Old Concoctions

Old  Concoctions

         I collect old documents and in one lot there was a hand written notebook of old barbershop formulas (or formulae, as they were written).  I’m posting them here to find out more about them.  I believe they were written around 1900 and if anyone has any information or actually used them I would appreciate feedback.  I also have questions about some of the ingredients.  After each concoction I’ve put comments and my questions.  I’ve left the original spelling and usage as much as possible, only changing the original for clarity.  I suspect the original writer was not well versed in spelling.




Lemon Cleansing Cream

10 lbs Select Cream oil
1 1/2 lbs White Bees wax
2 lbs Para fine wax
5 lbs water
2 oz Powdered Borax
2 oz Perfume

Prepare perfume as follows
4 parts Hand Pressed Lemon oil
2 parts Citole
1 part Java Citronella

         Working Formulae
Melt Paraffin wax, Bees wax and Select Cream oil to 190’ F.  Add perfume.
In another vessel add Powdered Borax to the water; heat to 190’ F.  Stir well until dissolved.  Take from the fire and add the Borax water to the oil stirring fast.
         Stir until nearly cold and just thick enough to pour into the jars.  Let stand until the cream hardens and finished the tip as desired.

Select Cream oil: Penn. Oil Co. 173 N. Green St. Chicago Ill.
Vegetable colors, Golden Egg yellow Liquid: Chapman Smith & Co. Chicago, Ill.
Other materials: M. L. Barrett State & Lake Chicago, Ill.

         Comments:
         What is Citole?
         Are para fine and paraffin the same thing?
         The addresses are all long gone.


Cocoa Butter

4 oz Select Cream oil
4 oz yellow Vaseline
2 oz Steric Acid
1 oz Bees Wax
2 oz Cocoa Butter
10 drops Cocoa Butter Perfume

         Working Formulae
         Melt all together and add the perfume and stir until cold & pour.

         Comments
         What is steric acid and is it still available?


Perfect Pomade

8 oz Select Cream oil
2 oz Steric Acid
1 oz Bees Wax
1/4 oz French Jickey Perfume

Working Formulae
         Melt all together in a good solution, add perfume and stir until cold enough to pour into jars.

         Comments
         Jickey perfume?



Rolling Starch Massage
5 lbs water
3lbs Corn Starch
5 lbs water
2 oz Soap
1/4 oz Formaldehyde
1/2 oz Color
4 oz Cocoanut Oil
2 oz Steric acid
1/4 oz Potash
1 oz Perfume
         Perfume may be as follows:
         1 part bitter almond
         8 parts Geranium Reunion

Working formulae
         1.  Add perfume and starch to work in well.  Add the starch to 1 oz of water, stir until well dissolved.
2.  Add the soap to 10 oz cold water heat until soap is dissolved, add formaldehyde and color.
3.  Add steric acid and cocoanut oil, now add 1/8 oz water to the potash.  When dissolved add hot potash to hot Cocoa oil and steric acid.  Boil until clear.
4.  Add number 3 to the hot number 2.  Stir well, now put the number 2 (Ladies Perfect Massage Cream) in a boiling water bath and add number 1 in a thin stream stirring fast.  Keep on stirring and cooking until the starch paste rolls up and leaves the bottom of the kettle.  Take from fire and stir until cold, put into bottles.

Comments
         Is formaldehyde safe?



Liquid Shampoo, All Potash

20 oz Cocoanut Oil
12 oz Caustic Potash 30 %
4 oz Denatured alcohol
1 oz Sassafras
40 oz Water

Working Formulae
         Melt cocoanut oil to 100 degrees F.  Add Sassafras oil; add Caustic Potash heated to 190 degrees F.
         Stir slowly until the two become combined and very thick with no oil on top.  Cover over and let set 1/2 hour then add alcohol.
         Caution: keep away from fire after adding alcohol.  Stir until all is in a thin solution then add 40 oz boiling water.  Color to suit, using any soluble water color.

Comments
         Is caustic potash legal?  Sounds like something the EPA would ban.


Perfect Vanishing Cream

6 lbs water
1 1/4 lbs Steric Acid
1/2 oz Powered Borax
1 gram perfume
8 oz Select Cream Oil
1/2 oz Stick Potash
2 oz Petrolatum Oil

         For Menthol Vanishing Cream use in addition 1/4 0z menthol crystals, 10 drops of color if red is wanted, for rose odor use 1/2 oz Valo rose.
         

Working Formulae
Weigh up the cold water and put the 1/2 oz Borax in the water.  Now dissolve potash in just enough water to dissolve it.  Now add steric acid broken up fine to the Petrolatum oil.  Put it onto the fire until it is melted.  While very hot add potash to steric acid on the fire and boiling until it is clear.  Now heat the borax water to boiling point and add steric acid solution while very hot in a slow stream, stitting fast.  Take from fire and stir until cool add perfume and stir well.  Put back on slow fire and let come to a boil.  Stir until cold and put into tubes.

Comments
What is petrolatum oil?
         I have no idea what “sitting fast” means but that is how it was written.


Barber Talcum Pink

40 lbs Fine white talcum
40 lbs precipitated chalk
2 0z red color
4 oz perfume
         (any cincret odor)

Working formulae
         Put all the powders together and add perfumes.  Stir until well dried.  It is best to get it warm over a stove so that the perfume is well dried in.  Now sift through a fine sieve.  Put away in a well covered can for one week.

