In the Edo Period, each family had their own heat rash remedy powder using rice flour, oyster powder, arrowroot flour, tenka-fun, or finely ground tea. However, some of those remedies could be infested with maggots or lice, or made the rash worse, according to “Shoni Hitsuyou Yoikuso” (Gyuzan Katsuki). It was also explained that the grain should not be too coarse, or a word of caution was provided that one would need a certain level of knowledge as to which powder should be prepared how to use it. It was the time when no commercial product was available. It seems that such a remedy was seldom used after bath for prevention.

As described above, tenka-fun and various powder preparations were used as heat rash remedies. It was Doctor Tsukasa Hirota, the founder of Wakodo Pharmacy, who promoted routine use of a powder product for heat rash prevention. Doctor Tuskasa Hirota and Professor Keizo Tamba of Tokyo Imperial University School of Pharmacology applied their knowledge of German Medicine and developed an effective formulation for heat rash and sore. This famous product created by two doctors of Medicine and Pharmacology was born in 1906 under the name Siccarol.

The formula for the first Siccarol was 40% flowers of zinc, 40% talc, and 20% starch. “Joyou Kunmou Zui” (1687) described a heat rash remedy to be a mixture of hamaguri (inorganic matter) and wheat flour. It seems natural that Siccarol was also made with talc (inorganic matter) and starch, and interesting in some ways. The product’s superior quality and efficacy were given a vote of confidence by its customers. It was first made in 1906 by mixing ingredients with a mortar and pestle, in a small room in a corner of Wakodo Pharmacy.

A description of Siccarol first appeared in 1912 in “Shoni Yoiku no Kokoroe” (Knowledge for Care of Child). Gradually it became a common habit of the public to apply Siccarol after a bath. Siccarol on a freshly bathed baby’s skin was the picture passed on to children and grandchildren.

The name “Siccarol” came from the Latin word “siccare”, which means “to dry”. It was an extremely sophisticated name for the late Meiji Period. Now the name can be found in major Japanese dictionaries such as “Kojien” and “Shingenkai” and it has become so common that the name “Siccarol” is more widely identified than “tenka-fun” or baby powder.