Perfumes and their preparation

The pistachio nuts are blanched in the same manner as almonds (see under Simple Almond Paste), and then reduced to a meal.

C. Vegetable Milk.

The several varieties of vegetable milk are merely emulsions containing sufficient water to give them a milky appearance. They are used as such for washes and are in great favor. Owing to the larger amount of water they contain, they are more liable to decompose than the preparations described above, since the fats present in them easily become rancid on account of their fine division in the milk.

In order to render these preparations more stable, they receive an addition of about five to ten per cent of their weight of pure glycerin which enhances their cosmetic effect. The addition of about one-half of one per cent of salicylic acid is likewise to be recommended, as it makes them more stable.

In the following pages we shall describe only the most important of these preparations usually made by the perfumer. In this connection we may state that by slightly modifying the substances used to perfume them, new varieties of vegetable milk can be easily prepared.

Every vegetable milk consists in the main of a base of soap, wax, and spermaceti, and an aromatic water which gives the name to the preparation. This composition is intended to keep suspended the fatty vegetable substances (almond or pistachio meal, etc.), thus producing a milky appearance.

Vegetable milks are made as follows.

Melt the soap with the wax and spermaceti at a gentle heat. Prepare a milk from the vegetable substance and the aromatic water (e.g., unexpressed almonds and rose water) by careful trituration, strain it through fine silk gauze into the vessel containing the melted mixture of soap, wax, and spermaceti, stir thoroughly, let it cool, and add the alcohol holding in solution the essential oils, the glycerin (and the salicylic acid), under continual stirring. The alcohol must be added in a very thin stream, otherwise a portion of the mass will curdle. The coarser particles contained in the milk must be allowed to settle by leaving the preparation at rest for twenty-four hours, when the milk can be carefully decanted from the sediment and filled into bottles for sale.

Lilac Milk (Lait de Lilas).

In place of lilac-flower water and huile antique de lilas, lilacin (terpineol) may be used, a sufficient quantity (about 1 oz.) being dissolved in the alcohol. But the lilacin must be pure and of clean odor.

Virginal Milk (Lait Virginal).

This preparation differs from all other milks sold in perfumery in that it consists of some aromatic water with tincture of benzoin and tolu. In making it, pour the aromatic water in a very thin stream into the tincture under vigorous stirring. If the water flows in too rapidly, the resins present in the tincture separate in lumps; but if slowly poured in, the resins form minute spheres which remain suspended. The preparation is named after the aromatic water it contains: Lait virginal de la rose, à fleurs d’oranges, etc. Its formula is:

Cucumber Milk (Lait de Concombres).

Dandelion Milk.

Dandelion juice is the bitter milk sap of the root of the common dandelion (Leontodon taraxacum); it should be expressed immediately before use. The rose water may be replaced by some other aromatic water or even ordinary water; but the latter should be distilled, otherwise the lime it contains would form an insoluble combination with the soap.

Bitter-Almond Milk (Lait d’Amandes Amères).

Rose Milk (Lait de Roses).

Pistachio Milk (Lait de Pistaches).

D. Cold-Creams and Lip Salves.

In the main they resemble in their composition the emulsions and vegetable milks, but differ by their thick consistence which renders them suitable for being rubbed into the skin. Cold-creams are really salves perfumed with one of the well-known odors which give them their names. Fat forms the basis of these mixtures and gives them their hygienic effect, as it imparts fulness and softness to the skin. Every well-made cold-cream should have the consistence of recently congealed wax and should yield to the pressure of the finger like pomatum. It should be noted that the addition of very thick glycerin will increase the effect of the cold-cream and improve its fine transparent appearance; but this substance must be added with great care, otherwise the mass will not possess the required firmness.

In making cold-cream, a mixture of wax, spermaceti, and expressed almond oil must be combined with an aromatic water and an essential oil. The first part of the operation is easy; the wax and spermaceti are melted at the lowest possible temperature, and the almond oil is added under continual stirring. It is more difficult to unite the other substances with this base; the aromatic water is admitted in a thin stream under vigorous stirring (or whipping, or churning), and when it forms a uniform mass with the contents of the mortar the remaining substances are stirred in and the still fluid mass is poured into the vessels intended for it, and allowed to congeal.

Cold-creams are usually sold in tasteful porcelain jars or vases. To guard against rancidity of the mass, the vessels are closed either with ground stoppers or with corks covered with tin foil. The essential oils should be added last, when the mass has cooled to the congealing-point; if added before, too much of them is lost by evaporation.

We give below several approved formulas for the preparation of some favorite cold-creams, and repeat that new varieties can be produced by introducing any desired odor into the composition.

Glycerin Cold-Cream A.

Glycerin Cold-Cream B.

Camphor Ice (Camphor Cold-Cream).

Camphor Ice (Pâte Camphorique).

