MY SECRETS OF BEAUTY
A thing of beauty is a joy forever;
its loveliness increases; it will
never pass into nothingness.
--KEATS
[Illustration: MME. LINA CAVALIERI]
MY SECRETS
OF BEAUTY
BY
MME. LINA CAVALIERI
THE MOST FAMOUS LIVING BEAUTY
Including More Than 1,000 Valuable Recipes for
Preparations Used and Recommended by
Mme. Cavalieri Herself
ILLUSTRATED WITH NEW PHOTOGRAPHS OF
MME. CAVALIERI AND OTHER
FAMOUS BEAUTIES
[Illustration]
PUBLISHED BY
THE CIRCULATION SYNDICATE, INC.
NEW YORK CITY
Copyright by Star Company
Copyright, 1914, by Circulation Syndicate, Inc.
DEDICATED TO
EVERY SEEKER AFTER BEAUTY
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE CARE OF THE COMPLEXION 11
II HOW TO MAKE YOUR NECK BEAUTIFUL 40
III THINGS TO DO FOR THE EYES, EARS, AND NOSE 47
IV KEEPING THE HANDS, ARMS AND SHOULDERS YOUNG 61
V MASSAGE AS A BEAUTIFIER 74
VI WHAT TO DO FOR THE FEET 80
VII THE PROPER CARE OF THE MOUTH AND TEETH 89
VIII DUTIES EVERY WOMAN OWES TO HER HAIR 103
IX USEFUL BEAUTY HINTS FOR MEN 125
X THE CARE OF THE NAILS AND FINGERS 129
XI BEAUTY BATHS 143
XII GOOD HEALTH--BEAUTY’S FOUNDATION 154
XIII HOW TO ACQUIRE A PLEASING VOICE 175
XIV HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR FIGURE 181
XV SAFE, EASY WAYS OF REDUCING WEIGHT 196
XVI HOW TO GAIN FLESH 217
XVII EXERCISES THAT HELP MAKE YOU BEAUTIFUL 230
XVIII POSTPONING THE DREAD SIGNS OF OLD AGE 248
XIX HOW TO TRAIN YOUR CHILDREN TO BE BEAUTIFUL 268
XX ADVICE TO BLONDES AND BRUNETTES 271
XXI SURE AIDS TO BEAUTY 282
XXII THE BEAUTY’S PERSONALITY AND HER CLOTHES 301
XXIII ODDS AND ENDS OF BEAUTY CULTURE 310
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Madame Lina Cavalieri _Frontispiece_
FACING
PAGE
Mary Garden 12
Anna Held 62
Pauline Frederick 78
Maxine Elliott 126
Lois Ewell 142
Madame Cavalieri 238
Kitty Gordon 254
FOREWORD
In this volume is presented what we confidently believe to be the most
complete collection of authoritative information on the subject of
personal beauty and the best methods of acquiring and preserving it
ever offered to the public in compact, handy, inexpensive form.
All the newest and best ways of helping a woman to retain her youthful
charm for an indefinite period are clearly described in these pages,
and with them are given more than one thousand tested recipes which
will be found of the greatest assistance in attaining the desired end.
Every statement made in this book is based on long and thorough
practical experience; every recipe has the endorsement of the greatest
living authorities on aids to beauty. Madame Lina Cavalieri herself has
followed the advice which she here generously passes on to other women.
The preparations for which recipes are given are all ones the famous
prima donna herself uses, and to their use she owes the fact that for
so many years she has been acclaimed the most beautiful woman on earth.
The woman who owns this book will be freed forever from dependence upon
unreliable “beauty doctors” and expensive cosmetics of doubtful value.
Here she has all the best advice the world affords to help her make the
most out of the skin, the hair, the eyes, the teeth, the figure and all
the other charms with which Nature has endowed her.
Most of the thousand and more recipes this volume contains can be
easily prepared at small expense right in your own home. And no one
need have the slightest hesitation about using any of them. Not only
are they personally recommended by Madame Cavalieri but they have the
endorsement of all the greatest beauty specialists of both America and
Europe.
Great pains has been taken in their selection and any whose value
seemed doubtful or which might by any possibility have harmful effects
have been rigidly excluded.
The world to-day places a higher valuation upon personal appearance
than ever before. And this is why a book like this, which explains
just how to make the most of your physical self, is certain of a warm
welcome from the public.
THE PUBLISHERS.
MY SECRETS OF BEAUTY
CHAPTER I
THE CARE OF THE COMPLEXION
For every woman--or, for that matter, every man--who wants to have and
retain a good complexion, the one thorough toilet of the day should be
made in the evening. This done, the other toilets throughout the day
may be brief and more or less perfunctory.
The real housecleaning, particularly of the face and neck, should take
place at night. The reason for this is apparent. The skin has been in
contact with the dust and smoke and countless other soiling agents out
of doors. At night, immured in the bedroom and swathed in bed clothes,
there is slight chance of vagrant dust settling on the skin.
Another reason is that if the day’s grime is allowed to remain upon the
face or neck, it becomes imbedded in the pores, and a part of it, at
least, is taken into the circulation, and thus carried through the body.
Wash the face most thoroughly at night. First, with a coat of cold
cream which may be wiped away after leaving it on for a few minutes.
