Cold cream


Cold cream is an emulsion of water and certain fats, usually including beeswax and various scent agents, designed to smooth skin and remove makeup. Cold cream is an emulsion of water in a larger amount of oil, unlike the oil in water emulsion of vanishing cream, so-called because it seems to disappear when applied on skin. The name "cold cream" derives from the cooling feeling that the cream leaves on the skin. Variations of the product have been used for nearly 2000 years.
Cold cream is mainly used for skin treatment, due to its moisturizing properties. It can also be used to remove makeup and as shaving cream.

History

The invention of cold cream is credited to Galen, a physician in second century Greece. This 1857 account relates:
In France, this substance is still known as cérat de Galien. A copy of the London Dispensatory, edited by Nicholas Culpeper and published in the year 1650 included the following formula for this substance:
An 1814 poem credited to "Dr. Russell" gives the following account of the benefits attributed to cold cream in that day:

Modern formulation

Cold cream now replaces the olive oil with mineral oil or other oils, which are cheaper and slower to spoil, as well as alcohol, glycerin, and lanolin. Beginning in the 1970s, jojoba oil became a common ingredient, used as a substitute of sperm oil from whales. Another common ingredient in modern cold cream is borax, which is also responsible for the whiteness of cold cream. Widely sold brands of cold cream in the United States include Pond's and Noxzema.
Over the centuries, new uses have been found for the product: "As a toilet requisite cold cream is used for softening and cooling the skin after sunburn, as a cleansing cream, to relieve harshness of the skin, etc".