Cleansing, only skin deep

“Our oil-absorbing facial papers go back three generations,” a salesman of cosmetics and beauty accessories reckons. In those day that type of Japanese paper was placed above and below thin sheets of gold, before beating the metal into gold leaf. The gold leaf was then used to decorate temples and shrines.

One day someone discovered that this kind of paper is extremely good for removing excess oil from the skin. So, the paper for cosmetic use was developed about 90 years ago by a shop in Kyoto, Japan. The oil-blotting facial sheets are about the size of the palm of your hand and almost square in shape.

Only a few people used them regularly until the early 1990’s. At that point, the trend spread like wildfire, because around that time young people were becoming keen on having a smooth clean complexion. Excess fatty secretions on the face can cause pimples–this crowd wanted to avoid. They were convinced that the solution was to use these oil-blotting facial papers.

Major cosmetic manufacturers got in on the action, and today there are special blotting papers for men as well. For these people, the papers are more than a fad: they are am important part of contemporary life. (Source: Nipponia, 2008-03-24)

There is a cleansing for young people (and old people alike) that is much deeper than oil-absorbing papers–

“Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”