Second, with tepid water and a mild soap. If you use a face cloth, let
it be of soft silk or muslin or cheesecloth, but personally I prefer
just the palms of the hands.
Do not rub the face hard. A hard rubbing loosens the skin, causes the
muscles to sag and makes wrinkles form.
Last of all, give the face its cold cream bath. This is indispensable
to the person who would have a good complexion. A skin food such
as lanolin may be used instead of cold cream for the face bath if
preferred. A cold cream that is excellent for softening and cleansing
the skin is made as follows:
Cocoa butter, 32 grams; spermaceti, 32 grams; oil of sweet almonds, 160
grams; white wax, 16 grams.
A more elaborate and expensive cream that is also a helpful skin food
is compounded as follows:
Lanolin, 2½ ounces; spermaceti, ¼ ounce; oil of sweet almonds, 2
ounces; fresh mutton tallow, 2½ ounces, cocoanut oil, 2 ounces;
tincture of benzoin, ½ dram; Portugal extract, 2 ounces; oil of neroli,
10 drops.
Almond milk is an old-fashioned favorite still in use in some of the
best formulae for complexion emollients and bleaches. A good astringent
cream that both bleaches and softens the skin is this:
Almond milk from 50 crushed almonds; rosewater, 1 pint.
If the mixture is not smooth, it should be strained through a
cheesecloth or soft silk before using. In this form it is softening
and whitening. With the addition of ½ ounce of alum it is strongly
astringent besides.
With the cold cream or the skin food massage away the wrinkles made
by a hard day. With rotary motion, massage away from the corners of
the eyes to the hair line. In the same way, with the tips of the
fingers, iron out the lines which concentration has written between the
eyebrows. With the tips of the middle fingers, massage the lines upward
from the corners of the lips to the nostrils, and try to eradicate the
ugly little lines in front of the ears by rubbing gently upward.
[Illustration: MARY GARDEN The author of “My Secrets of Beauty” selects
the famous prima donna as one of the best examples of the “well
rounded” woman.]
The care of the complexion in Winter differs considerably from that in
Summer. For example, to counteract the coarsening, drying effect of
the Winter winds, I use more than the Summer quantity of cold cream.
Winter, too, is a greater promoter of wrinkles than Summer, because
it dries the skin, and the wrinkled skin is always a dry skin. The
following formula will be found a valuable aid when the skin shows a
tendency to dryness:
Oil of sweet almonds, 60 grams; cocoa butter, 12 grams; white wax, 6
grams; spermaceti, 12 grams.
For a few complexions cocoa butter is an irritant. For these I would
recommend this cream as more soothing:
Oil of sweet almonds, 100 grams; white wax, 20 grams; spermaceti, 100
grams; rosewater, 10 grams.
Whatever cream is used it should be well rubbed into the skin, after
which what remains--all that the pores will not take up--should be
wiped off with a soft cloth. The skin that is much exposed to the cold
air should be especially well fed.
In Winter, more than Summer, the face marred by unsightly red blotches
shows its unlovely bent. First, I should try for this internal remedies
of a cooling, laxative nature. Sour or buttermilk drunk in large
quantities, say six glasses a day, is much used at present to that end.
It has the effect of cooling the blood and is milder than many such
agents.
Another help in clearing a mottled skin is the complexion mask. There
are many mask pastes of various sorts which are admirable for this
purpose. From them I select this one as the most worthy and effective
of all:
Liquid honey, 1 ounce; barley meal, 2 ounces; white of one egg.
After thoroughly cleansing the skin at night, first with cold cream,
then with warm water and a mild soap, apply the paste, spreading
it smoothly and evenly with the fingers upon the cheeks, nose and
forehead. In the morning add ten drops of tincture of benzoin to a
quart of warm water and with this remove whatever paste remains on the
skin.
It is easy to do the complexion irreparable injury in Summer. One too
long fishing jaunt, one automobile dash with the skin ill protected
against the burning sun; a too long dawdling on the toasting sands, and
the evil is done. The once beautiful complexion has become a memory.
In its place is only a dry, withered remnant of what was once a fresh,
soft, rose-like skin.
How to prevent such a tragedy to beauty--for no woman was ever
beautiful without a good complexion, and no woman with a good
complexion can be less than attractive--I shall try to tell you. First
and last and always, vigilance.
First prepare your skin for an outing. It is best never to use hot
water on the skin. But if you insist upon that pernicious habit, at
least do not use it shortly before going out, for the hot water renders
the skin acutely sensitive to any new influence. The wind cuts more
deeply into it. The sun’s rays burn farther. They reach the danger line
to which I have referred, and that really exists.
To prepare the skin for its battle with the elements of a long Summer
day, the face should be cleansed with tepid water and almond meal
instead of soap. The action of the almond meal upon the face is
soothing and cooling. Before going out into the heat dust the face
lightly with rice powder, which will adhere better if a very light coat
of cold cream has first been administered.
This famous old English cream is one of the best for the purpose:
Cocoa butter, 2 ounces; lanolin, 2 ounces; glycerine, 2 ounces;
rosewater, 3 ounces; elderflower water, 1½ ounces.
