SECTION XV. DEPILATORIES. SUBSTANCES more or less caustic, generally dangerous, used for the purpose of destroying hairs on the skin. Quicklime and sulphide of arsenic form the basis of nearly all of them. A. Paré advises to inclose in a rag equal parts of these two substances, and after dipping them in water to rub the part to be depilated. The rusma of the Turks, which appears to be the best, is prepared with 2 ounces of lime, ounce sulphide of arsenic, which are boiled in one pound of an alkaline lye, until by dipping a quill into the mixture the liquid is strong enough to separate the feathers. It is spread on the part, and, a few seconds after, a simple sponging with warm water will remove all the hairs. Sometimes it is sufficient to prepare, in the same proportions, a powder, which is afterwards diluted with a little water to apply in the form of paste. This mixture is rendered less corrosive by incorporating into it rye flour, starch, or paste of sweet almonds. Sulphide of barium moistened with a little water, the ointment of quicklime of Minsicht, and the trochists of arsenic have also been used; but all of these articles must be employed very carefully, especially when arsenic enters into their composition, for a prolonged application will produce a real poisoning by the absorption of a certain quantity of the arsenic. They have also this other inconvenience-that they corrode the skin. Whatever are the effects of these dangerous cosmetics, they do not prevent the hairs from growing again, and consequently they must be fre quently used. Sulphide of arsenic Mix and pass through a fine sieve. 1 drachm. To use it, mix some of the powder with water and apply to the hairy part; a few seconds after, rub and the hair will fall off. Mix, pass through a sieve, and keep in well-corked Boil the whole in 2 pounds of an alkaline lye. This preparation is very dangerous. Rub well together until the mercury is extinct, and pass through a silk sieve and make a paste with soap-water. Apply a light coating on the part to be depilated; after eight or ten minutes wash with water, and the skin is perfectly deprived of hair. Depilatory with Sulphydrate of Soda. Starch Sulphydrate of soda 8 ounces. Dissolve the sulphydrate in water, introduce the lime and starch in a marble mortar, and triturate, adding the sulphydrate little by little; grind until a homogeneous paste is obtained. Keep in blue ground-stoppered bottles. This depilatory is the best, the most efficacious, and the least dangerous. It must be kept out of the light. |