Beauty & Care

While watching an commercial on age defining cream today on TV, my mind wandered back to all those beauty products that i could remember from when i was three years, because thats how far i could drag my conscious mind. There were very few items on anyone's dressing table. A talcum powder container, made of metal. I could remember the names such as Afghan talc, and then there was the age old Ponds, and even Cuticura. Its was only one fragrance available, in each brand. Then there was the snow, in a thick heavy glass jar, a kind of whitish creamy thing, which once applied on, would disappear giving a very whitish look, but not oily. They too came from the Afghan brand, and also there were Ponds and Lakme snow, though i think Lakme came into the scene later, if I am not mistaken. The Afghan brand was in a jar which had this snow peaks as label which i kind of liked as i always had this fascination for mountains, way back then too. The face powders mostly from ponds were in this round card board boxes, with a puff, and the powder was pinkish, and not the pressed variety, so every time one opened the box some of the powder flew out. Lipsticks were also very few on the dressers of people, mostly i used to see reds and pinks. Later as we grew up we discovered more brands like the Max factor with their foundations and face powder, so also did Lakme with their brands of face powders and foundations. Yah there was this cold cream too, from Ponds and Afghan, and Lakme.
I remember as a kid the magazines had these models with huge heads, actually they were wearing those buffonts ( i don't know how to spell that) and i always thought how unnatural it all looked, even back then i wondered how they went about with that load on their heads. The models wore eyeliners long and thick and i felt what a funny combination, a huge over grown head with painted eyes. I used to associate it with some pictures i had seen in some book or magazine of some tribals, they too had some sort of head dress and painted faces and eyes. Eyeliners too were of the brands Lakme, Max Factor, nail polishes i remember were from Afghan, Lakme, and there was this other brand called Step nail polishes. They all took the most prominent places on the shop counters. I also remember there was this cream called Charmis.
Much later came in Tips and toes, i think they were nail polishes.

Back then foreign brands were not so easily available here. Come to think of it, now we have popular brands of international cosmetics available at every store, mall, every where. And so many choices for make up, and skin care. Back then i rememeber Anne French milk for cleansing, now its not just cleansing milk, its all about what skin type, the time of the year, and age group, and so on... Cold creams are still available, but they to come as oily, normal, dry. Back then there were no moisturizers, now its again moisturizers for dry, normal and oily, there are make up kits from average to the most expensive of brands , face powders for nnn..... number of skin tones, foundations, with sun screens, all day wear, pressed foundations, what else........., Eye liners ... so many varieties of colours, applications with brush, pencils, pens, wow, just pick what ever suits you, mascaras of all shades, its a whole lot of colourful world. In skin care, there are so many varieties, each claiming to make one look younger than the latest new born human baby. Each claiming to have the latest technology, high absorbent nutrients, one brand has something very important to keep my wrinkles at bay, while the other has another substance that claims to replenish some vital requirement that no other product can do, because they don't have it, because it has been patented. Poor me the consumer, what do i use, the first product to take care of my wrinkles or the second one to replenish what ever my skin is losing. Both claim their product must NOT be used in combination with any other product for best results.

Then there are endless sunscreens , SPF 10, 20 30 40 right upto 60, some even have stuff like the TPF, some claim they have both SPF and TPF, some say theirs is the best as its herbal, others claim theirs is best because it not just protects from sun burn, but also from tan, (now whats the difference ). Reading through the so called herbal products, well a whole lot of chemicals go into it for preservation. Make up, well back then there was the rouge, today there are blushers, again different skin tones, lipsticks, thats like the best, endless colours, and endless shades, sometimes two color codes of a shade look exactly the same.

Shampoos, i remember the Halo shampoo, it was a golden transparent liquid, in a glass bottle, and also there was the halo egg shampoo. Now there are shampoos for God knows how many kinds of hair. Normally there is the dry, normal and oily variety. Then there is the shampoo for colored hair, and the Sunsilk brand takes the cake in confusing us with the hundreds of hair types and their corresponding shampoos. After every Sunsilk commercial, i contemplate what type is my hair. Herbal shampoos, fruit extract shampoos, repair shampoos, dandruff shampoos, every day wash shampoos, the list goes on.... and so does the number of brands, each claiming to keep our crowning glory intact, healthy, thick, long, dark, soft and silky.......

And now the soaps, well some call their brand cleansing bars, looks like the days of cleansing lotions might soon be getting over. Again endless brands, endless varieties from each brands, claiming to turn your skin extra baby soft. Oh yah how could i forget the good old Johnsons baby products, think of a new born baby, and it reminds me of that typical baby smell, and to go with it the Johnsons baby powder and soap. There was the baby cream too, and gradually they were joined by the baby lotion, shampoo, coconut oil, baby oil, and now even Johnsons have a confusing lot of products in their range. Not just Johnsons, now there are so many brands of baby products, each claiming to keep your baby's skin, hair soft forever.

Ah yes there are also the day creams and night creams, and how could i forget the all famous fairness creams. With out that no girl cam get married , no one can get a job, or even win a race.

I think my writing is all confused, maybe because I am all confused with all the hundreds of products available off the counter, i guess i should stop right here before i confuse myself further. Just a last thought, wonder what happened to all those brands like the Afghan snow, i guess that was the oldest brand!!!!!