If sweet cream is available, bathe the face freely with it. If this
doesn’t quickly allay the burning, try this cucumber cream:
Almond oil, 1 ounce; olive oil, 1 ounce; white wax, 1 ounce;
spermaceti, 1 ounce; essence of cucumber, 2 ounces.
If, as may happen in a country resort, this excellent milk of cucumbers
cannot be procured, follow the face bath of sweet cream with one
composed of:
Slices of one cucumber; sweet milk, 1 pint.
If the case is not hopeless but obstinate, this “honey balm” should
relieve the brown hue of tan that follows a deep but not irremediable
skin burning:
Orange flower water, 3 ounces; strained honey, 1 ounce; cold cream, 2
ounces; white almonds (pounded to paste), 1½ ounces.
If the hands have suffered equally with the face this lotion is
effectual in reducing the unlovely redness:
Lemon juice, 1 ounce; strained honey, 1 ounce; cologne, 1 ounce.
Should the unusual exposure result in freckles the application with a
small sponge or bit of cotton, of either of these I recommend:
Powdered borax, ½ dram; sugar, ½ dram; lemon juice, 1 ounce.
Another application that may be used is made of:
Muriate of ammonia, ⅜ dram; lavender water, 1 dram; distilled water, 4
ounces.
If the case is less severe, I recommend for freckles this:
Peroxide of hydrogen, 1 ounce; ammonia, 10 drops.
These may all be more deftly applied with a camel’s-hair brush than in
any other way.
Strawberry water, which was the bath of some of the court beauties of
an extravagant age, may be used in season by American beauties for the
freshening of the facial skin discolored by tan or withered by too
great exposure or by lack of care after that exposure to sun or wind.
It is made thus:
Crushed strawberries, 2 pounds; alcohol (95 per cent.), 1 pint.
Before retiring it is well to give the face three baths, first with
pure cold cream to remove the coarser dust; second, with tepid, if
possible, distilled water--if not, water softened with borax or
benzoin--and, last, a light coat of cold cream.
If the danger line has not been reached, nor even approached, these
applications should restore the complexion to its former delicacy in a
few days. If the case is not hopeless but obstinate, this paste should
relieve the brown hue of tan that follows a deep but not irremediable
skin burning. I have given to this, which I have often used after an
automobile tour, the fitting name, “Honey Balm”:
Orange flower water, 3 ounces; strained honey, 1 ounce; cold cream, 2
ounces; white almonds (pounded to paste), 1½ ounces.
This is one of the cooling creams desirable for use in summer.
Oil of almonds, 1 pint; olive oil, 1 ounce; cucumber juice, 1 pint;
white wax, 1 ounce; spermaceti, 1 ounce; cucumber juice (which has been
boiled, skimmed and strained), 2 ounces.
Excellent for freckles, tan and other discolorations is this:
Sour milk, 1 cupful; horseradish, 1 teaspoonful. Scrape the horseradish
into fine shreds and let stand in the sour milk for six hours before
using. Then wash the face freely in it.
Fresh buttermilk is a cleansing, freshening, tan and freckle removing
face bath to be taken at night.
This, too, is a lotion which has been recommended by many:
Citrine ointment, 1 dram; oil of almonds, 1 dram; spermaceti ointment,
6 drams; attar of roses, 3 drops.
For either freckles or liver spots this has been in many instances
curative:
Solution of ammonia, 1 ounce; bay rum, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 ounce;
powdered borax, 1 ounce; glycerine, ½ ounce; distilled water, 10 drops.
Still another formula for freckles and tan is this, which has a great
popularity:
Ammonium chloride, 1 dram; distilled water, 4 ounces.
Some faces, otherwise pretty, are disfigured by a greasy or oily
skin in the summer. The need is met by this lotion, which is at once
cleansing, cooling and drying. It should be used as a face bath twice
or oftener a day, according to need:
Rosewater, 5½ ounces; alcohol, ½ ounce; boric acid, ½ dram.
After using any tan or freckle lotion containing acid, cool the skin by
massage with a pure cold cream.
For sunburn I would suggest, as an old and tried remedy:
Equal parts of oxide of zinc ointment and cosmoline.
Cooling for the sunburned surfaces is rosewater or a solution of
bicarbonate of soda. Apply them with a sponge or bit of cotton, using
them repeatedly until the burning sensation disappears.
For the removal of freckles these have been recommended after much use:
A solution of powdered niter, or a solution of bicarbonate of soda.
These should be applied to the face night and morning.
Once after motoring on the Italian Riviera, I saw some most unwelcome
spots on my nose--light, yellow, obtrusive--resembling the dots with
which a turkey egg is flecked. A chauffeuse sent me this prescription,
which I have since used many times, always successfully:
Lactic acid, 4 ounces; glycerine, 1 ounce; rosewater, ½ ounce.
This also is as efficacious as it is simple:
Glycerine, 1 ounce; juice of ½ lemon.
For the excessive and odorous perspiration that troubles many in
summer, I recommend this formula for a dusting powder. Its use should
be preceded by a sponge bath of the affected portions. Afterward apply
the powder with a soft cloth or powder puff:
Powdered alum, ½ ounce; powdered boric acid, ½ ounce; oil of
eucalyptus, 20 drops; subnitrate of bismuth, 1 ounce; oil of verbena or
orange, 5 drops.
