Ancient Egyptians used gold to color skin and hair. Gold can still be found in powders and makeup to add a 'rich' golden sheen to the skin. As an artist starts a painting with a bright white canvas to give the colors brightness and intensity, titanium dioxide is added to brighten and intensify the color of makeup, and to give whiteness and opacity. Titanium dioxide is also a natural sunblock and, like talc, iron oxides, and gold, it has been used for centuries. Minerals also find their way into health-care products we use daily.
Salt is effective in treating skin disease and is used in some soaps.
Fluorite, processed for fluoride, is added to toothpaste and drinking water to help prevent tooth decay. A borax and beeswax mixture is added to cleansing creams as an emulsifier to keep oil and water together. Boric acid is a mild antiseptic and is added to powder as a skin-buffering agent. Zinc oxide is added to creams to allow the cream to cover more thoroughly. When an unlucky hiker runs into poison ivy, calamine-base lotions are often used to soothe the itchy skin.