Anti-Sunburn Pomade, 1865

ANTI-SUN-BURN POMADE. The following is a really good and equally simple recipe to prevent the skin from cracking and to remove sun burns. Melt two ounces of spermaceti in a pipkin and add two ounces of oil of almonds and when they are intimately combined stir in a tablespoonful of fine honey. Stir the mixture till quite cold or the materials will harden separately. This pomade should be applied at night after washing the skin and should be allowed to remain on all night. --The Handbook for Ladies' Maids (1865) 

I made this one up on a half scale: 1 oz spermaceti (cetyl palmitate), 1 oz oil of almonds, 1.5 tsp honey. As instructed, I melted the oil and wax together, then stirred in the honey, and kept stirring as it cooled.

It's a very soft pomade. 

Stirring the pomade as it cooled gave it a whipped consistency. I hadn't accounted for this, and next time would continue mixing it in the melting bowl, transferring to storage pots after it sets. The honey melted as it was added to the hot pomade, but some of it settled at the bottom of the bowl and would not stir in. The final product has a slight gold tint, but doesn't smell particularly like honey; I think most of it incorporated, but it is possible that some settled at the bottom.

No whales were harmed, thanks to SCIENCE.

I don't have any sunburn to test this on, but it'll go in my kit for next time. There's nothing like a reenacting season for small, oddly placed sunburns. On unburned skin, this just felt like a softer and more greasy hair pomatum. It's not as pleasant as modern hand lotion, but I have high hopes that will sooth chapped skin or a mild sunburn.