For a refreshing bath in mid-summer this lotion, either sprinkled
freely into the bath or splashed upon the body by handfuls immediately
after leaving the bath, is my choice among a score of such recipes:
Strong vinegar, 200 grams; tincture of benzoin, 200 grams; tincture of
red roses, 200 grams.
My favorite cold cream is this, which I have prepared under my eye:
Lanoline, 10 grams; oil of almonds, 100 grams; rosewater, 100 grams;
white wax, 5 grams; spermaceti, 5 grams; oil of rose geranium, 5 grams.
Melt the lanoline and white wax and spermaceti. Add the oil of almonds.
Warm again and add the rosewater, little by little, stirring all the
time.
This is my favorite face powder:
Best talcum powder, ½ pound; boracic acid, ½ dram; calcine magnesia, 1
dram; powdered Florentine orris root, 1-5 ounce.
This skin lotion I have used in the summer with much benefit to my
complexion. I have found it cooling and healing:
Bitter almond water, 6 ounces; orange flower water, 4 ounces;
glycerine, 2 ounces; boracic acid, 1 dram.
This is excellent for sunburn:
Sweet milk, 1 teacupful; juice of 1 lemon. Squeeze the juice of the
lemon into the milk and let it stand in a cool place until it curdles.
On retiring apply the mixture to the face with a silk sponge or a bit
of cotton.
A face bath every night of buttermilk is helpful. Like the preceding it
should be washed off with tepid water after it has been on the face for
a half hour. If the sunburn is deep and obstinate better try one of the
milk baths several times a day.
Another good treatment for sunburn is the application of a stiff paste
made of Fuller’s earth and rosewater.
This is a cooling face lotion, preventive and cure as well of sunburned
skin:
Orange flower water, 2 ounces; rosewater, 2 ounces; tincture of
benzoin, ½ ounce; borax, 1¼ drams.
For freckles this simple preparation is one of the best I have ever
known.
Horseradish root, 1 ounce; borax (powdered), 2 drams; hot water, 1 pint.
This more complex mixture is effective for blackheads and tan as well
as freckles:
Ammonia water, 1 ounce; bay rum, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 ounce; powdered
borax, 1 ounce; glycerine, ½ ounce; distilled water, 10 ounces.
For the cornerstone of the care of my complexion I depend upon the body
bath. We who would be beautiful get many hints from our physician, who
is himself not at all beautiful, but who, if we obey him, can make us
so. He talks about “local treatment” and “general treatment,” and he
tells you that in most cases general treatment is far more thorough
than local.
That is the reason that I depend upon the body bath more than anything
else for my care of the complexion. It is general treatment, while
massage and the application of lotions and creams are local treatment.
Both are needful, but the daily body bath is indispensable.
To make the bath tonic stimulant and agreeable I have made many
experiments. The most successful I have found to be this:
To a tub half full of water add one pound of table salt and one pint of
violet ammonia.
The bath should be prepared ten minutes before one enters it, for the
salt should be thoroughly dissolved and the ammonia should have been
thoroughly mixed with the bath.
This I vary by the use of one pound of sea salt and half a pint of
aromatic vinegar.
These preparations being of an astringent nature should not be used
every day. Three times a week are enough for their tonic effect. For a
soothing bath I leave off the salt and pour into the tub:
One ounce of tincture of benzoin and two bath pastilles, scented to
your taste, but never colored.
This is the way I take it. As soon as I rise in the morning I plunge
into my tepid bath. The temperature I take myself, to be sure that my
maid has made no mistake. When the thermometer which I thrust into the
water registers about 98 degrees Fahrenheit I am satisfied. If higher,
it is too warm. If lower, it is too cold.
I permit myself just twenty minutes in the tub. More than that is
weakening. While in the tub I play about as joyfully as a young
porpoise. I plunge and flounder and toss up a shower of water with my
hands; for to lie lazily in a tub of water is to invite rheumatism and
neuralgia. I rub upon the brush quantities of the purest scented soap I
can get. I try first this, then that soap. I am always trying to find
something I like better than the last. I scrub my body vigorously--as
vigorously as the women of the Loire pound their clothes upon the
stones on the river.
I rise, streaming with rills of soapy water, and take a cold shower
bath upon my shoulders. Perhaps I use the hose attached to the bath.
Perhaps I catch the water as it flows from the cold faucet in my hands
and throw it over my shoulders. Perhaps my maid dips a sponge in the
cold water and dabs the upper part of my body quickly with it. Then out
of the tub I spring upon my bath mat and give to myself, or my maid
gives me, a quick rub with eau de cologne. Thus the three purposes
of my bath are fulfilled. The warm water is cleansing. No one but
an Englishman believes that a cold tub cleanses the body. It merely
galvanizes it. To be clean we must use warm or hot water, and hot water
weakens the bather.
From the tepid water I am clean. It has left the pores open as so
many hungry mouths. The dash of cold water closes them. It shocks and
stimulates the skin, making the blood, which has rushed to the centers
of the body, bound back again to the surface. The eau de cologne rubbed
slowly opens the sealed pores again. Then comes the fourth and final
stage of my bath. It is the exercise.
