Silk: A Natural Beauty Product Found In Clothing, Cosmetics & More
Natural beauty products have an allure that chemicals can’t
reproduce. There’s something exciting about using a
moisturizer that has plant extracts and beeswax and things
that grew outside in the sun. Maybe it goes along with the
romantic ideal of natural beauty—a fresh glow, perfect skin
that never needs exfoliating or makeup, wide, bright eyes,
soft hair.
When we buy products that have natural ingredients, we’re
also buying the history that goes along with them. For
centuries, people have used aloe vera, herbal salves,
rosewater and kaolin to beautify themselves. You can still
buy kohl and henna, two cosmetics favored by Egyptian royals.
There’s a definite emotional appeal to using the same makeup
Cleopatra used!
Another ancient ingredient that’s just finding its place in
twenty-first century cosmetics is silk. We’re all aware of
what silk can do as a clothing fabric, and its history
stretches back thousands of years and across continents. Silk
was traded on the spice routes, in some cultures its use was
limited to the very rich and noble born, not only because of
its costliness, but by law. In World Wars One and Two, silk
production was relegated to the war effort, and women painted
lines up the backs of their legs to mimic the look of the
seamed silk stockings they could no longer buy. The silk that
had been used for dresses, parasols and unmentionables went to
make parachutes.
These days, silk production has modernized to the point that
this once dry-clean-only fabric can now be made colorfast and
washable. I love silk bedding in the winter, because it’s light,
but very warm because of its tight weave. (Silk pillow cases
were once prescribed to keep salon-sprayed, sixties hairdos
intact. I love my white silk pillowcases because they feel cool
on my face, and they make my hair softer and easy to brush.)
But the recent revolution in silk is in cosmetics. Silk proteins
are added to shampoos and moisturizers, adding strength and
softness to the structure of hair and skin. Filaments that once
took soldiers from flaming planes safely to the ground now smooth
skin in lotions, powders and foundations.
Tags: silk, silk clothing, silk in cosmetics
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