I/EC
Reports
This Month—Revolution in women's make-up . . . Radioactive snakes help science . . . Examining surfaces with reflected protons . . . Polyacrylamide flocculating agents for uranium recovery
Falsies Are Looking Up! The eyes h a v e it: r e - u s a b l e plastic eyelashes —latest contribution of science to the better life
C H E M I S T R Y again to the rescue! And a new industry (daily production: 5 ounces) is born. Since the dawn of history, chemical-based cosmetics have developed as refinements of crude ointments and unguents, colors and odors. But unless our eyes deceive us, a new look has appeared on the fashion horizon. Seeking a novel chemical specialty
which might hit the commercial jackpot, a husband-and-wife team of Manhattan chemists has just developed manufacturing techniques for—of all things—plastic eyelashes. The wife, Marguerite Bertrand, studied pharmacy at the University of Washington. She pursued the idea of a cosmetic item, came up with artificial eyelashes. Husband Sol Goodman, chemist from College of
the City of New York, helped track down the proper chemical components and engineered the production equipment. At present the two of them, known as Campus Chimes Cosmetics Corp., can make several thousand pairs of their eyelashes per day. In a pinch—if a fad starts— they figure they can get daily output up to 25,000 pairs. Essentially Plastic Film
Basically the eyelash is Du Pont's Mylar polyester film. A center swath of the plastic strip is coated on one side with a black or brown iron oxide pigment formulation to color the lashes. Uncoated transparent strips along each edge—later to serve as "built-in" eyeshadow-
Chemists who don't r e a d Vogue will a g r e e that the plastic eyelashes a r e attractive
Plastic eyelashes. thicker stock
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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Information
are given a faint shade of color. Dies s t a m p out a fringe of lashes which a r e t h e n curled to look n a t u r a l . All very easy. But several years of hard work w e n t into developing the techniques involved. F o r instance, all false eyelashes heretofore involved lashes (fibers or n a t u r a l hairs) glued —sometimes individually—to the eyelid itself or a t t a c h e d to some base m a t e r i a l w h i c h is in t u r n ce m e n t e d to the lid. These a r e bulky, difficult to a p p l y a n d remove, ex pensive, a n d sometimes injurious to the eye. T h e G o o d m a n s d e cided first to m a k e a one-piece j o b , out of thin plastic film. H u m a n eyelashes average a b o u t 85 microns in thickness. W h e n mascara is used to a c c e n t u a t e the eyes, a 25-micron coating brings the lash d i a m e t e r to 135 microns or so. T h i s is within the r a n g e of " o p t i m u m a p p e a r a n c e intensity," d e t e r m i n e d to b e between 125 a n d 225 microns. Sheets of film t h a t thick w o u l d be bulky a n d heavy. Also, t h e G o o d m a n s found, thickness has little effect on t h e a p p e a r a n c e intensity, b u t t h e w i d t h of lash fibers does. Therefore t h e lash must be only thick e n o u g h to hold its shape. A thin, moisture-resistant film was needed, strong e n o u g h to resist tearing d u r i n g repeated h a n d l i n g : application— with adhesive—and sometimes care less r e m o v a l . M y l a r film 0.0005 or 0.00075 inch thick fills t h e bill. Curl is Critical
But a n o t h e r p r o b l e m was curl. A quarter century ago a European anthropologist, not i n a p p r o p r i a t e l y yclept R o z p r y m , studied eyelashes of the entire p o p u l a t i o n of a small town. H e found t h a t as people get older their lashes grow shorter a n d straighter. S o m e 9 4 % of the youngsters u n d e r 16 years of age h a d long curved lashes, something t h a t less t h a n 2 0 % of t h e towns people over 35 still possessed. Curled lashes, then, give t h a t youthful look. The Goodmans found t h a t a 0.2- to 0.3-mil coating of poly (vinyl chloride), o n o n e side of the M y l a r sheet, shrinks slightly
Analysis Interpretation
I/EC
•4 1. Goodman starts with a l ' / V inch strip of Du Pont's Mylar film. He buys it in rolls and processing is continuous 4
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Acrylic—.00007 PVC-.OOOl Polyester—.0005 or .00075
Acrylic -.00007