The exercise may be running about my bedroom a dozen times, taking the
sun bath. The body is too much clothed. This is the only time that it
ever drinks in the sunlight. To take the sun bath at any other time
would be dangerous; but immediately after the tub it is beneficial. If
the day be a cloudy one I take, instead of the sun bath, my breathing
exercises.
Twenty-five times I raise my arms slowly in front of me until they
are stretched straight and high over my head. Then slowly I drop them
again heavily, as though my hands were of lead, at my sides. This at a
distance of about three feet from the open window. I am wrapped in a
woolen bathrobe. Always a woolen bathrobe.
Thus for the general treatment. Now for the local. I sit in my dressing
chair, which has a back reaching halfway to my shoulders. If the back
were higher it would prevent a free movement of my body when I brush my
hair or massage my face.
While I have been in the tub I have not washed my face. It is now to
have its first bath. The bath is still not a liquid one. It is of cold
cream. I give you here one of my favorite recipes:
Rosewater, 500 grams; oil of sweet almonds, 500 grams; white beeswax,
20 grams; spermaceti, 20 grams; oil of rose, 3 grams.
All these articles should be absolutely pure. If you do not trust your
druggist, send them to a chemist to be analyzed. It is expensive, but
it never pays to economize in the complexion. Let me tell you how to
prepare the cold cream:
Place the beeswax and the spermaceti in a steamer. The steamer should
not be placed upon the stove, for the fire would be too harsh for it
and would taint the cream with its odors. Place the steamer, instead,
in a pan of hot water and let the mixture be gently heated. With a
long-handled wooden spoon stir in slowly the oil of sweet almonds. Drop
the rosewater, little by little, into the mixture and stir again. When
it is thoroughly mixed, pour it into a stone jar or a china vessel, and
when it has cooled add three drops of oil of rose. If you use the oil
of rose before the mixture has cooled, the perfume will evaporate.
You will have when you have done this an ounce less than a pound, or
fifteen ounces, of absolutely pure cold cream, which will last for many
months if not wasted.
I massage my face sitting before the mirror of my dressing table.
This, I have found, is far better than the lazy way of massaging it
while in a reclining position. I want light for massage. I want a
stream of it over my shoulder, my left shoulder preferably, falling
upon the mirror and showing me any line that I might have acquired
since the morning before. Sitting there before the mirror I give my
face vigorous inspection. I mercilessly scrutinize it. Wherever there
is the slightest tracery upon the smooth surface, upon that spot I
concentrate. I massage my face for ten minutes, always keeping in mind
the purpose of the massage.
That is, that wrinkles are caused by defective circulation in one spot,
and that the way to remove them is to increase the circulation in that
spot. Sending a fresh supply of blood to the sunken region will tend to
fill out and plump it.
Therefore, I concentrate on the region from the corners of the lips to
the nostrils, that region where the ugly diagonal lines come and hint
of ill temper or illness or old age; on the space between the eyebrows
where the lines of worry form; on the area about the outer corners of
the eyes, an area corrugated by too much laughter; all these and the
rest of the face I massage by quick, light pats of the cushions of the
ends of the fingers--light, but firm.
Always with a motion round and round. A lengthwise motion causes the
muscles to sag and pulls the skin loose from the muscles. It is very
bad. After the rotary movement I go over the face with quick, light,
but stinging slaps. With a square of thin, soft linen I remove any
surplus of grease that has not been absorbed in the pores.
For the skin that becomes overheated and looks feverish after massage,
this cooling, soothing lotion may be used:
Extract of violet, 350 grams; extract of rose, 35 grams; tincture of
orris, 80 grams.
Dashed upon the face after the morning massage, it is deliciously
cooling and refreshing. If you do not care for the liquid face bath,
fluffing daintily over the face a powder puff dipped in rice powder is
sufficient.
To the window I go, hand mirror in hand, for a further inspection
before applying the rice powder. I see, perhaps, acne, a bit of what
you in this country call “blackhead,” at the side of my nose. I hasten
to remove it. How? Not by pressing it out. No, no. That leaves an ugly
hole in the skin. It is a mutilation of the face. No; I search for a
match or a wooden toothpick. Then I take from my toilet table one of
two preparations--each is good:
Rose water, ½ wineglass; peroxide of hydrogen, ½ wineglass. Shake well
in a glass. Dip the match into the mixture and press the dampened end
upon the blackhead. It does not remove it, but cleanses its color to
white.
Or I use this, which I think is milder:
Rosewater, 2-3 wineglass; ammonia, 1-3 wineglass. Shake well together
in a tumbler. Dip the end of the toothpick or match in it and use as
other preparation. Like the other this cleanses without removing the
acne.
If my plans for the day include a railway journey or an automobile
spin, I prepare my complexion for the ordeal. Before going out I
massage the face again with cold cream and dust it once more with rice
powder. This fortifies the face for the whirlwind of smoke or dust it
encounters. When I return, to thoroughly cleanse the face, I steam it.
Into my stationary wash bowl I pour two quarts of boiling water and
one ounce of tincture of benzoin. I bend forward and place my face as
close to this as possible. I wrap about my head a towel and swathe
the towel--a big, Turkish one--about my shoulders and the edge of the
bowl, so that no steam can escape. So I remain until I feel that my
face drips with perspiration and until I am nearly suffocated by steam.
