Would you wear a radio-active corset?

This gave a feeling of energy

I bet it did!

Radium was in a lot of other products too.
People would have been glowing

It was added to a wide range of commercial products including: wool for babies, water dispensers, chocolate, soda water, male supports, foundation garments, condoms, toothpaste, suppositories, cigarettes, cleaning products, boot polish, fertilisers, luminous paints and cosmetics. All of these commercial applications had a common theme; that the rays given off by radium had a ‘vitalising’ effect on the human body.

cosmeticsandskin.com/aba/glowing-complexion.php

Might give you back your get-up-and-go, if you'd lost it. Maybe not for long though...

janeainsworth, I haven't seen you posting for a while, (although perhaps I have been on the wrong threads), so it's nice to see your name again!

Thank you Wheniwasyourage that’s very kind ? - I just decided to be a bit less involved & stay off the contentious threads!
I saw this in Shrewsbury Museum &Art Gallery yesterday & it made me think firstly what women put themselves through (wearing corsets) and secondly that we’re fortunate that (hopefully) things are now rigorously tested before being used in materials or foods.

Wonder if it's a coincidence that the ads flashing up on my screen are for bras and support wear?

Bit scary, I do remember the Little X stuff though. I have no idea why I found it necessary to wear a girdle as I was very slim in my younger days.

The thought of wearing what women did then makes me shudder. How things have chnaged thank goodness.

Calistemom

Yup. Hubby has an interest in the history and effects of radioactivity and he's told me about a number of the products containing radium that were used back in the day.

Sadly, radium has a tendency to cause cancer, especially cancer of the bones. The reason for this (per what Hubby has learned and told me) is that radium is chemically very similar to calcium, and the body treats it as calcium. One of the common sites for radium-associated bone cancer is the jaw. My suspicion is that this is at least partly due to the fact that the jaw is constantly being remodelled as it is in frequent use. (Bone is not actually a static tissue; it undergoes periodic building and resorption according to how the bones are used.)

I was grateful that tights became fashionable when I was mid teens so I didn't have to suffer the dreaded suspender belt/corset for long.

Shortly after I had my first baby, my mother said "This is when you need your panty girdle." - meaning I should start buying and wearing them.
I never did.

Thanks agnurse that's interesting.
It's awful to think of people being affected by radiation because of that recklessness.

agnurse

Calistemom

Yup. Hubby has an interest in the history and effects of radioactivity and he's told me about a number of the products containing radium that were used back in the day.

Sadly, radium has a tendency to cause cancer, especially cancer of the bones. The reason for this (per what Hubby has learned and told me) is that radium is chemically very similar to calcium, and the body treats it as calcium. One of the common sites for radium-associated bone cancer is the jaw. My suspicion is that this is at least partly due to the fact that the jaw is constantly being remodelled as it is in frequent use. (Bone is not actually a static tissue; it undergoes periodic building and resorption according to how the bones are used.)

Interesting agnurse

DH went on a disaster control course very many years ago, to be actioned in the event of a nuclear bomb.
I don't think it required him to remove radioactive corsets or any other such attire!

FarNorth

Shortly after I had my first baby, my mother said "This is when you need your panty girdle." - meaning I should start buying and wearing them.
I never did.

Oh yes! I bought one and wore it for a month or so as I was told it would pull my muscles back in shape. A kind of pull-on thing.

I was on the tubby side in my mid teens (despite lots of good exercise) when Little X came on the market and my Mum thought it would be ideal for me - more comfortable than a suspender belt for holding up my nylons. I wore something of that sort until I went to live in a hot climate and after that, tights were produced - freedom at last!

Calistemon
I told my ex husband to go and buy me a roll on while I was in the hospital. I could hardly walk ? It came off when I got home and never went on again.

I thought my Mum knew best, MerylStreep, but not in that case!!

My mum wore a roll on, she always took it off after the evening meal and breathed a sigh of relief as she rolled it down. It seemed funny to us at the time.

When were these radioactive corsets banned?

I was embarrassed by my mother's 'panty corselettes' hitched high on the washing line - for all to see. Decades later, her doctor banned her from wearing them - as the stomach muscles had gone!

I remember my mother wearing a corset in the fifties. It was awful, loads of hooks and eyes to be done up as it was put on. Either my sister or my mother, can’t remember which, told me I needed to wear a roll on with suspenders when I started to wear nylons. It didn’t last long, I quickly moved on to a suspender belt, which was rapidly followed by tights.

My mum wore a toll-on called a 'Silkskin' in a revolting shade known as 'flesh'. When my granny came to stay, mum was embarrassed in case neighbours thought granny's 'unmentionables' on the washing line were hers!

My grandmother wore bloomers. She really did. They were big knickers with legs which were gathered around the knee, and were quite loose when on.

Mine too.

I think they were called directoire knickers maddyone I remember my mother wearing them, usually pink ones. My mother also wore a pink lace up corset although she weighed no more than 8 stones for most of her life.