The Royal Tudor Collection
Royal Tudor Products
MOISTURIZE - DAY AND NIGHT CREAMS
BEAUTIFUL EYES & LIP PROTECTION
GLOWING SKIN - SPECIAL FACIAL TREATMENTS
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The Royal Tudor Collection
Ancient Herbal Cosmetics
The use of skin and body care cosmetics dates back a very long way indeed.
As far back as 12000 years ago Mesolithic man was using natural plant substances to protect and decorate his face.
The ancient Egyptians rubbed clay mixtures around their eyes to ward off the ever present menace of disease carrying flies. They experimented with colours so the clay became decorative as well as functional, but it was Cleopatra who really pioneered fashion eye and face make up. Cosmetic use of plant material runs through all ancient cultures. The Egyptians incorporated beauty preparations into religious and ceremonial rites. The all round health and beauty philosophy of the Greeks is akin to modern ideas now re-emerging. Recipes for soaps, creams, herbal waters, lotions and moisturizers for the face were collected and recorded in ancient herbals handed down through the generations.
The ancient Greeks loved their perfumed baths and used many different oils combined with plants grown for their soapy cleansing properties such as Soapwort , fresh herbs were used for everything culinary, medicinal and for beauty products along with different fragrant milks for cleansing face and body. The greatest compliment one Greek could pay to another was to say that he “smelt of Thyme.” The Romans copied the Greeks, but were far more flamboyant in their use of fragrances and cosmetics. Throughout the ages, women such as Nefertiti, Helen of Troy, Catherine De Medici and Mona Lisa, used natural herbal cosmetics and these women have left us a rich heritage of fascinating and excellent beauty products.
The Victorian Garden recipes used in our original Victorian Garden products and our latest Royal Tudor products are all based on original ancient herbal cosmetics, recreated to the old recipes and tested in our own laboratory and by experienced herbalists and beauty therapists. It is not just the recreation of these ancient recipes which are of such great interest to us in the 21 st century, for the revelations of conditions of the 16th century represent a fascinating fragment of social history. Bluebell, Carnation, Japonica, Orris root, Sweet Flag, Sweet Cicely, Lavender & Citrus peel, dried Pomegranate, Hawthorn, Honeysuckle, Mimosa, Sweet Violet and all kinds of herbs, flowers and various spices were used to create different products. Sweet Flag, Orris Root, Citrus Peel and several herbs and spices were placed into a “sweet bag for linen.” A quart of brandy, plus among other ingredients Lemon, Orange, Apple mint, poppy, Sweet Cicely, Myrtle and rosewater constituted King Henry's surfeit water, and there is one recipe we found entitled “To Promote Breeding” – “during the taking or somewhat before” the lady recipient is instructed to be very cheerful, and let nothing disquiet her. During our research, we discovered several ancient recipes for preventing and curing the plague and a method of painting the face with a feather dipped in an ointment of Rue and lard to prevent the pitting caused by smallpox. There were fever-water preparations and medicines for palsy, consumption and “the stone.” Favourite shampoos and creams to condition the hair were used all the time and these were made up of various distilled oils and herbal extracts. Moisturizers and body creams were made from melted beeswax, Honey and Propolis from the apiaries which every middle class and upper class household owned. By today's standards, some of the recipes and the instructions given may best be described as hair raising; for example, the taking of equal quantities of tobacco dust and soot, mixed with nine cloves of garlic to treat ague, and steel filings soaked in red wine and spices given to “a young person ”for clearing obstructions.” Eyes were cleared by blowing dried chicken manure into them, and nose bleeds were treated by holding to them a cloth previously soaked for nine days in frog spawn. Those suffering from heartburn could expect relief from chalk, sugar, bolearmoniac (a concoction of tree bark and friable earthy red clay), one ounce of crab's eyes, four scruples of red coral and two scruples of pearls, all beaten and sifted. . It seems to us that perhaps, in those days, some treatments were intended only for the very wealthy. Those owning old houses were warned to beware, for the “fashionable wainscot colour” painted onto walls was made from pure white lead mixed with yellow ochre, the doors being painted with yellow or white varnish – all highly toxic materials. In Victorian times, arsenic complexion wafers were wiped over the skin to whiten the complexion, again highly toxic with arsenic being ingested via the skin into the bloodstream and deposited as one of what today we term “the Big Six heavy metals.”
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Our products are made with love and care by our team of experienced bio chemists well versed in the art of creating Natural and Organic skincare products to international standards. We are registered with the *CTFA of South Africa (Cosmetic Toiletries and Fragrance Association and The Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa, Our products are approved by Beauty Without Cruelty.
*Note: The Cosmetic, Toiletry & Fragrance Association of South Africa is the industry's voice committed to maintaining the high quality and safety of cosmetic products. The CTFA guides members on the Self-regulatory Codes of Practice & Standards to ensure that the South African cosmetic industry flourishes.
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