Then, sitting up straight, I dab one of the linen squares about my face
and cool it by a hand bath of eau de cologne.
Or, if the journey has been taken in summer, and I am tanned or
freckled in consequence, I apply this:
One wineglass full of rosewater; fifteen drops peroxide of hydrogen.
I bathe the face with this preparation and leave it on the skin for
fifteen minutes, then remove it by massaging the face with the cold
cream for which I have given a prescription, or with rosewater. The
peroxide is drastic, and should only be used in emergencies.
And now the day is passed and I am ready to retire. Again I think of my
complexion. For the first time that day I really wash my face.
First, it has its bath of soap and water. I use plenty of soap, but
make a lather of it in the bowl, instead of placing it directly on my
face. Plunging my hands into the soapy water, I bathe my face with the
palms of my hands. Never do I use anything else. A sponge or a cloth is
too harsh. There is nothing softer than the palms of a woman’s hands.
They are softer than silk, and because they are the softest objects I
know I bathe the delicate skin of the face with them. After the warm
water face bath I rinse the bowl and the face with cool, not cold,
water. Cold water is too severe.
Then, again, the ten minutes of massage, with the cold cream. Then to
bed. I feel that I have done for my complexion the duty I owe it. I owe
it but one more, to sleep for eight hours in a room where the windows
are as wide open as possible, my bed being out of the draught and
myself well covered with blankets, for to be cold is to commit a crime
against the complexion.
One other precaution I may take if the morning inspection has revealed
that there are pimples on the face. It is a remedy, most simple, but
efficacious.
In the morning bath a handful of starch. Before retiring a paste spread
over the face and made thus:
One tumbler half full of water. The remainder filled with starch. Stir
to a thick paste.
Every woman who gives her complexion the right care has to spend many
hours at her dressing table. This should be low, so that you can sit
before it with comfort. It should be wide, and long, and flat, so that
it may hold all of those accessories of the toilet which a woman wants
within reach as she sits before her mirror.
It should have a large mirror, and a good one, a just mirror, but not a
merciful one, that will reveal every blemish, but will not exaggerate
it. The faults of our faces trouble us enough without being exaggerated
by our mirrors. Money spent for a good mirror will yield you a good
return in honestly showing you how you look. If you know exactly how
you look, you can build upon that foundation of knowledge a new and
better appearance.
Being sure that your mirror is reliable place it where it will have
the best light in the room. This should be opposite, if possible, but
certainly near to the window. The best light for writing is the best
light for dressing. The light should fall over the left shoulder.
Arrange your electric lights, or candles, or lamps, or gas jets,
whatever are your lighting facilities, so that the light will fall in
that direction. Don’t dress by a poor light any more than you would
read or write by a poor light.
The mirror should be as large as possible and should be adjustable.
Attached to supports on the table it should be easily swung back and
forth, according to the angle of view you wish to get upon yourself.
Even if the table be of the plainest sort, of home manufacture, the
table and mirror frame should be white. The effect of daintiness and
cleanliness is given by a white table and mirror frame. Spots and
stains can be more easily removed from it. Some young women have a
fancy for draping their dressing tables in muslin or silk tied back
with ribbons, or in silk finished by tassels of the same shade, each
to match the curtains at the windows and the draperies of the bed.
Personally I prefer the white painted or enameled dressing table to any
other. Draperies are elegant, but besides their elegance I always see
their other significance--that of dust traps. In furnishing rooms I
try to put the money into rich woods and rugs, and shun draperies.
If the owner’s means permit it a duplex or triple mirror is better than
a single one. I would allow the young woman at her toilet literally to
see herself as others see her. She would study her profile and note
whether her cheeks were growing too plump or too thin. She could see
whether the line of her coiffure is as becoming to the sides as in
front. She could study her shoulders and learn whether they are too
lean and need fattening, or too fat and require thinning. Having once
dressed before a duplex or triple mirror you will set about getting one.
But if yours is a good single mirror you can still make your toilet
very satisfactorily with the aid of a hand mirror. This will in a
little longer time enable you to scrutinize your profile and back
successively, instead of seeing all three views of your head at once.
On most dressing tables we see a brush and comb. This is the worst
possible place for them. Perhaps they are there merely for ornament,
to complete a handsome ivory, or silver, or gold set and give the
spectator a sense of the completeness of the table furnishings. But the
comb and brush that are in use should be carefully kept in a drawer of
the dressing table or in a toilet closet, or in one of the medicine
chests with which bathrooms are now supplied. After using them, and
before putting them away, be sure to cleanse them. If you neglect this
your combing and brushing might almost as well not have been done, for
the dust in your hair has merely been shifted to your comb and brush,
and unless removed by cleansing, will be merely transferred again to
the hair.
A brush can be cleaned by rubbing it briskly upon a towel. A comb
can be wiped thus or with a piece of tissue paper. But they should
be dipped every fortnight at least in soapy water, into which a
teaspoonful of ammonia has been sprinkled.
The toilet table should be furnished also with a tray or box containing
the manicure utensils. The orange wood stick should be ready for
cleansing the nails and pushing back the skin that is anxious to
encroach upon the nails. In a drawer there should be a package of
medicated cotton. In a flask on the toilet table there should be a
little peroxide of hydrogen. This not to “touch up the hair,” but to
serve two worthier purposes. The orange wood stick wrapped round with a
bit of the cotton and dipped into the peroxide--or better, the peroxide
poured upon it--will quickly cleanse the end of the nail that has been
darkened by dust. The peroxide is also valuable for a gargle, or to
give the mouth one of the frequently necessary baths.
