A few vintage products had us curious:
Wonder Sauna Hotpants
Sometime in the '70s, when the Wonder Sauna Hot Pants were first offered to the public. Too lazy to work out? Can't afford a tummy tuck? We've got you covered! Try a pair of inflatable Wonder Sauna Hot Pants! One size fits all…yup, this is exactly when the American consumer culture reach the point of no return.
Radium Suppositories
Once upon a time, men believe that they could be transformed from ‘weak, discouraged men' into strong, heroic males that would ‘bubble over with joyous vitality, thanks to these radioactive suppositories produced by the Home Products Company of Denver, Colorado. To take it up another notch, soluble radium was added into a cocoa butter base that was in the form of a suppository. This was then supposed to be fitted into the rectum in order to stimulate “the weakened organs that needed its vitalizing aid."
Cook And Wash on your Refrigerator!
In 1952, this was a great idea: COOK and WASH on your REFRIGERATOR! Complete kitchen in 5 sq. ft. Combines refrigerator, sink, 3 gas burners and storage drawer. Available with electric burners. Wife's two clones sold seperately!
Horse Exercise Machine
As the ad suggests, you can proudly display this 3-foot vibrator in your home under the pretenses that it is an exercise machine. But really, the hidden meaning of that second bullet point is the one and only reason to buy this product: “It invigorates the system by bringing all the vital organs into inspiriting action.” Oh yeah, and it's also listed as a cure for hysteria, which was often diagnosed in women back in those days. And what was the preferred medical treatment for female hysteria? Orgasms!
Multiple Electric Vibrator (Scalp massager)
The “Multiple Electric Vibrator” uses 480 little nubs to rub your scalp, stimulating blood flow and supposedly ridding you of dandruff and loose hair. Shake it up!
Solar Bath Apparatus
What better cure for the common head cold than a healthy dose of radiation? This scary-looking apparatus enclosed the head in a metal drum and doused it with ultra-violet rays. The Solar Bath Apparatus was meant to clear up catarrh of the ears, nose and throat, along with other head-related illnesses.
Interchangable Handles
It was a great idea in 1953, and still popular with Ikea today. But what happens a few years later when you update your kitchen colour, only to find these interchangeable handles are no longer being made? Well, the gas range model has also discontinued anyways.
Sanitized Tape Worms
Today's consumers might find the recommended remedy a little harder to swallow, but the thought of sharing meals with a thriving colony of "friends for a fair form", it appears, was not enough to dissuade the health conscious of the 1930s, who paid up in multitudes for this product. The mechanism was that after swallowing the parasites, they'd nest in your gut and feed off digesting food!
The Fluoroscope - Shoe-Fitting X ray device
The shoe fitting fluoroscope was a common fixture in shoe stores during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
The primary component of a shoe-fitting x-ray unit was the fluoroscope which consisted essentially of an x-ray tube mounted near the floor and wholly or partially enclosed in a shielded box and a fluorescent screen.This of course, is before we found out how bad x-rays can be for the human body.
Make Your Spine Young!
An ad from the 1920s. A picture paints a thousand words, no doubt.....