•4 3. He then dunks the pigmented Mylar into a bath consisting of a toluene solution of acrylic resin to deluster the sheet. This in cludes dispersed flatting agents like silica and calcium carbonate along with the FDA-certified colors. This forms a layer 0.00007 inch over the whole strip (both sides ) •4 4. After the lashes are cut out of the sheet, they are passed under a source of heat. This causes shrink age in the PVC layer, which curls the lashes. This sketch shows a cross section perpendicular to the long axis of the individual eye lash fiber 4
w h e n h e a t e d . T h i s works, in t h e case of t h e slitted lashes, like a series of bimetallic strips. P r o p e r thickness of the P V C controls the degree of curl—0.0001 inch turns the trick. Last p r o b l e m was to dull the shiny film a n d tint the unslitted base so t h a t it could serve as eyeshadow. A commercial acrylic resin was found to d o b o t h of these things a t one time. T o a solution of the resin, t h e G o o d m a n s a d d colloidal silica, calcium c a r b o n a t e , a n d a n y one of six delicious toluene-soluble cosmetic colors: N e v a d a T u r q u o i s e , Smoky Agate, W h e a t N a t u r a l , Siam J a d e , W e d d i n g Amethyst, a n d A z u r e . After t h e p i g m e n t e d vinyl emulsion is printed on one side of t h e film, the entire l 1 / 2-inch strip is d u n k e d into this colored acrylic. I t provides a
2. A 1-inch wide layer of the PVCpigment formulation is printed in the center of the Mylar strip. Thickness is 0.0001 inch
5. Looking at an individual fiber from an angle, it can be seen that the PVC shrinkage causes curling in both directions. This imparts stiffness to the thin lash as well as giving it required curl along the major axis
flat finish a n d delicately tints the base portion of the lash. Lanolin-Based A d h e s i v e
T o stick the lash units o n t o the eyelid, the G o o d m a n s developed a nontoxic, hypoallergenic, pressuresensitive adhesive m a d e from lanolin modified with polyisobutylene. It does not dry out, a n d — a l t h o u g h swimproof a n d tearproof—can be removed with cold-cream or washed off the lids with soap a n d w a t e r w h e n t h e lashes a r e removed at night. Best way they've found for the user to a p p l y this viscous stickum to the underside of the eyeshadow strip c a n ' t be p r o m o t e d in fashionable circles (it sounds too prosaic) : the t o r n e n d of a p a p e r b o o k - m a t c h makes a d a n d y brush. . . . D . G . W . VOL. 50, NO. 8
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AUGUST 1958
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I/EC
REPORTS Joseph F. Gennaro, assistant pro fessor of anatomy at the University of Florida's College of Medicine, started out simply to compare the mechanisms of protein secretion and thyroid function. He saw that large amounts of radioactive iodine ac cumulate in the skin of frogs and that especially high concentrations collect in the protein-secreting poison glands. He found that this venom could be labeled with radioactive iodine (I131)· As a result, Gennaro decided to use this technique to learn more about venom—what it is made of and how it works. For this he needed an animal with large and specialized poison glands. He chose an especially qualified character— the cottonmouth moccasin. Gennaro gave his reptile specimens 30 microcuries of carrier-free I131 by intraperitoneal injection, 24 and 48 hours before they were killed. Five snakes also received one unit of thyrotropin—a thyroid-stimu lating hormone—daily for 5 days before receiving the radioiodine.
Radioactive venom in the making. A combination of radioactive iodine and the cottonmouth moccasin may give scientists a new insight into poisonous snake venoms. Joseph Gennaro, right, assistant professor of anatomy in the University of Florida's Col lege of Medicine, prepares to inject a snake with I 1 3 1 and then traces its course into the snake's poison glands. Assisting in the project is first year medical student, Howard Ramsey
Radioactive Reptiles Cottonmouth moccasin ejects radioactive venom — in the interest of science
Bird's-eye view of the business end of α cotton mouth moccasin. This snake is ready for milk ing. The fangs are ex posed by glass rod which holds back the thin mem brane which ordinarily sheaths them. Tongue is withdrawn into a sep arate sheath in floor of mouth
|Λ|ο\ν there are radioactive snakes. Of course, this won't increase their popularity as household pets, but it may lead to a better understand ing of the action of snake venom—• and eventually to more effective methods of treating snake bites. 34 A
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
