[--back to menu for this book--]
[-59-] PART II
THE GENERAL CARE OF THE BODY.
"CLEANLINESS is half a virtue, and uncleanliness is a vice and a half," says Alexandre
Dumas, and this is not saying enough.
Want of cleanliness is an ugly and ignoble
vice, and it is marvellous that women above
all should lay themselves open to such a
reproach, for it is incompatible with their
desire to be beautiful and beloved.
It was in the darkness of the Middle
Ages that people dared to condemn cleanliness as a baleful remnant of ancient times
(times when humanity, being more civilised,
practised the use of baths and ablutions)
it was in the gloom of those centuries that [-60-] this virtue was looked upon as an impiety.
The impiety, on the contrary, consists in
not taking care of one's body, that body
which ought to be daily freed from every
speck or stain which the conditions of life
impose upon it in our present state of
existence.
Even now young girls leave convents
and large schools with inadequate notions
of cleanliness, and this is inconceivable;
and even when they return home, their
mothers systematically neglect to instruct
them in that part of hygiene which consists
in those habits of neatness and daintiness which they themselves have only gradually
acquired-sometimes, indeed, not without
humiliation.
The Romans washed their bodies before
going into the Temple. All Eastern
religions, we may observe, order ablutions before prayer. Does not this rule, as
hygienic as it is religious, show plainly
that physical purity should go hand-[-61-]in-hand with moral purity? The Koran
incessantly recommends the use of baths.
Shall we, then, who are in so many ways
above Orientals, be content to remain so
much below them in these all-important
matters? In these times of ultra-civilisation, shall we continue to ignore the most
elementary rules of the dignity of humanity?
The animals, which do not possess our
hands with a separate thumb, and have none
of our facilities for care and neatness, clean
their bodies, brighten up their fur or their
plumage, from a natural instinct; and shall
man, who is their king by his reason and
divine intelligence, neglect his body? And
shall woman, that marvel of creation, suffer
her satin skin, with its pearly reflections, to
be profaned by any impurity? Surely not;
and therefore the whole human body should
be purified every night and every morning
from any stain or impurity it may have
received under the animal and material
laws to which it is still in subjection.
[-62-]
As long as we are not ethereal spirits,
as long as we have to live as mortals, we
should submit ourselves to our condition,
doing all that is in our power to ameliorate it.
And indeed cleanliness already brings
us a step nearer to the angels of light
while slovenliness, on the other hand,
keeps us down in the depths of our original
mire.
Cleanliness is as indispensable to health
as it is to beauty.
A woman who keeps the pores of her
skin open by the daily and abundant use of cold or tepid water, will keep well and grow
old slowly. But under the closed pores of
a skin not well or frequently washed the
flesh becomes flabby and soft.
A well-washed skin is smooth, silky,
and fresh ; but if repeated layers of perspiration and dust are allowed to
accumulate, the skin becomes dry and feverish.
But for numbers of people, it may be [-63-]
argued, it is not possible to take baths
every day; the time and the means to do so
are not at their disposal. To this I reply
that a sponge-bath, which is quite sufficient
as regards cleanliness, only requires a few
moments of time and a quiet corner. If
one cannot spare these few moments every
day to take an entire bath, at least one
might take time for a partial one, certain
parts of the body requiring more care than
others. Then, one or twice a week at the
least, the necessary time for taking a
complete bath should be made. This is the
very minimum of washing that our bodies
absolutely require. As for the maximum of
cleanliness, it is impossible to fix it, for
there can be no limit on this point. There
are people so scrupulously clean that they
purify their stomachs and intestines by
swallowing a large glass of hot or cold
water every morning, according to their state of health; others have recourse to the
classic instrument of Molère, simply as a [-64-] means of cleanliness. It is easy to imagine
that they are quite as much concerned with
the care of their outer being.
The slightest negligence on this point
is altogether inexcusable. We are wanting
in self-respect if we fail to keep our person
rigorously clean and neat. And Nature
will quickly punish us for such neglect by
sickness and premature old age. Bathing
and washing, assisted by good soaps, and
even vinegars and perfumes, will make our
bodies firm, fit, and capable of endurance.