         Comments
         Cincret?  Precipitated Chalk?



Natural Powder

5lbs Kaolin
2 1/2 oz White lead
2 oz Sterate of Zinc
1 oz color Red
1 0z perfume
2 1/2 oz Raw Sienna

Process
         Take 1/4 the amount of Kaolin and add perfume and color.  Get it warm but not hot.  Let set for about 12 hours stirring occasionally until all the color and perfume balls will crumble quickly between fingers.  Then add balance of material and stir well with paddle then put it in mixing machine.  Run the machine 5 minutes.

         Comments
         Sterate of Zinc?  I'm sure white lead is banned.


Hair Oil Dressing

1 gallon Petroleum oil
1/2 oz Color
1 oz Perfume (Jickey preferred)

Working Formulae
         Add one ounce red dry color to 40 oz Petrolatum oil.  Add perfume.  Put on fire and let come to a boil stir a while and strain thru cheese cloth to remove lumps.


Red Rose Toilet Water

2 oz Red Rose Cincrete
6 pints alcohol
2 pints water
Red C color
2 oz glycerin

Working Formulae
         Put the red rose concrete and alcohol in a gallon bottle.  Shake well then add 2 pints of water, shake well.  Color with red C color and 2 oz glycerin.

         Comments
         Red C color?  Was there some sort of  color system used back then that would identify this?


Carnation Perfume

40 parts Oeillet
10 parts Orchidees
5 parts Benzyl Acetate
3 parts Jacinthe in the 10% solution
2 parts Endol
1 part Rodeal R.
10 parts artificial musk 1 to 20

Formulae
         Put all together which makes the above liquid cincrete.  Now to 1 0z cincrete liquid add 15 oz alcohol or Cologne spirits or 39 B alcohol or modified 2 oz water.  Add 2oz Glycerin to one gallon finished perfume.

         Comments
         Oeillet,Orchidees, Benzyl acetate, jacinthe, Endol and Rodeal R are all totally unknown to me.  Cincrete is how it was spelled in the original but maybe concrete was meant, as concrete appears elsewhere.  What does concrete mean in this context?


No. 1 Red Rose Perfume

40 parts Geraniol
20 parts Justin  Dupont Rose
10 parts Phenyl Ethel Alcohol
2 parts Jacinthe
3 parts Geranium Reunion
1 part Patchoulli
10 parts artificial musk 1 to 20

Rose Working Formulae
         Put all together which make the above cincrete liquid.  Now to1 oz cincrete liquid add 15 0z alcohol or cologne spirits or 39 B or 40 modified 2 oz water.  Add 2 oz water, add 2 oz glycerin to 2 oz perfume.

         Comments
Geraniol, Justin Dupont Rose, Geranium Reunion and Patchoulli are unknown to me.  39 B or 40 water sound like heavy water.


French Jickey Perfume #1

12 parts Bergemat
8 parts Lemon oil
8 parts Benzol Acetate
4 parts Orchidees
4 parts Patchoulli
4 parts Lavender Flowers
10 parts Bois De Rose Femelle
2 parts Sandalwood
1 part East India Verti Vert
16 parts Edo
10 parts Ambretti Crystal 1 to 20
5 parts Coumrain

Working Formulae
         Put all together which makes the Jickey concrete.  Add 15 oz Alcohol or Cologne Spirits or 3.9 B Alcohol or 40 modified 2 oz water.  Add 2 oz glycerin to the Gallon of finished perfume.
         
         Comments
Bergemat, Femelle, and East India Veri Vert, Edo Ambretti Crystal and Coumrain?
40 modified water.  Again with the heavy water.


Purple Lilac Perfume

1 part Lilac Vegetalla
25 parts Cologne Spirits
1 part water
1 drop Purple color

Working Formulae

Put all the above together add ten times the amount of
Cologne Spirits and one times of water.  Add 2 oz glycerin to the gallon.

Comments
         Vegetella, Early form of vegemite perhaps?

Chauffer Soap

300 lbs Cocoa nut oil of Ceylon
25 lbs Talc
16 oz olive green oil color
150 lbs Caustic soda 38 H
15 lbs fine pumice
4 lbs cedar wood oil
4 oz oil Cassia
1 lb Citronella
1 oz oil of cloves
5 lbs salt water 16 ‘H

Working Formulae

         Melt cocoa nut oil, add color and pumice stir well.  Add talc and heat to 190 F.  Cut off stream, add caustic heated to 160 F.  Add to oil and stir well.  After soap boils and drops add five pounds of boiling water, 4 lbs cedar wood oil, 4 oz oil of Cassia, I lb Citronella, 1 oz of oil of cloves.  Stir 15 minutes and pour into frames.

Comments
This is my favorite part, 300 hundred pounds of  cocoa nut oil of Ceylon (Sri Lanka now).  I  picture a cart pulling into a yard with a cauldron over a big fire being stirred with an oar.  They must have gone through a lot of this stuff.  Is chauffer a reference to horse chauffers?  Did they need all the soap to get rid of the horse smell?  What is Cassia?  I have no idea what is meant by salt water 16 ‘H.

I am interested in any information or insights into these formulae.