In one of the little silver or ivory or enameled boxes, of which a
toilet table cannot have too many, there should be a little powdered
pumice stone. When the daily scrutiny reveals dark stains upon or
between the teeth, apply this pumice stone by dipping an orange wood
stick or a hard round toothpick into it and gently rubbing with them
the stained surface. Never use a toothpick for this purpose, for this
would scratch the tooth and erode the enamel.
One of the toilet bottles on my dressing table I always keep filled
with rosewater. This is soothing when the face is fevered, and is
always grateful and healing to the skin. In another bottle I keep a
strong toilet vinegar to inhale or to sprinkle about my neck to revive
me when I am fatigued. This vinegar beauties of the time of Louis XV
used to brighten their complexions by sprinkling it upon their faces
when they were fatigued or indisposed. It is composed of:
Honey, 6 ounces; vinegar made of white wine, 1 quart; isinglass, 3
drams; nutmeg, ½ ounce; shredded red sandalwood, 1 dram. Place all
these in a bain marie and allow the mixture to simmer, but not boil,
for a half-hour. Cool, and strain through silk or cheesecloth. It is
well to use this lotion after giving the face a bath of cream or of
warm water. It is an excellent preparation for an evening toilet, but
is too strong to leave on the skin over night.
This also is agreeable:
Rosewater, 1 quart; tincture of opopanax, 20 grams; tincture of
benzoin, 20 grams; tincture of myrrh, 20 grams; essence of lemon, 8
grams.
In one of the little boxes I keep also these pastilles to freshen the
mouth that has grown feverish:
Pulverized licorice, 7 drams; vanilla sugar, 3 drams; gum arabic, 5
drams.
This, if there be a tendency to sores in the membranes of the mouth,
will allay them and purify the mouth:
Oxide of zinc, 60 grains; spermaceti ointment, 1 ounce; attar of rose,
2 drops.
A powder box or jar should always be kept tightly closed to keep out
intruding dust that might easily slip beneath a carelessly placed lid.
This powder, recommended by the famous Dr. Vaucaire, is admirable:
Rice flour, 3 ounces; rice starch, 3 ounces; carbonate of magnesia, 1½
ounces; powdered boric acid, ¼ ounce; orris root, ½ ounce; essence of
bergamot, 15 drops; essence of citron, 8 drops.
No toilet table is complete without a nasal atomizer to be used night
and morning, if you desire, but certainly whenever a cold approaches or
is in progress. This should be filled with strong salt water or borax
water in the proportions of:
Water, 2 ounces; borax, ½ ounce.
Your dressing table should be supplied with the creams and other
remedies which personal experience has taught you are best suited for
your skin. One of my favorite face creams was the invention of the
famous Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. It is made like this:
Oil of rosemary, ½ ounce; oil of lavender, 2 drams; oil of petit grain,
30 drops; tincture of tolu, 4 drams; orange flower water, ½ pint;
rectified spirits of wine, ½ pint.
Mme. Sarah Bernhardt long used this skin tonic. It was adapted to
that wonderfully preserved woman’s naturally moist and oily skin. For
a skin that is dry and inclined to eruptive blemishes it might prove
irritating. It was composed of:
Boiling water, 1 quart; sea salt, 5 ounces; alcohol, ½ pint; spirits of
camphor, 2 ounces; spirits of ammonia, 2 ounces.
This, used by the beauties of the deposed Sultan’s harem, gave a
complexion said to be the most beautiful in Europe:
Sweet almond oil, 4 ounces; white wax, 320 grains; spermaceti, 320
grains; powdered benzoin, 100 grains; tincture of ambergris, 60 grains;
pulverized rice, 320 grains.
Adelina Patti, whose complexion has survived her voice, was long
presumed, because of someone’s misquotation of her words, to never use
soap. The truth is, as I very well know, that she used a mild soap
every night to wash her face before retiring. She insists that her face
could not be really clean without it. During the day she cleanses it
from dust by the use of any pure cold cream that is available.
Mrs. Langtry, too, is an advocate of soap for the complexion. A pure,
simple soap she uses at least once a day, sometimes oftener.
Turkish women believe in the free use of soap. It was a princess, wife
of the physician of the present Sultan, who gave me this recipe for a
soap that will cleanse and soften and whiten the skin. The women of the
harem regard it as the first aid to a beautiful complexion:
Shave very fine one pound of white olive (Castile) soap. Place in a
porcelain kettle, covering it with cold water. When the soap has been
softened by the heat and mixed with the water stir into it one-half
pound of oatmeal. Mix this well. When thoroughly blended take it off
the stove and when the mixture has cooled, form with the hands soap
balls as large as a walnut. Or the soap can be used warm in its liquid
state.
This face lotion is a favorite of the harem:
Juice of 3 lemons; glycerine, 50 grams; cologne water, 10 grams.
Egyptian women believe that the face should be bathed three times a day
with hot water. The Chinese women, singularly, produce the same effect
of a smooth skin by the use of cold face baths. The American habit of
cleansing the face simply by cold cream had its origin in India, where
women cleanse the face with vegetable oils.