Water has the virtue of dissipating all
fatigue, destroying the germs of illness, and
by giving us pure bodies it renders our souls also more pure. "A healthy spirit
in a healthy body."
[-65-] THE FACE.
It is admitted, then, that to exercise
their functions properly the pores of the
skin should be kept open, and that washing
is the best means of keeping them free from
the secretions or accumulations which might
obstruct and clog them.
It is, therefore, as contrary to the rules
of hygiene and coquetry as to that of
cleanliness to abstain (as Patti has been
accused of doing) from ever washing the
face.
At the same time, there are some precautions to be taken on this subject.
If you have a red face, you should use
hot water; it will send the blood away, and
stop the congestion caused by the rush of [-66-] blood to the parts affected. It is also bad
to wash in cold water when the weather is
very warm, or when the face is very much
heated either by natural or artificial warmth.
Tepid water should be used, with lotions,
but without soap. The face should then
be slightly powdered, and allowed to dry
without being wiped. The same treatment
applies when the weather is very dry.
The face should be dried, very gently,
with a very fine and rather worn towel.
Rough friction with a hard towel will have
the effect of thickening the skin. It would
be well to remember that the face requires
as delicate care as a precious piece of
porcelain or a fine work of art. The face,
for instance, should never be bathed in too
violent a manner, such as plumping the
head into a great basin of water. Neither
should the face be too constantly washed
over and over again in the course of the
day, at all moments. One celebrated beauty
has never made use of anything but her [-67-] own hand with which to wash her face.
She dries it with a light and very soft
flannel. Another beauty prefers a sponge.
We are told that one of the prettiest of
our women in society plunges a towel into
very hot water, wrings it out, and lays it on
her face, where she keeps it for about half-
an-hour. She goes through this performance at night, before getting into bed,
wiping off lightly with the humidity
produced on the surface of the skin any
dust that may have collected there during
the day. This lady has no wrinkles.
A woman of fifty whose skin is as
smooth as that of a young girl has never
washed her face except with extremely hot
water, which, she declares, tightens the
skin and destroys wrinkles. One of this
lady's friends washes with cold water immediately after the hot (Russian fashion),
and her sister washes with hot water at
night and cold in the morning.
These are rather contradictory counsels; [-68-] but all these apparent contradictions no
doubt depend on the state of the skin in
these different persons. I will add the
advice of a physician in winter wash your
face with cold water, in summer with warm
or tepid water, so as to keep in harmony
with the external temperature. Hard
water which will not dissolve soap is bad
for all ablutions, especially for those of the
face. If it is impossible to obtain rain or
river-water, at least soften the hard water
by means of a little borax or a few drops of
ammonia.
The spirituous essences which are often
added to the water for washing the face
are very destructive to it. Frequent applications of alcohol dry and harden the skin,
and consequently prevent it from performing its proper functions or from nourishing
itself with the fresh air or the damp
atmosphere.
On the other hand, it is advisable not to expose the face to the air immediately
[-69-]
after washing it. When the pores have
just been opened by the use of water, the
skin should be protected from the action of
the air, or it will become coarsened and
chapped. Half an hour should be allowed
to pass before going out, sitting at an open
window, etc. It is for this reason that
women who do not occupy themselves much
with their household concerns prefer to
wash their faces just before going to bed.
It may sometimes be necessary to use
soap for the face. In this case the soap
(of which we shall speak later) should be
very carefully chosen, and it is well not
to use it more than is really necessary, and
never when the weather is very warm.
Lemon-juice cleans the skin very well,
and is much better than soap. Strawberry-juice has the same detergent action, and is,
moreover, very good for the skin. Rainwater is better than any Turkish bath for
washing the face. Enveloped from head
to foot in a waterproof, encounter the [-70-]
downpour or the soft rain of heaven without
an umbrella, exposing your face to it during
an hour's walk. The rain and the dampness
of the air will not only soften and wash the
tissues perfectly, but they will efface also
from the skin the little lines made there by
the dryness of the artificial heating of
rooms. Quiet, and sufficient sleep, and
walks in the rain, are said to have been
the sole beauty-philtres used by Diana de Poitiers, who went out every day, no
matter what the weather was, and who
used no umbrella, for the good reason
that they had not yet at that time been
re-invented from the Romans.
