Alaina Urquhart

In fact, as soon as most painters were introduced to the lip-pointing technique...

most inquired as to whether the paint was you know in any way harmful that was everybody's first question they're like cool that i do this or not because that's the thing like it's not like these girls walked in there and were just like chemicals sure i'll just eat it like they they asked the people in charge the people who should be telling them whether these things are dangerous right and these people all their managers would say go for it it's completely safe

And knowing it wasn't.

Knowing how bad it was.

Now, within a few years, many dial painters in the New Jersey factories had actually become like local celebrities.

Like this was a glamorous thing.

That's so crazy.

Isn't that wild?

Yes.

Because unlike traditional factory workers, like I was saying before, they had kind of a vibe they were going for.

They had a look.

They were young, attractive.

And those that earned a decent wage were often happy to spend at least some of that money to, you know, look good.

They were getting the latest fashion.

So they were always looked at as these glamazons that just like work in this studio painting with luminescent paint.

And they always come out, cover it, you know, like it was like this whole vibe.

And above all else, it was the radium itself that made these girls instantly recognizable as being radium girls who worked in the factories.

Yeah.

Because during their hours spent in the studio, like we said before, it was impossible to not get radium dust all over you in your hair, on your clothes.

So when they would leave work for the day, they had an unmistakable neon glow.