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Glow with health using violet rays (1920 ish, through to 1960's) (thelemmy.club)
submitted 2 days ago by EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca to c/vintageads@sh.itjust.works
13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Another quack cure from the early / mid 1900's. You can find them still in antique markets. It seems to be a UV light wand. UV light is harmful to eyes and can be carcinogenic, causing skin cancers. There are a few skin conditions that spot UV is used to treat today, but most of this ad is harmful quackery!

The ailments the wand claims to cure:

  • Asthma
  • Boils
  • Blackheads
  • Catarrh
  • Colds
  • Eczema
  • Failing Hair
  • Hayfever
  • Headaches
  • Insomnia
  • Lumbago
  • Nervousness
  • Neuralgia
  • Paralysis
  • Pimples
  • Rheumatism
  • Skin Diseases
  • Sore Throat
  • Other ailments
top 13 comments
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[-] DrBob@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago

These are still a fetish item and they are easily obtainable in new and vintage condition. e.g. https://www.violetwands.com/

[-] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Ohh dang, I just expected it to be like a sun tanning ad.

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 5 points 2 days ago

Those indoor tanners we have today are not great for people either! It's a tradeoff, it gives a tan, but also skin damage and premature aging.

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) [ ... from ... ] indoor tanning using tanning devices, is known to be a major cause of the three main types of skin cancer: ...

The age at which someone begins indoor tanning has a known impact on the future risk of developing cancers. A 2012 analysis of epidemiological studies found a 20% increase in the risk of melanoma (a relative risk of 1.20) among those who had ever used a tanning device compared to those who had not, and a 59% percent increase (a relative risk of 1.59) among those who had used one before age 35.

[-] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

They aren't, but I don't think they claim medical benefits either. It's purely aesthetics.

[-] verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

You are on a roll with these ads, each post is more conversation-stimulating than the last.

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Haha thanks. The late 1800's and early 1900's is so fascinating to me. In some ways it's all very familiar, it's not like the year 700 where we can't even understand the language. But at the same time, so much of it feels just... weird.

[-] verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

I have an interest in the early post-Roman era in Western Europe and sometimes, when I'm reading monastic records (translated), I get a physical rush, because we are them and they are us. Middle English is not so difficult to understand in context, I mean, if you know you're reading a householder's account book, for example, you can piece it together and get a rush. It was an age of faith and the beginning of soaring structures, like basilicas that the ordinary people put their whole hearts into with every stone.

[-] EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca 2 points 2 days ago

IKWYM about that kinda rush. I've read some very old things from 2-3500 BCE, translated into English of course from Sumerian or whatever original. It's weird, in a good way, to read the words of somebody who's been dead for multiple millennia. Like you said, we are them and they are us. You can see the worst of us and the best of us, in the worst of them and the best of them.

[-] TomMasz@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago

If RFK Jr. and his MAHA cronies have their way, this will be back on the market before you know it.

[-] Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radio 3 points 2 days ago

If I could only figure out how to get those into my lungs... I would be invincible, right?

[-] verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Vape Wizard's Oil, bruh.

[-] jdr@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago

Oh I know Violet Ray. And I wouldn't trust any of his gizmos.

[-] verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

Psoriasis and acne, yes, maybe it would be worth the risk, but no $0.05 set of glasses? This made it for so many years without including any info about the spectrum or wavelength of the light? Just make it up! The readers of "Physical Culture" would not respond to a pitch like that?

this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2026
56 points (100.0% liked)

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