All women who belong to the white
race have always concerned themselves,
and will always concern themselves, about
the purity, freshness, and brilliancy of their
complexion. And in truth a beautiful
colour, a white and fine skin, form one of [-71-] the great attractions of a woman, who
cannot be pronounced perfectly beautiful
if there is any defect in her complexion.
It is generally thought that the colour
and texture of the skin can be improved by
outward applications, and this is to a great
extent an error. The complexion, of whatever kind it is, depends mainly on the state
of the health, on the constitution or the
temperament. It is clear, then, that we
must have recourse to hygiene rather than
to cosmetics in order to diminish the faults
of colour.
There are families in which a fine
complexion is transmitted as a heritage.
You may be sure that such a race is
healthy, and has pure blood, which has
never been tainted by any of those atrocious diseases which desolate humanity. A
celebrated beauty was once asked the secret of
the roseleaf tint of her cheeks and the delicacy of her blue-veined skin. "Robust and
virtuous ancestors," was her laconic reply.
[-72-]
Nothing is less desirable from the point
of view either of health or aesthetics than a
face too highly coloured, especially if the
roses extend all, or nearly all, over the
whole of it. It indicates a plethoric habit.
People afflicted with this very high colour,
whose eyes even are bloodshot, are generally,
it may be noticed, large eaters and lovers of
ease and luxury, and have a great repugnance to healthy exercise. It is evident
that to lower the tone of their complexion
these people should restrain their appetites,
choose less succulent foods, deny themselves
some of their comforts, and keep their
over-nourished bodies a little under.
They would at once find their health
benefited by such régime, and their headaches, confusion of mind, and dizziness
would disappear. Instead of being red all
over, their complexion would change to the
brilliant stage, which is a totally different
thing, for even very bright roses are not
out of place on the cheeks only, and then [-73-]
they make the forehead, nose, and chin,
which they have happily forsaken, appear
all the fairer. A brilliant feverish colour
which shows itself on the cheek-bone only,
is too often an indication of consumption.
Unfortunately, it is not to hygiene alone
that we must have recourse in such cases.
When the complexion is muddy, pale,
pasty, too white, greenish, yellow, or purple,
it always proclaims a bad state of health.
Sometimes a muddy complexion is natural,
but much more often it denotes dyspepsia,
languid circulation, etc.
A pale colour is due to an indoor life
without exercise, from the habit or the
necessity of shunning the daylight and the
sunshine. A pasty colour belongs to a
lymphatic temperament. An olive complexion is not always a sign of ill-health;
those who have it should look back and see
whether they have not had some Southern
or Creole ancestor before making themselves
uneasy on the subject. A very white [-74-]
complexion, without any colour, belongs to
persons seriously attacked in their health,
though there is at times nothing else to
show this. A purple colour may be produced by heart disease ; a yellow one needs
quite special attention.
Thus we see that whenever the complexion is defective, care and precaution
should always be taken.
Hygiene may often suffice, and we shall endeavour to trace the great outlines of this
preventive remedy for the use of women at
least.
A very thin woman may be in good
health, but she never has a good complexion, according to the proverb which
says "there is no beautiful skin over the
bones. But presently we shall show her
the means of growing a little fatter. We
may, however, tell her and all women at
once that it is necessary to restrain their impatience and irritability, which dry up the
blood more than illness or even sorrow itself.
[-75-] Everybody may be recommended to
preserve the face from too great artificial
heat.
Cold is unfavourable to dark complexions, and heat to fair ones. The wind
makes the face either blueish or pale.
Whenever it is possible to choose a walk,
going against the wind should be avoided.
Many parents dislike seeing their children
kissed frequently, for the velvety skin of a
baby suffers much therefrom. Too much
kissing is bad for the complexion.
Further on we shall explain to women
how they should live, and what they should
eat, in order to preserve or improve a pretty
colour, and how to remain beautiful while
keeping their health.
