A Sparkling Vintage Life

Image source: etsy.com

Image source: etsy.com

I love this stuff.

I’ve tried plenty of newer and more expensive cleansers and I keep coming back to my old favorite. Why? Because nothing else is as kind to my sensitive, rosacea-prone, breakout-prone, rash-prone, temper-tantrum-prone skin as good old Pond’s. I use it as a cleanser and makeup remover, but you can also use it as a mask or moisturizer. It’s relaxing to slather it on my face and leave it there a while while I slip into a refreshing bath.

Pond’s got its start with a pharmacist named T. T. Pond who, in 1846, invented a patent medicine from witch hazel for healing cuts and scrapes, called Pond’s Extract.By the early twentieth century the company had branched out into other products, including the cold cream. They also made a “vanishing cream.” I’d always thought it was called “vanishing cream” because it made wrinkles and blemishes vanish, but it turns out it only means that the the cream “vanishes” into the skin. At any rate, vanishing cream was an entirely different product from cold cream, and for some years the company advised women that they needed both.

I’m including Pond’s Cold Cream in my days-of-vintage-summer series because, first of all, it’s COLD. It feels very soothing on a face that’s spent too much time in the hot sun. And it qualifies as vintage, too, because it’s been around so long, although the formula has been modified somewhat over the years.

Cold cream’s main ingredient, mineral oil, has gotten a bad rap in recent years for clogging pores, but I have not found this to be a problem. Your mileage may vary, of course, so if you choose to try it, start out with a small jar and see how your skin reacts to it before committing to the giant jar that I buy.

One other caveat for the uninitiated: you have to wipe this stuff off with tissue or use a washcloth (I do the latter). You can’t just splash it off with water, like a lot of other cleansers, unless you don’t mind being stuck at your bathroom sink until kingdom come.

So if your skin has been feeling parched, scorched, burned, reddened, wind-burned, or any other unpleasant side effect of summery fun in the sun, give Pond’s Cold Cream a try.

(By the way, whenever I review products on this site, whether Pond’s or Sea Breeze or anything else, I do so because I’ve experienced them and have purchased them with my own hard-earned pennies. I’m not paid by the manufacturers and I don’t normally receive free products from them–and if I ever do, I’ll say so. Just so ya know!)