Macassar oil

Rowland's son (also named Alexander) later stated that a relative living in the island of Celebes in the Dutch East Indies had helped in procurement of the basic ingredient.

[4] Macassar oil was so named because it was reputed to have been manufactured from ingredients purchased in the port of Makassar in the Dutch East Indies.

[5] The poet Byron facetiously called it "thine incomparable oil, Macassar" in the first canto of Don Juan,[6] and Lewis Carroll also mentions "Rowland's Macassar Oil" in the poem "Haddocks' Eyes" from Through the Looking-Glass.

[7] Due to the tendency for the oil to transfer from the user's hair to the back of his chair, the antimacassar was developed.

This is a small washable cloth (crocheted, embroidered or mass-produced), placed over the back of a chair to protect the upholstery.

A young man in Herne Bay , Kent, England, around 1903 to 1914, showing hair groomed with Macassar oil
Illustration by Thomas Rowlandson from around 1814 making fun of the false claim in some advertisements that Macassar oil would stimulate hair growth on balding men