There would be fewer wrinkles if people
would correct themselves of certain bad
habits. Repeated frowning leaves an indelible mark, in certain straight lines [-76-]between the eyebrows. Lifting the eyebrows at every movement for nothing at all
is done at the cost of long horizontal lines
across the forehead, which makes people
look five years older than they really are.
A stereotyped artificial smile stamps two
large creases from the nose to the corners
of the mouth. Sitting up late at night
reading novels is infallible for drawing that
terrible network of crows' feet round the
eyes which disfigures the prettiest face.
People who laugh a great deal have
little wrinkles on their cheeks close to the
mouth, but these are rather pleasing.
There need be no anxiety except about
wrinkles that come from causes we ought
to fight against: cheerfulness is a virtue to
be encouraged. Suffering traces lines on
worn features, but they disappear with the
return of health.
To delay the appearance of wrinkles,
and to reduce the heaviness of the chin, the
face should be washed and dried from the [-77-]
lower part up to the top. To avoid the
dreaded crows' feet, wash the eyes in the
direction from the temple towards the
nose.
It is an immense mistake to fill up with
face powder the lines made by wrinkles; it
only makes them the deeper.
Some of the millionaires in New York,
whose skins suffer from the over-heated
rooms, have their faces sprayed with soft
water for a quarter of an hour every night
before going to bed. This has the effect of
a very fine rain, which effaces the wrinkles
and produces the required humidity for the
epidermis. To counteract the disastrous effects of the dry and burning heat of stoves
and calorifères, it is indispensable to stand
vessels full of water on them, that the
evaporation may render the air damp enough.
Even better results may be obtained by
using wet cloths, and renewing them as
often as necessary.
The fear of wrinkles leads many women [-78-] to submit to the hardest sacrifices, in the
hope of conjuring away the demon of old
age.
Here is the manner in which one woman
in society proceeds to efface the signs which
late hours and gaieties leave on her face.
When she feels knocked up and in the
blues, if something has gone wrong or
worried her, she goes to bed and stays
there till her fatigue has passed off, or her
irritation is over and her good-humour
come back. Then she gets up, fresh, beautiful, in an amiable frame of mind, and all
her wrinkles smoothed out. She declares
that if all idle women followed her example
in the like circumstances, they would prolong their youth and beauty, calm their
nerves, and thus gain a desirable equanimity
of character.
A mother, careful of the beauty of her
daughter, tried the following treatment for
her during her first season. The young
lady went to a ball every day in the week, [-79-] but on Sundays she stayed in bed, only
rising in time for five o'clock tea and
retiring again at an early hour. The
results of this kind of life were happy.
The young girl did not catch cold once
during the season, and when the time came
for going to the seaside, she seemed to be
the only one who did not need any of the
benefits which society women expect from
the sea air. She was like a country girl,
and as fresh as a rose.
Women who have no children, and are
deprived of the immense joys and many
and arduous duties of maternity, would do
well to spend their leisure in perfecting
their own characters and hearts. Once
again, I would persuade all women that the
moral character is quite as - or, indeed, much more - worthy of interest than the physical
body.
Far better have one wrinkle more, and
acquire a good quality, than a smooth forehead and the faults of a child.
[-80-] Nevertheless if it is possible to take a
moment of respite from the accomplishment
of daily duties, I would urge a little rest
for the face, four or five times a day, by
shutting the eyes and remaining perfectly
still for one, two, or five minutes, when it
can be done without neglecting anything
important. Even these short rests from
occupations and agitations will greatly retard the ravages that time and life imprint
on the face.
You are no doubt justly annoyed, dear
reader, when your jasmine-tinted complexion is burnt after walking in the hot
sun or sitting for a long time on the beach.
But it is easy to restore to your face the
pearly whiteness of which you were justly
proud.
Bathe it in the evening with a cold
infusion of fresh cucumbers cut up in slices
in milk. A decoction of tansy in butter-[-81-]milk is still more efficacious. Butter-milk
by itself even will be of some use.
