HOW IT ALL STARTED
It was a dog bite that started it all, when I was almost three years old it was a very traumatic experience for me. With my mother I was on the way to a bank, she gave in to my begging to be allowed to wait outside - a dog on a leash attracted me magically. My mother still warned me not to get too close to the dog, but as soon as she turned her back on me I fell around his neck. The animal bit powerfully - in my left cheek. Half of the cheek was hanging down, I was screaming strong, when my mother came running, some bank clerks in tow. I don't remember exactly what happened after that. Only that I was hospitalized and the wound was sewn.
Whenever I was later asked about my scar, I stiffly and firmly claimed to have been bitten by a doctor. Pretty crazy, I know! My father saw my chances of getting married sometime and seriously considered increasing my dowry. This did not happen, but the pet owner had to deposit a decent amount in a savings account - for any cosmetic surgery.
When I was 16, the hub was still clearly visible on my cheek, my parents considered this step. That was out of question for me, but I let myself be persuaded to one thing: my pediatrician at the time should examine my scar thoroughly. He prescribed an ointment with a high percentage of natural wool wax for me to mix in the pharmacy. I massaged my left cheek twice a day, it took time to heal the scar.
Like many pubescent teenagers, I had acne, amazingly the pustules bloomed significantly less on the left side than on the right. That motivated me to follow the recipe and to put together my own ointment with the help of the pharmacist. This was my first cream - it soon became popular with my friends. That was around 1977/1978. At that time it was called thyme skin cream (which today is the sage cream in almost unchanged form). So this terrible childhood experience turned the starting into a very fulfilling job for me.
And the scar? Yes, it did go away over time (almost when I laugh you can see that I have two dimples on the left and only one on the right). Wool wax became one of the most valuable ingredients in the distinctive creams of my natural cosmetics and is still an important component in the treatment of scars, even under the name lanolin.