Madame Anna Ruppert: The Beauty Doctor’s Dangerous Legacy

Madame Anna Ruppert

The story of Madame Anna Ruppert is a fascinating one. She was clearly an enterprising and ambitious woman, but one who did not let her lack of medical training get in the way of selling beauty to others. For a brief time she reached dizzying heights of fame and renown, lecturing to sold out crowds (an unheard of feat for most women of the time), enduring attempts on her life via poisoning, and finally ending her career exposed as a fraud.

She is a fascinating and complex woman - clearly someone ahead of her time and determined to forge her own way in the world. But she has also left behind a dangerous legacy, one that is echoed in the current landscape of the UK aesthetics world today.

Who Were the Beauty Doctors?

Anna was one of the infamous “beauty doctors.” The early 20th century was the age of the “beauty doctor” in both the UK and the USA. Advertisements, lawsuits, beauty tips, and gossip dominated the newspapers of the time. They couldn’t get enough of these beauty doctors!

But who were they?

It’s a complicated question to answer, and we go into more history in our article A Trip Back in Time. The simple explanation is that they were not doctors at all. There were many non-medical people who saw an opportunity and gap in the market to make a name for themselves and make money. Some were unscrupulous con artists and frauds, who caused a lot of harm. They relied on the misogyny of the time, the poverty of their victims, and the stigma around cosmetic treatments to get away with maiming and disfiguring. Many courts and police officers felt that silly women who were tricked by a fraudster deserved what they got when they were scarred for life. The cases were laughed out of court when a woman was brave enough to come forward.

Background

While Anna advertised herself as a complexion expert and, indeed, a “dermatologist” she had no medical training. However, it is unlikely that a woman of her station and of that time period would have been able to get into medical school, which wasn’t particularly female-friendly in the mid 19th-Century.

She was born Anna Shelton in Missouri in the United States in 1864. The origin of her interest in cosmetic medicine stems a birthmark on her face - one that she was determined to get rid of. She eventually found a formula that worked from someone (unclear of who exactly) in St. Louis, and was enterprising enough to see a business opportunity in selling it around the world.

A Successful Career

Madame Ruppert’s “Face Bleach” formula made her famous, and when she divorced her first husband Henry Ruppert (from which she derived her professional name), she successfully fought off his attempts to steal the business or take credit for the formula.

She began hosting lectures about ways men and women could enhance their looks, and her lectures were flocked to. She began writing for Hearth and Home Magazine, dispensing beauty advice and attracting a legion of fans.

Downfall

Things took a turn when the British Medical Journal exposed her “Face Bleach,” which had been rebranded as “Skin Tonic,” as dangerous. It contained mercury, and had indeed caused mercury poisoning in a patient. She was subsequently prosecuted in Ireland under the Irish Pharmacy Act, and her reputation took a nose-dive.

The Poisoning

At a loss as to where to turn to next, Madame Ruppert took a job at the Princess’s Theatre to work as a manager and actress. By all accounts she was not very well-received. An unknown perpetrator sent a box of sweets to her dressing room, which were in fact laced with carbolic acid. She became seriously ill after eating them, and although she survived, her assailant was never caught. Perhaps it was a disgruntled former patient or loved one of someone she had harmed with her poisonous beauty products.

Sad Ending

Madame Ruppert returned to the States and tried to re-start her fradulent beauty practice, presenting herself as a dermatology expert although she had no medical qualifications. However, she was already in very poor health, and died in her hometown in 1896.

Madame Ruppert evokes mixed emotions in me. She was clearly an incredibly ambitious woman who succeeded in a male-dominated world, but she was also a complete quack who sold products to trusting patients for profit.

While you can admire someone’s desire to create a business and name for themselves and succeed in a competitive and harsh industry, that admiration must end when they are making money when putting other people’s health at risk due to lack of knowledge or training.