Another certain means of getting rid of
the burning caused by sea or country air
consists in washing with the juice of green
grapes, which can be obtained as follows:- Wet your bunch of grapes, and sprinkle them
lightly with alum; then wrap them up in
white paper, and put them to cook under hot
charcoal embers. When the grapes are
fender, they will be sufficiently done. Take
off the paper, and squeeze the bunch under
a vessel to press out the juice, and wash
your face with this juice. You must perform this operation three times over at
intervals of four-and-twenty hours, but it is
an infallible remedy.
Many people believe, and not without
reason, that it blackens the skin to wash at
midday in summer. The hour of noon
should be dreaded by those who have delicate skins.
A foreign physician affirms that the [-82-]electric light burns the faces of those exposed to it, as much as the sun does. And
the moon - even the pale moon - is supposed
to have the same effect upon our skin.
After all, it is said to eat away stone; so
it may well have some effect upon our
complexions. The Maréchale d'Aumont,
"as beautiful in her old age as in her
youth," was in mortal fear of the night-
dew and the moon.
But let us return to the misdeeds of the
sun. The Italians proceed very simply
when they wish to remedy the effects of the
sun or of the sea air after a sojourn in their
country villas or on the borders of the
Adriatic, the Mediterranean, or the lakes,
in this wise:- They take the white of an
egg beaten into a good froth, bathe the face
with it, and leave it to dry on the skin for
a quarter of an hour, then rinse it off with
fresh water. This is done three or four
times, and always at night, just before
getting into bed. This last injunction, and [-83-] also that of drying the face gently with
a very fine towel, are essential. I have
already given the reasons for both. Finally,
a mixture of lemon-juice and glycerine in
equal parts has good results against the
injuries done to our epidermis by the sun
and the wind. If the skin will not bear glycerine - of which more later on - it
should be replaced by rose-water.
Freckles are the despair of blonde and
florid women especially, but also of brunettes
who possess a white skin. Some doctors
attribute these spots to the presence of a
certain amount of iron in the blood. It
has been proved that the abuse of ferruginous medicines is often the
determinating
cause of these yellow stains which spoil
many a beautiful forehead.
Others say that freckles indicate a delicate constitution and a slow and feeble
[-84-]
circulation. The following are remedies
for these annoying spots:-
1st. One of my friends found the
following mixtures beneficial, with one
or other of which she anointed her freckles
every night, going to bed: one part of
tincture of iodine and three parts of glycerine. 2nd. In half a pint of oil of
turpentine dissolve 7 grammes of powdered
camphor, then add 2 grammes of oil of sweet
almonds. This is an excellent liniment
for the inconvenience of which we
are now speaking. 3rd. 28 gramrnes of
powdered camphor and 112 grammes of
pure olive oil, melted by a gentle heat.
4th. Try applications of butter-milk, which
is as good as, if not better than, the foregoing
recipes. 5th. In some countries the perfumed water extracted from the iris by
means of steam (bain-marie) is used to
beautify the skin and complexion; if a
little salt of tartar is dissolved in this,
it will remove freckles. 6th. Dissolve 16 [-85-]
centigrammes of borax in 20 grammes of
rose-water and the same quantity of orange-
flower water, and bathe the spots with this
lotion. 7th. Fresh Leans boiled in water,
mashed and applied as a poultice, will produce an excellent effect. 8th. Mix vinegar,
lemon-juice, alcohol, oil of lavender, oil of
roses, oil of cedar, and distilled water; use
this lotion going to bed, and wash with
fresh water the next morning. 9th. Use
recipe No. 1 for curing redness in the nose.
10th. A mixture formed of two parts juice
of watercress and one part honey is much
recommended for freckles and sunburn.
The two substances, when mixed, should be
passed through muslin, and rubbed in night
and morning.
A few very simple precautions may
prevent the appearance of freckles. Our
ancestors, who were most careful of their
complexions, wore masks of velvet in
winter to protect their skin from the cold;
in summer they wore silk masks to defend [-86 -] their delicate epidermis against Apollo's
darts, which produce these hateful spots.
