Our Grandmas’ Scented Dusting Powders Are Making a Comeback

Rising up with a Black mother and grandma, I used to be conditioned to affiliate just a few key issues with femininity: a totally lotioned and glistening physique, gold jewellery, and all the time smelling wonderful. As an grownup, I keep it up the legacy of smelling good by sustaining a formidable arsenal of perfumes, scented physique oils, and lotions. However regardless of my efforts, I can by no means fairly replicate that candy, long-lasting scent my elders achieved. It wasn’t till I used to be scrolling on TikTok just lately that I got here throughout the factor I didn’t understand I’d been lacking: dusting powder.

In case you’re unfamiliar, dusting powder is a finely milled scented powder used on the physique to maintain moisture at bay, soften the pores and skin, and make you scent good—or clear, on the very least. Dusting powders have been significantly in style again within the ‘80s and ‘90s (particularly amongst Black girls) however physique powders first hit America within the Eighteen Nineties when Johnson & Johnson started to market their now-famous child powder.

Dusting powders have been quiet within the mainstream for just a few a long time—extra on why in a minute—however, this yr, Black girls have been main a revival of the product by sharing their DIY dusting powder concoctions on TikTok underneath #dustingpowder, which, on the time I’m penning this, has over 1,100 movies tagged to it. “Let’s carry again fragrance dusting powders for magnetism and glamour magic,” one consumer writes within the caption of her video.

If the booming perfume trade is any indication, folks haven’t misplaced the need to scent good. So why did dusting powders exit of fashion? One offender might be the general public’s wariness about talc, a major ingredient in quite a lot of these powders that have been in style 30+ years in the past. “Talc is a naturally occurring mineral that was [commonly] used as a sensory modifier and absorbent in powder merchandise,” says beauty chemist Amanda Lam. Talc will not be dangerous by nature, however some talc-based merchandise have examined optimistic for asbestos contamination, giving talc a foul fame total.

The beginnings of widespread concern about talc started within the Nineteen Seventies after most cancers researchers examined 20 powder merchandise made with talc and located 10 of them had asbestos. In 1997, a declare was made in opposition to Johnson & Johnson by a girl alleging that using the corporate’s child powder led to her growing most cancers. That case was in the end dropped, however different lawsuits arose within the following years, additional inflicting the fame of physique powders to drop—with shoppers and producers. “Ever because the ongoing Johnson & Johnson lawsuits, corporations have been cautious of utilizing talc,” says Lam.