Our Grandmas’ Scented Dusting Powders Are Making a Comeback

Rising up with a Black mom and grandma, I was conditioned to affiliate only a few key points with femininity: a completely lotioned and glistening physique, gold jewelry, and always smelling fantastic. As an grownup, I stick with it the legacy of smelling good by sustaining a formidable arsenal of perfumes, scented physique oils, and lotions. Nonetheless no matter my efforts, I can certainly not pretty replicate that sweet, long-lasting scent my elders achieved. It wasn’t until I was scrolling on TikTok simply these days that I bought right here all through the issue I didn’t perceive I’d been missing: dusting powder.

Must you’re unfamiliar, dusting powder is a finely milled scented powder used on the physique to take care of moisture at bay, soften the pores and pores and skin, and make you odor good—or clear, on the very least. Dusting powders had been considerably well-liked once more throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s (significantly amongst Black women) nevertheless physique powders first hit America throughout the Eighteen Nineties when Johnson & Johnson began to market their now-famous little one powder.

Dusting powders have been quiet throughout the mainstream for only a few a few years—additional on why in a minute—nevertheless, this 12 months, Black women have been predominant a revival of the product by sharing their DIY dusting powder concoctions on TikTok beneath #dustingpowder, which, on the time I’m scripting this, has over 1,100 motion pictures tagged to it. “Let’s carry once more perfume dusting powders for magnetism and glamour magic,” one shopper writes throughout the caption of her video.

If the booming fragrance enterprise is any indication, people have not misplaced the necessity to odor good. So why did dusting powders exit of favor? One wrongdoer could very effectively be most people’s wariness about talc, a significant ingredient in quite a few these powders that had been well-liked 30+ years up to now. “Talc is a naturally occurring mineral that was [commonly] used as a sensory modifier and absorbent in powder merchandise,” says magnificence chemist Amanda Lam. Talc won’t be harmful by nature, nevertheless some talc-based merchandise have examined optimistic for asbestos contamination, giving talc a nasty reputation whole.

The beginnings of widespread concern about talc began throughout the Seventies after most cancers researchers examined 20 powder merchandise made with talc and situated 10 of them had asbestos. In 1997, a declare was made in direction of Johnson & Johnson by a woman alleging that the utilization of the company’s little one powder led to her rising most cancers. That case was lastly dropped, nevertheless completely different lawsuits arose throughout the following years, extra inflicting the reputation of physique powders to drop—with consumers and producers. “Ever given that ongoing Johnson & Johnson lawsuits, firms have been cautious of using talc,” says Lam.