If it is impossible to revive the use of
masks, wear straw-coloured veils in April,
when the buds begin to star the meadows,
and spots unfortunately begin to blossom
on faces. It would be too long to explain
scientifically why you will be as safe from
the rays of the sun under yellow gauze as
under a mask, but I will answer for the
efficacy of this device. It may be objected
that straw-coloured veils are hardly becoming. The question is whether you care
most for the admiration of the people you
meet out of doors (who are often unknown
to you), or for that of the people who see
you at home with your face uncovered-your friends, and, above all, your husband.
While travelling the face should be
only washed at night, and add to the water
for use a few drops of tincture of benzoin.
Lait virginal is nothing but this. In all
cases never confront the open air till you [-87-]
have well dried, and lightly powdered, your
face. Carrots, which are a specific for the
complexion, are thought highly of as a
remedy for freckles. Take a thin carrot
soup for your early breakfast instead of café au lait with rye bread steeped in it.
I think it was Montaigne who said "I
love Paris, down to its very warts." That
may be all very well for a great and magnificent city, but a pretty or beautiful face
is terribly disfigured by these little hard
bumps, vulgarly called poireaux.
I will therefore give some safe and simple means of
getting rid of them:-
1st. Take some small doses of sulphate
of magnesia (Epsom salts). For an adult
the dose is from 60 to 90 grains a day for a
month. After a fortnight of this treatment
the warts have almost always disappeared.
2nd. In other days the fuller's teazel
(Labrum Veneris or Virga Pastoris or, [-88-]
scientifically, Dipsacus Fullonum) was much
prized as a remedy for warts; it was thus
named because the leaves are arranged in
the form of a basin, "and in fact the
said leaves, sometimes bent into a bow,
represent a basin wherein water and dew
will always be found." The warts were
rubbed with the water or juice found in
these hollows.
3rd. Someone recommends that the wart
should be pressed against the bone with the
thumb, moving it in and out till the roots
become irritated and painful. The wart
will then melt away or fall off.
4th. Warts may be cured by rubbing
them three or four times a day with a
potato. Cut the end off the potato, and rub
the wart with the part freshly cut ; and
after each rubbing, cut another slice off the
potato.
5th. Rub night and morning with the
following ointment :- 4 parts by weight
of chromate of potassium, well mixed with [-89-]
5 parts of axungia or vaseline. Three or four weeks of this treatment will effect a
cure.
6th. Lemon-juice will remove warts.
Touch them three or four times a day with
a camel's-hair brush steeped in the juice.
7th. Take a slate, and have it calcined
in the fire; then reduce it to powder, and
mix this powder with strong vinegar. Rub
the excrescences with this wash, and they
will give way to the treatment.
8th. European heliotrope (herb for
warts, or Verrucaria in the pharmacopoeia) is
much vaunted, and its juice, mixed with salt,
is said to destroy warts and lumps.
9th. Caustic or nitrate of silver exterminates warts very well; they should be
touched with it every two or three days.
10th. A wart may be got rid of by
steeping it several times a day in castor-oil.
11th. Melt some spirit of salts in water,
and wash the warts with this water. This
caustic will make them fall off in scales. [-90-] The utmost care must be taken, especially
if this remedy is used for the face.
12th. The caustic juice of the greater
celandine may also be used.
It is a mistake to imagine that warts
can be caught by contact. Before burning
a wart with caustic, it should be cut to the
quick.
Diseases of the Skin affecting the Face.
For the little scurfy eruptions which
sometimes conic on the face, one doctor of
my acquaintance recommends rubbing with
lemon-juice-successfully.
Ulcerated eruptions have been cured by
bathing with strawberry-juice. An easier
or more agreeable remedy can hardly be imagined. It is much less repugnant than, and
quite as efficacious as, a live yellow slug, with
which the sore used to be rubbed till the
unhappy mollusc was used up. Bathing with strawberries is sovereign against ulcers
as well as eruptions. If used daily while [-91-]
they are in season, they will drive away all
redness, inflammation, pimples, etc., from
the face.
