Soap is not the only cosmetic that has been tabooed in the face because
of illogical reasoning. There is a much more potent beautifying
influence—viz., the mellowing rays of the sun—of which the face has long
been deprived, chiefly on account of an unscientific prejudice that the
sun is responsible for freckles. In his famous work on skin diseases
Professor Hebra of Vienna, the greatest modern authority in his
specialty, has completely disproved this almost universally accepted
theory. The matter is of such extreme importance to Health and Beauty
that his remarks must be quoted at length:—
"It is a fact that lentigo (freckles) neither appears in the newly-born
nor in children under the age of 6-8 years, whether they run about the
whole day in the open air and exposed to the bronzing influence of the
sun, or whether they remain confined to the darkest room; it is
therefore certain that neither light nor air nor warmth produces such
spots in children....
“If we examine the skin of an individual who is said to be affected with
the so-called freckles only in the summer, at other seasons of the year
with sufficient closeness in a good light, and with the skin put on the
stretch by the finger, we shall detect the same spots, of the same size
but of somewhat lighter colour than in summer. In further illustration
of what has just been said, I will mention that I have repeatedly had
the opportunity of seeing lentigines on parts of the body that, as a
rule, are never exposed to the influence of the light and sun....
”_A priori_, it is difficult to understand how ephelides can originate
from the influence of sun and light in the singular form of disseminated
spots, since these influences act not only on single points, but
uniformly over the whole surface of the skin of the face, hands, etc.
The pigmentary changes must appear, therefore, in the form of patches,
not of points. Moreover, it is known to every one that, if the skin of
the face be directly exposed, even for only a short time, to a rough
wind or to intense heat, a tolerably dark bronzing appears, which
invades the affected parts uniformly, and not in the form or
disseminated, so-called summer-spots (freckles). It was, therefore, only
faulty observation on the part of our forefathers which induced them to
attribute the ephelides to the influence of light and sun."
But the amount of mischief done by this “faulty observation of our
forefathers” is incalculable. To it we owe the universal feminine horror
of sunshine, without which it is as impossible for their complexion to
have a healthy, love-inspiring aspect, as it is for a plant grown in a
cellar to have a healthy green colour. How many women are there who
preserve their youthful beauty after twenty-five—the age when they ought
to be in full bloom? They owe this early decay partly to their
indolence, mental and physical, partly to their habit of shutting out
every ray of sunlight from their faces as if it were a rank poison
instead of the source of all Health and Beauty. If young ladies would
daily exercise their muscles in fresh air and sunshine, they would not
need veils to make themselves look younger. Veils may be useful against
very rough wind, but otherwise they should be avoided, because they
injure the eyesight. Parasols are a necessity on very hot summer
afternoons, but “the rest of the year the complexion needs all the sun
it can get.”
Were any further argument needed to convince us that the sun has been
falsely accused of creating freckles, it would be found in the fact that
southern brunette races, though constantly exposed to the sun, are much
less liable to them than the yellow and especially the red-haired
individuals of the North. Professor Hebra regards freckles as “a freak
of Nature rather than as a veritable disease,” and thinks they are
“analogous to the piebald appearances met with in the lower animals.” As
has just been noted, they exist in winter as well as in summer. All that
the summer heat does is to make them visible by making the skin more
transparent. As the heat itself causes them to appear any way, it is
useless to taboo the direct sunlight as their source.
Inasmuch as freckles appear chiefly among northern races, whose skin has
been excessively bleached and weakened in its action by constant indoor
life, it seems probable, notwithstanding Dr. Hebra’s opinion, that they
are the result of an unhealthy, abnormal action of the pigment-secreting
apparatus which exists even in the white skin. If this be so, then
proper care of the skin continued for several generations would
obliterate them. The reason why country folks are more liable to
freckles than their city cousins would then be referable, not to the
greater amount of sunlight in the country, but to the rarity of
bath-tubs, good soap, and friction-towels. My own observation leads me
to believe that freckles are rarer in England than on the continent, and
the English are proverbially enamoured of the bath-tub and open-air
exercise.
For those who, without any fault of their own, have inherited freckles
from their parents, there is this consoling reflection that these
blemishes reside in a very superficial layer of the skin, and can
therefore be removed. Several methods are known; but as no one should
ever use them without medical assistance, they need not be described
here (see Hebra’s _Treatise_, vol. iii.) Any one who wishes to
temporarily conceal skin-blemishes may find this citation from Hebra of
use: “Perfumers and apothecaries have prepared from time immemorial
cosmetics whose chief constituent is _talcum venetum_, or _pulvis
aluminis plumosi_ (Federweiss), which, when rubbed in, in the form of a
paste, with water and alcohol, or a salve with lard, or quite dry, as a
powder, gives to the skin an agreeable white colour, and does not injure
it in the least, even if the use of the cosmetic be continued throughout
life.”
It is probable that electricity will play a grand _rôle_ in future as an
agent for removing superfluous hairs, freckles, moles, port-wine marks,
etc. Much has already been done in this direction, and the only danger
is in falling into the hands of an unscrupulous quack. In vol. iii. No.
4 of the _Journal of Cutaneous and Venereal Diseases_, Dr. Hardaway has
an interesting article on this subject.