This mixture, which is rather firm, is frequently poured into shallow porcelain boxes; sometimes it is colored red with alkanet root.

Camphor Balls (Savonettes Camphoriques).

Savonette is generally understood to mean a soap cast in spherical moulds; this preparation is, as a rule, likewise sold in this form.

Divine Pomade A.

The aromatic substances, having been comminuted, are thoroughly triturated with the other ingredients, and the mass is kept for twenty-four hours at a temperature of 50 to 60° C. (112-140° F.), when it is carefully decanted from the sediment, which is treated again with another mass of the same substances for thirty-six to forty-eight hours.

Divine Pomade B.

The solid substances are macerated for forty-eight hours with the warm marrow, the liquid perfumed marrow is then strained off and mixed with the orange-flower water.

Cologne Cold-Cream (Crême de Cologne).

Mecca balsam has been a rare article in commerce for many years. That which is usually sold as such is more or less adulterated or an imitation. The genuine was derived from Balsamodendron Opobalsamum Kunth.

Cucumber Cold-Cream A.

The cucumber juice is carefully heated to 60 or 65° C. (140-149°F.), rapidly filtered from the curds, and at once added to the rest of the mass.

Cucumber Cold-Cream B.

The benzoin is first macerated with the warmed fat for twenty-four hours, and this aromatic fat is treated in the usual manner.

Lip Salve A (Pomade Blanche pour les Lèvres).

Red Lip Salve B (Pomade à la Rose Pour les Lèvres).

The beautiful red color which distinguishes this preparation is produced with alkanet root; the mass, before the essential oils are added, being macerated for from six to eight hours, under frequent stirring, with the comminuted root, and then decanted from the sediment.

Cherry Salve C (Pomade Cerise).

The procedure is the same as for pomade à la rose.

Almond Cold-Cream.

Almond Balls (Savonettes d’Amandes).

This is usually formed into balls.

Rosebud Cold-Cream.

Violet Cold-Cream (Crême de Violettes).

APPENDIX.

Nail Powder (Poudre pour les Ongles; Fingernagel-Pulver).

The finger nails, being an appendage to the skin, belong under the head of the Care of the Skin; we therefore give a formula for preparing the powder used for imparting smoothness and gloss to the nails. For use, some of the powder is poured on a piece of soft glove leather and the nails are rubbed until they shine.

The oxide of tin must be an impalpable powder and is mixed with the other substances in a mortar.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE PREPARATIONS USED FOR THE CARE OF THE HAIR (POMADES AND HAIR OILS).

The hair, the beautiful ornament of the human body, requires fat for its care and preservation, for there are but few persons whose scalp is so vigorous that the hair can derive sufficient nourishment from it to maintain its gloss and smoothness.

Among the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Germans various ointments were in use for the care of the hair. In Rome there was even, as we have stated in an earlier part of the book, a special guild of ointment-makers or unguentarii. They employed a process for making their ointments fragrant which resembles that of maceration in present use.

The so-called pomades (from pomum, apple) were prepared by sticking a fine apple full of spices and placing it for a long time in liquid fat which absorbed the odor of the spices.

In the present state of chemical science, the basis of every pomade or hair oil is formed by some fat perfumed with aromatic substances and at times colored. The fats generally used are lard, beef marrow, tallow, bears’ grease, olive or almond oil; some of the firmer fats receive an addition of a certain amount of paraffin, spermaceti, or wax, in order to give the pomade greater consistence. As in the manufacture of all the finer articles, it is essential that whatever fat is employed should be perfectly pure; only fat which is absolutely neutral, i.e., free from acid, can be used, and any sample with but a trace of rancidity (containing free fatty acids) should be rejected on account of the penetrating odor peculiar to several of these acids.

Manufacturers who aim at the production of fine goods spare neither trouble nor expense in order to obtain perfectly pure fats.

Fats are purified for the purposes of the perfumer in the following manner:

The fat is melted in a bright iron pot or enamelled vessel with three times the quantity of water containing in solution about one per cent (of the weight of the fat) of alum and one per cent of table salt. Fat and water are well stirred with a broad flat ladle or some mechanical arrangement within the boiler. After the mass has remained at rest for some time, the curdled solid matters are skimmed from the surface. The time required for this operation can be much shortened by the use of a pump which raises the fat and water from the boiler and returns them in a fine spray.

When fats with some degree of rancidity are to be made suitable for the purposes of the perfumer, 0.5% of caustic soda lye is added to the water instead of the alum.

After this treatment is completed, the fat must be washed in order to free it from the substances with which it was purified. Formerly this washing was done in a manner resembling the grinding of oil colors. The fat was placed on a level stone plate and kneaded with a muller with flat base under a continual stream of water flowing from above, until the fat was clean. This expensive hand labor is now performed by machines, the fat being treated with water in vertical mills.