Eczema on the face should be treated
with poultices of potato flour, and the
patient should drink a tisane of alder-root (˝ounce to a quart of water, decocted). A
pint of the decoction should be taken, fasting,
at two or three different times; another pint
to be taken in the evening, at least two
hours after the last meal. The diet
should be very severe - neither wine
nor coffee, no game, fish, or pork in any
shape. In this case strawberries are forbidden, as well as asparagus, cabbage, turnips, and cheese, with the exception of
Gruyère.
Almost the same diet should be used for
redness (couperose) of the face; and for this
the following lotion and ointment are also
recommended:-
Lotion - refined sulphur, 1 oz. ; alcohol, ˝oz.; distilled water, 1 pint. Sponge the
[-92-]
face with this mixture often. (Hot vapour
douches are also excellent.)
Ointment - 1 part of oxide of zinc to
10 parts of vaseline. Anoint time face with
this, going to bed. This treatment should
be interrupted twice a week for twenty-four
hours. Before bathing or anointing the
face, it should be well washed in tepid
water.
It is unnecessary to say that these
simple remedies may be used for the same
diseases on other parts of the body.
Some women have another and still
deeper cause for despair. I speak of the
hairs which appear on time chin in maturity,
and of the down which may darken and
give a mannish look even to the rosy lips of
a girl of twenty.
Let none give way to despair-there is
more than one remedy for these ills:-
1st. I consider that the use of a pair of [-93-]
small steel pincers is the most efficacious
and unobjectionable of all remedies. But
care must be taken to pull the hair out by
the roots, and not to break it during the
operation: it requires a determined pull.
An electrical operation has lately been much
vaunted also - it is called electrolysis; the
hair never grows again after this operation,
while the use of the pincers must be constantly renewed.
2nd. Water distilled from the leaves
and root of celandine. It is applied as
a compress on the desired spot, and left
on all night. It should be repeated till the
down disappears.
3rd. Sulpho-hydrate of soda 1˝ drachms
of quick lime 5 drachms, starch 5 drachms.
Mix these into a paste with a little water,
and apply it, keeping it on for an hour,
and washing with fresh water afterwards.
4th. Cut up an oak-apple into little
pieces, and put it into a basin, with white
wine over it to the depth of a finger. Let [-94-]
it steep in this bath for twenty-four hours;
then distil it with boiling water till nothing
more ascends. Apply it in a compress on
the affected part, and keep it on all night.
Repeat this every night till time desired
result is produced.
If it were true, as some people affirm,
that lentils have the property of increasing
in length and thickness the growth of the
hair, of causing the moustaches of youths
and the beards of men to grow and become
bushy, then indeed should women who
have a tendency to down on their lips and
chins eschew having anything to do with
this formidable vegetable.
Waters and Cosmetics for the Face.
Never use any kind of paint; all rouges
are bad for the skin, and white paints are
dangerous.
The Chinese have, however, discovered an
inoffensive rouge, made of the juice of beet-
root, with which they redden their cheeks.
[-95-] The ordinary essences, ointments, and
powders of commerce, are either without
any effect at all, or produce exactly the
opposite to the one hoped for.
Nevertheless I shall give the recipes for
some waters and cosmetics, but it is because I
am certain of their perfect harmlessness, and
that some of them are refreshing to the skin.
We begin with the simplest.
Very greasy and oily skins will be the
better for being washed with wine (all those
of France and the Rhine) about once a fortnight. If the skin is dark, red wine should
be preferred. Fresh cucumber-juice is
among the best timings for time skin; and
almost equally good is the water in which
spinach in flower has been boiled. But strawberry-juice - of which we have already
spoken - is superior to both.
In the sixteenth century time water in
which beans were cooked was ill great
favour, and this mealy water did really
deserve time reputation it then had.
[-96-]
The Gauls, whose brilliant carnation
was the envy of the Roman patricians, washed their faces with the froth of beer.
They also used chalk dissolved in vinegar.
I do not know what to think of this solution,
but I can answer for it that the foam of
beer is still used with advantage by the
women of the North. Belladonna takes
its name from the use the Italians made of
its juice for improving the complexion.
