Nail History - 1916 Edition

Today's nail history source is essentially the same ad that I included in my last post. I'm showing you this one because it advertises nail polish and nail rouge. Taken from the May 5, 1916 edition of the Banner, this is the earliest reference to using products to color the nail that I found in the local papers for the Athens, Georgia area. While this ad doesn't specify exactly what the product is, the common practice at the time was to use an oil colored with any of a number of red or dark pink ingredients to essentially stain the nail. After staining, the nails would be buffed or polished with the same mild abrasives mentioned in my first two history posts. This color only lasted a day or two, so it had to be reapplied often to maintain the look.

Click to enlarge

You can see the full page ad this was taken from here.