No matter how carefully a fat was purified, it may happen that the pomades made from it, if kept long in stock, may subsequently become rancid—a circumstance which may destroy the reputation of a factory. Fortunately we know two substances which materially counteract the tendency of fats to become rancid: salicylic acid and benzoin. Either of these substances is added to many perfumery articles, especially pomades, in order to prevent rancidity; an admixture of from one-one-thousandth to five-one-thousandths parts of solid salicylic acid suffices, according to our experiments, for the purpose; of benzoin we need about three-fourths of an ounce for every quart of fat; the resin is only partly soluble in fat, but imparts to it its vanilla-like odor. For the finest pomades sublimed benzoic acid is used, in the proportion of about 150 to 240 grains to the quart of fat.

CHAPTER XXIII.
FORMULAS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF POMADES AND HAIR OILS.

A. Pomades.

In manufacturing perfumery two groups of pomades are distinguished—those with a hard base, and those with a soft base. By base is meant the fat which is the vehicle of the odor in every pomade. The consistence of the substance depends upon its melting-point; lard and beef marrow, having a low melting-point, furnish soft pomades; while beef and mutton tallow, which often receive an addition of paraffin, wax, or spermaceti in order to make them firmer, have a higher melting-point and serve for hard pomades.

French perfumers put on the market some very fine pomades consisting of the fat which has served for the absorption of odors by maceration, enfleurage, etc., and which has been treated with alcohol for the extraction of the odors (so-called washed pomades). No matter how long such a fat is treated with alcohol, it tenaciously retains a portion of the odor to which the great fragrance of these pomades is due and which has given them their reputation.

If the pomades resulting from the following formulas should turn out too soft—a fact depending on the climate of the place of manufacture—they may receive an addition of a mixture of equal parts of paraffin, wax, and spermaceti, in portions of respectively five per cent at each addition, until the desired ointment-like consistence is attained.

Cantharidal Pomade.

Tincture of cantharides is prepared by prolonged maceration of ¾ ounce of powdered cantharides in one quart of alcohol.

Circassian Pomade.

The almond oil alone is first macerated with the alkanet root until, when added to the other ingredients, it imparts a beautiful red color to the pomade.

Benzoin Pomade A.

Benzoin Pomade B.

Macerate the benzoin or benzoic acid in the fat at the temperature of boiling water for several hours, and strain the pomade through a cloth.

Double Pomades.

These pomades are put on the market in excellent quality especially by French manufacturers. They consist of a mixture of washed pomades and huiles antiques. The respective quantities must be chosen according to the climate of the country for which the articles are intended. Colder countries require equal parts by weight of pomades and oils; warmer climates, two parts of fat to one of oil.

Crystallized Oil (Huile Crystallisée).

The addition of spermaceti and paraffin causes the mixture to assume a crystalline form on cooling, the appearance improving in proportion as the cooling is slow and gradual. First melt the paraffin and spermaceti on a water bath, add the huiles antiques, mix thoroughly by prolonged stirring, and pour the finished product into the vessels in which it is to be sold. These vessels are previously warmed to 60 or 70° C. (140-158°F.), and very slowly after filling, so as to secure a beautiful crystalline mass. A second quality of crystalline hair oil is made according to the following formula:

Blossom Pomade (Pomade à Fleurs).

Bear’s Grease Pomade (Pomade à Graisse d’Ours).

This pomade is rather consistent; if it is to be made still firmer for summer use or warm climates, the almond oil should be diminished and the lard increased in proportion, or some tallow and wax added. The pomade is made by mixing the oil and lard, adding next the pomades and huiles antiques, and finally the essential oils. The temperature should not be higher than suffices to keep the mass liquid; the mixture is effected by vigorous stirring, and is then at once, though gradually, cooled.

Beef-Marrow Pomade (Pomade à Moëlle de Bœuf).

Marrow Cream (Crême de Moëlle).

The public is accustomed to receive the last two pomades in the form of froth. This can be easily effected by whipping the pomade during cooling with an egg-beater until it is solidified.

Cinchona Pomade (Pomade à Quinquine).

Macerate the finely powdered bark in the fat for some hours, add the Peru balsam, strain through a cloth, and incorporate the essential oils. The pomade is vaunted as a hair tonic, as well as

Tanno-Quinine Pomade,

which is prepared in the same way; the only difference being the addition of 150 grains of tannin.

Castor-Oil Cream (Crême de Ricine).

Orange-flower Pomade (Pomade à Fleurs d’Oranges).

Heliotrope Pomade (Pomade de Héliotrope).

Transparent Pomade.

The pomade is completely liquefied after being mixed and allowed to congeal in the vessels in which it is marketed. If successful, the product must be quite transparent or at least decidedly translucent.

Tonka Cream.