THROWBACK THURSDAY: Replace the compact with a smartphone (and add a bit of colour) and this could be a commercial from the 2017 cosmetics catalogue. But it’s actually more than 50 years old, which just goes to show how this anti-aging stuff must really work.
This ad tried to make women fall in love with corn or, to be more precise, corn silk. What’s to love about corn silk? Well, according to the Nerdy Farm Wife, it can be used to treat “bedwetting, cystitis, prostatitis, urinary tract infections, kidney stones, gout and hyperglycemia”.
But she doesn’t mention Shulton, the company that brought Old Spice to popularity in the 1930 and later went on to produce a range of cosmetics from corn silk, including the Desert Flower CornSilk. According to company legend, a guy called Earl Wright worked on dust-controlling equipment with soya bean and corn noticed how much fine dust was created in a corn cob grinding mill. He also noticed what great complexions the workers there had (and the fact they had no respiratory problems, despite working in all that dust). The rest, as they say, is history.
