Are You Beautiful?
Is your complexion not what it once was? Are you suffering from blotches, blemishes, coarseness and redness? Why not try arsenic?
In the United States and Europe, a ghostly pallor was the height of fashion among Victorian-era women. Pale skin signaled high class, both because it meant that you never had to work in the sun and because wasting away from consumption, what we now know as tuberculosis, had become associated with beauty in certain affluent circles.
In the late 18th century, wealthy women started romanticizing the extreme thinness, near-translucent skin, and rosy cheeks of those who suffered from the disease, an attitude that came to a peak in the mid-19th century.
In 1851, a Swiss physician published a report in a medical journal about the “toxicophagi,” a group of people in modern-day Austria who routinely consumed arsenic; they knew it was poison, but thought they could develop an immunity to it by starting with small doses and gradually increasing the intake. The report’s author claimed that arsenic gave them great energy, sparkling eyes, and wonderful complexions, but noted that after long-term use, unsurprisingly, “most arsenic eaters end with an inevitable infirmity of the body.”
After the article was published, arsenic became a popular treatment for women chasing a naturally wan look — and arsenic-based “complexion wafers” started hitting store shelves and were sold well into the 20th century.
These wafers reportedly had a very low dose of the toxin, but because there is no such thing as “safe” arsenic, they were still fatal for some. Legitimate doctors warned against their use, and at least one physician in San Francisco worried that arsenic poisoning was going undiagnosed because women neglected to tell their doctors they were taking it.
