Have you ever seen a bald bear?

Bears grease was first touted as a cure for baldness in the middle of the 17th century, and its use became much more widespread when many men stopped wearing wigs, which fell out of favour after the French Revolution. It was used right up until the first world war, although most companies had stopped production around the end of the Victorian era.

Bears grease was made from the fat of the Brown Bear, most of which were sourced from Russia and Canada, although some companies even claimed that they were using Polar Bears. Demand grew and bears were expensive to procure, as a result it is likely that most bear's grease products were either diluted with or solely made up of pig fat, lard or beef marrow which was easily sourced. A bear’s skin would be kept by the perfumer or chemist to mislead the customer into thinking a bear had been recently slaughtered and turned into bears grease.

Circus bears were also extremely popular in Victorian times and one such bear is believed to have been hired out to perfumers and chemists manufacturing bears grease. They would chain it to the front of their premise and advertise that it was to be slaughtered for the next batch of bears grease.

The bears grease (or the substitutes) were very smelly and several perfumes such as rosemary, thyme, rose oil and bitter almond oil were used to mask this smell. The end product was sometimes dyed green to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

The bears grease was packaged in small pots sealed with waxed paper or cloth, these early pots were delftware pottery and sometimes decorated with a picture of a bear. These 17th century pots are exceedingly rare and are sort after by collectors. During the 18th century underglaze pots with decorated lids were manufactured mostly in the Staffordshire factories. The lid and pot were sealed with a paper band. These lids are also sort after by collectors.

Whilst the production of bears grease seems barbaric and clearly was, Australia itself has a history of using animal fat in medicinal products. Goanna Salve originally contained the fat from Goannas, Dugongs were also slaughtered to produce products claiming to cure a number of ailments, and we still use Emu Oil today. Bears grease is still used in some countries, although not for the hair and sadly we still see bears being used for their bile.

Author - Andrew Alsop