood has brought to the pores for egress; then the oily exudations remain and harden, and, moreover, become capped by impalpable dust, producing the odious “Blackhead.” The rubber brush never fails to remove the dust-cap, and sensitize the skin for the dissolving and cleansing action of the bath. The pores thus regularly relieved, nature again acts freely, the pores contract, and the skin becomes again of its natural texture.”  Boston Evening Transcript, 7 May, 1892.

 

 

One thought on “Bailey’s Rubber Complexion Brush”

  1. You know, I think I saw something similar on late night TV commercials this Christmas. They called it an exfoliating brush and it was motorized with a rotating head, but the principle is the same.

Comments are closed.

Men and women in 19th-century clothing sit on benches in an underground cave.

Rocks that Shock: the Hillman Electric Resort

In 1880s Georgia, a Baptist minister accidentally discovered rocks that appeared to emit a therapeutic power of electricity. As their fame spread, the location became a popular resort for people in search of healing.

Read More
Maggot sheds at Jerusalem Farm, pictured in the Leeds Mercury, 31 July 1911. (British Newspaper Archive)

A breath of maggoty air

No one likes to be the hapless person who wanders into the garage and finds a forgotten turkey carcase humming with maggots and surrounded in a fug of pungent effluvia. I suppose it would be a great story if this had been a defining moment of my teenage years, inspiring me to embark on a […]

Read More
The New and Delightful Method - Punch vol 45 p175

‘A new sensation’ – hair-brushing by machinery

Among the gems released into the public domain by the British Library last December is an advertisement for Batkin & Kent, Hairdressers and Perfumers of Stafford, (or Staffford – whoever proofread it probably hoped it would disappear with the next edition of the book rather than re-emerge on the internet 128 years later, but c’est […]

Read More