A Powdery affair

Lots of memories pop up on seeing face powder. I have had a very good affair with talcum powder since my childhood, and through this blog, I am reliving those beautiful memories because these days I rarely use powder.

During my childhood, it was quite normal for us to dab some face powder before going out. This was largely because it was the only beauty regime that most of us followed. Loads of products and methods for applying them only started gaining attraction with the rise of social media. Prior to that, only the beauty salon experts were familiar with the different products and their usage. The rest of us were content with just the talcum powder. Consequently, advertisements for talcum powders were quite popular on television because this was one product that every household bought as part of their cosmetic shopping, and thus it was a fool-proof marketing strategy for advertisers. I still recall the fancy ads for Ponds, Nivea, Cinthol, Cuticura, and others. As time progressed, more brands like Shower to Shower, Himalayas, Yardley, Santoor, and Mysore sandal entered the market. Some powders were renowned for specific cures. For instance, Nycil's ad claimed that it treats itching problems, so if we spotted Nycil in a friend's home, we would assume they had that issue. How naive we were!

Somehow, my all-time favourite was and still is, Cuticura. I love its sweet fragrance, and even today, whenever I go to India, I buy this talcum powder to take back with me. In foreign lands, I have observed that people don't use face powder as much as in India. At the most they may have baby powder or compact powder, but no basic simple face powder. Initially, I used to make do with the baby powder and be satisfied but later realized that for the climate in certain countries, we actually don't need any sort of face powder. It makes our skin dry since the humidity level is not as high as in India.

Anyways, talking about baby powder, my first touch with it was in Gujarat. Our neighbour had a newborn baby, and I would often go there to play with the little one and see the routine that the baby would be administered. I was around 9 years old, and seeing the mom bathe the baby and then leisurely apply Johnson & Johnson baby powder to the delicate skin would make me very happy. The aroma, the softness of the baby and the whole procedure of the mom dabbing huge amounts of the powder from a cute plastic container using a soft sponge onto her infant was like a sign of love and bond between the mom and baby. I used to spend some mornings running to that home just to watch the bath time routine.

I would get amused by the way some used this magic powder. The quantity applied was almost three times that of what can be considered normal. So much so that some ladies seemed almost whitewashed with their favourite powder. To add to this, the scorching sun would make all the powder wash off their faces. I used to just observe them and wonder at the way they had piled on the powder with excessive amounts.

This one cosmetic product had a very unique use as well. For the carrom board! Now we know that a special carrom powder is supposed to be used, but back then we just went ahead with our game, smoothening our boards with one of our face powders. So, depending on the powder used, the room would have that particular fragrance. After my marriage, I saw my husband using this technique on his musical instrument, the tabla. So, once the Cuticura powder tins I bring from India have expired, we use them in this manner!

All in all, face powders have had a very memorable role in my life and I can safely acknowledge my powdery affair😉

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