The Roman ladies of antiquity, who
were such great coquettes, considered, it is
said, the blood of the hare as time most
precious of cosmetics - a somewhat repellent
recipe for modern taste.
The following lotion is excellent :-A
wineglassful of fresh lemon-juice, a pint
of rain-water, five drops of rose-water. This
should be kept well corked, and used from
time to time it will preserve the colour of
the skin.
Flabby and relaxed skins will derive
benefit from the following cosmetics, used [-97-]
at intervals of eight days :- Equal parts of
milk, and brandy made from corn. Wet
the face with this mixture by means of a
soft towel, after having washed, and before
getting into bed. The result is not immediate, but after a year the skin will have
become sufficiently strung up, firm, smooth,
and fine.
If you have a very dry skin, and require
oily ointment, instead of the softening
creams so erroneously praised, use highly-rectified vaseline, with a few drops of
perfumed oil in it.
Oil of cacao enriches a dry skin. A
mixture called "Princess of Wales" consists of half a pint of milk, with the juice of
a slice of Portugal lemon squeezed into it.
The face is to be anointed with this mixture
at bedtime, and washed with fresh (not cold)
water the next morning.
Lastly, here are some real cosmetics
which are not dangerous to the tissues :-At
the end of May take a pound of the freshest [-98-]
butter possible (of course, perfectly unmixed
with salt or anything else); place it in a
white basin, and put it where the sun will
be on it the whole day, but where no dust
or dirt can fall on it. When the butter is
melted, pour over it plantain-juice, and mix
the two well together with a wooden spoon.
Allow the sun to absorb the plantain-water,
and put more juice on six times a day.
Continue this till the butter has become
as white as snow. During time last few
days add a little orange-flower and rose
water. Anoint your face with this ointment
at night, and wipe it carefully in the
morning. This is an old and good recipe
of the time of la belle Gabrielle.
Here is one that dates from the time of
the Crusades :-Boil six fresh eggs hard,
take out the yolks, and replace them by
myrrh and powdered sugar-candy in equal
parts. Then join the two halves of the
white of the eggs (which had been cut in
two to take out the yolks), and expose the [- 99-] six eggs to the fire on a plate. A liquid
will come from them which is to be mixed
with an ounce of lard or white vaseline,
prepared as I shall direct under the heading
"Pomades and Hair-Oils." The face should
be covered in the morning with the ointment thus obtained, which should be allowed
to dry on it, and then gently wiped off.
It is said that this secret of beauty was
brought back from Palestine by a beau
chevalier with whom a sultana had fallen
in love. If his lady-love got wind of his
infidelity, she may well have forgiven it for
the sake of this cosmetic which he brought
back from the harem into which he had
intruded.
Cosmetics for the Hands, Arms, etc.
The recipes which we have given above
may be used for the neck, arms, and hands.
Here is another, to be used on evenings,
when the arms and neck are uncovered:-
80 grains of oxide of zinc to 1 oz. of [-100-]glycerine, with the addition of a little rose-
water. This preparation has the advantage
of not coming off on the coats of one's
partners.
I have said that it is sometimes
necessary to powder the face, and I have
pointed out on what occasions. But it
must be done artistically and with a light
hand-simply enough to give the skin the
delightful surface of the peach.
Nothing is so ugly as a face powdered
like a Pierrot ready to grin. The spectator
should be left in doubt as to whether the
skin is imperceptibly veiled by a thin cloud
of powder, or whether it is the natural
bloom. Then the effect is pretty, especially
under a veil; not but that a natural skin is
preferable if it is fine, smooth, and just the
right colour.
The puff should be dipped into the
powder with precaution, so as not to come [-101-]out too full of powder, which will prevent
a wise use of it. Nor should the puff be wiped on the skin; it should barely touch
the face, and that in a succession of small
quick taps. Care must be taken not to powder
the eyebrows and eyelashes, and to take off
any that may have adhered to the lips.
A touch of powder should be put on the
whole of the face, except the eyes, eyebrows,
and lips; otherwise any part that is not
touched with powder will look ridiculously
dark compared with those that are.
|
[nb. grey numbers in brackets indicate page number, (ie. where new page begins), ed.] |