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In 1958 Lambert-Hudnut introduced Elixir Natale and Cream
Natale into the American market through their Du Barry line. As
announced in the trade journal American Perfumer & Essential
Oil Review both cosmetics contained Placentine, a placental
extract.
Utilizing placenta extract, a combination of the proteins,
hormones, vitamins, enzymes and esters that help promote
skin cell growth before birth, as a basic ingredient the LambertHudnut division of the Warner Lambert Pharmaceutical Co. will
launch on the market next month two new cosmetics. So far as
is known this is the first time cosmetics formulated with
placentinea highly concentrated placental extracthas been
employed in formulating cosmetics in this country.
(AP&EOR, 1958)
Placental extracts
The road to the use of placental extracts in cosmetics began in
1933 with some research carried out by Vladimir Petrovich
Filatov best known for his pioneering work in corneal and tube
flap grafting at the Ophthalmological Institute of Odessa,
USSR. He believed that many previously untreatable eye
conditions could be improved by injecting biological tissues that
had been stored under unfavourable conditions, which, he
asserted, stimulated the production of biogenic stimulators.
Although some commentators have suggested that biogenic
stimulators might be related to enzymes, exactly what Filatov
thought these agents were is unknown; they were not
hormones or vitamins. What is known is that Filatov used a
number of different tissues in his experiments to stimulate the
production of these biogenic materials, including placentas.
When Filatovs work was taken up by German and French
interests it contributed to the development of tissue and serum
Extraction
In order to be used in cosmetics the material first had to be
extracted. Given that the placenta is a complex tissue, extracts
in the 1950s and 1960s were mostly prepared using cold
extraction from human or animal placentas. These were then
preserved using a range of preservative agents so that they
could be used in creams, lotions and serums (Sterba & Zenisek,
1961). Needless to say, the amount of extract that actually
made its way into any given cosmetic was very, very low.
Uses
A wide variety of cosmetics containing placental material found
their way onto the market. These included bust creams, eye
creams, face creams, masques, cellulite treatments, hand
creams, toilet waters, lipsticks, soaps, hair products and even
weight loss cures (Bureau, 1960). In some cases human
placental tissue was used but bovine placenta was also popular.
The curative properties of placenta creams were widely hyped
and there were even claims that they were effective in treating
some skin disorders such as psoriasis.
The surprising successes recorded for the treatment of common
acne and acne rosacea are surely not due solely to the better
blood supply involving a reinforcement of the defense against
infection. The normalization of the acids of the surface of the
skin, the regulation of the secretion of the sebaceous glands,
and the economy of the vitamins, ferments, and hormones of
the skin are important factors that may be influenced by the
Placenta solution.
(Gohlke, 1954, p. 99)
Some applications
When used on the face as a cream or mask, the skin was
cleansed to remove any barriers to penetration before the
extract was applied. These days we would increase the
likelihood of penetration by exfoliating the skin before
treatment.
Senescence: Dried up, flabby, pigmented etc., skins.
In the case of an accentuated senescence, one can use
applications of human placenta extracts, reconstituted, on all
the face using an impregnated gauze and leaving it for 10 to 15
minutes on the skin after having cleansed the face thoroughly.
After removing the gauze, follow with light massage.
(Bureau, 1960, p. 38)
Current practice
Unlike the use of hormones where a good deal of investigative
work was carried out by the cosmetics industry over decades
the evidence to justify the use of placental extracts in
cosmetics remained consistently weak, as it did for royal jelly.
In general, the advertising tended to rely on the natural feeling
that if it was good for the foetus it must be good for you.
Sources
Bureau, A-M. (1960). Biological tests demonstrating the activity
and cosmetic applications of the total human
placenta. The American Perfumer & Essential Oil Review.
April, 37-39.
Cotte, J. M. (1959). A contribution to the study of some organ
extracts. The American Perfumer & Essential Oil Review.
May, 60-63.
Coote, J., Guillot, B. & Gattefosse, H. M. (1967). Tissue proteins
for cosmetic use. The American Perfumer & Essential Oil
Review. April, 47-52, 55-58.
Gohlke, H. (1954). Use of placental extracts in cosmetics. The
American Perfumer & Essential Oil Review. February, 3739.
Myddleton, W. W. (1960). Modern trends in cosmetic
formulation.The Journal of the Society of Cosmetic
Chemists. 11(4). 192-203.
Sterba, R. & Zenisek, A. (1961). Placenta in the light of current
endocrinology. The American Perfumer & Essential Oil
Review. July, 19-21.