A princess of the Khedive’s court in Egypt told me that hot water
ablutions, followed by an application of this liquid, would keep any
skin fair and smooth. Certainly the clear brown of her complexion was a
recommendation of the habit. The recipe is this:
Rose water, 100 grams; tincture of benzoin, 10 grams.
The women of China, Turkey and Egypt have faith in the efficacy of the
juice of the beet. While in all those countries it is used as a paint
many of the women have told me that they bathe their faces in it for
the tonic effect of what they term the blood of the beet. They then
remove the stain with tepid water.
Dust is one of the worst enemies of beauty. It settles in a dim, dingy
veil upon the face, causing it to look ill kept, in a word, dirty.
To keep the face cleansed from dust keep always a bottle of olive oil
and a companion bottle of witch hazel on your dressing table or toilet
shelf.
Before going out pass a bit of cotton or a piece of soft linen that
has been moistened in the oil over the face. Protect the face further
by dusting it with rice powder.
Returning from out of doors remove the powder and dust by washing the
face with yet more olive oil applied in the same way. The danger of the
olive oil turning the skin yellow--for that fear exists in many minds
influenced by the adage “Yellow makes yellow”--can be removed by adding
to two ounces of olive oil, one half ounce of almond oil and twenty
drops of tincture of benzoin. Before retiring the face should have
another of these oil baths, unless you prefer to use the cold cream
which is more unwieldy and so less quickly cleanses.
Strong salt water or a mixture of bicarbonate of soda in the
proportions of a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda to a glassful of
water, are admirable throat cleansers.
To keep the nails guiltless of the gray or black rim that so offends
the sight, it is not enough to wrap cotton about the point of an orange
stick and remove the accumulated dust. The hands must be washed often,
even though not soiled, to remove the dust from beneath the nails. And
if the nails have become ragged beneath the edge, which causes the
dust to thickly and obstinately collect there, thrust them into soap
jelly into which you have poured a half dozen drops of ammonia, or into
a cake of soap well softened by lying in the water and allow this to
remain under the nails for a few minutes to do the work of cleansing.
Perhaps the skin of your face is very pale, as though every drop of
blood had been drained from it, and the fact that your stock of vigor
is below par is shown by the dry texture and loose condition of your
skin.
Refresh it by giving it a cologne bath. Pour a few drops of cologne
over a piece of gauze and pat the face lightly with it. This will coax
the blood quickly to the surface. Or soak a square piece of flannel in
olive oil and place it over the face. The skin absorbs this oil, and
in a short time looks much fresher.
Should you, despite your tired, bloodless aspect, have to be seen in
public, bathe the face in tepid water, using handfuls of almond meal,
wet with a few drops of benzoin instead of soap. Then dash cold water
upon the face. This soon calls back the color that has forsaken the
visage.
Many Englishwomen follow the sensible practice of “giving the face a
drink.” For proof of the efficacy of this carry to your bathroom a
drooping, dying plant. Turn upon it with the rubber spray a shower of
cool water. Instantly the fainting plant revives.
Just as grateful as was this plant for its needed draught is the skin
that is parched, in the first stage of the dreaded, withering process,
for its “drink.” The English woman closes her eyes, holds her breath
and thrusts her face deep into a bowl of cool water. She keeps it thus
submerged as long as she is able. Then, raising her head, she breathes
deeply and again thrusts her face into the water. She repeats this
face drink five or six times, keeping her face in the water as long
as her suspended breath will permit. Wiping the moisture off with a
soft cloth, she is amazed to see the response of her complexion to the
treatment. Her skin seems transformed from a brownish white parchment,
crossed and criss-crossed by the faint etchings that portend wrinkles,
to a smooth pink and white silken surface.
Your skin should be one of the livest things in your entire makeup, yet
it is that part of you which oftenest looks lifeless. A “dead” skin, as
specialists know it, is pale and withered looking. It is seamed with
fine lines and looks absolutely devoid of moisture.
There are many methods of remedying this regrettable appearance, which
adds many years to a woman’s apparent age, and which must, by some
means, be avoided.
The fundamental remedy is a change of diet. A father’s advice in a
recent play, “Eat two apples and drink a glass of water before going
to bed” was laughed at as old-fashioned, yet there is no better beauty
rule, having the skin in mind. It gives nature prompt and powerful aid
in cleansing the interior of our bodies, and without this unclogged
interior there can be no clear, live skin. A mottled, pimpled skin is
an infallible sign of an unclean interior.
But the apples eaten at night are not enough. Drink lemon juice
slightly diluted with water in the morning. The juice of an entire
lemon pressed into the glass and diluted with the same quantity of
water will cleanse the stomach and aid in clearing the skin.
A remedy for a dead looking mottled skin is a teaspoonful of grape
juice with the same quantity of olive oil night and morning.
A French remedy for a faded skin is to eat a small plateful of water
cress with salt every day. The beauties of the harems of Constantinople
rely upon any green salad eaten at breakfast with much salt for the
same purpose.
Sometimes these internal remedies must be supplemented by external
aids. One of the best is to moisten coarse cornmeal with milk and,
filling the hands with it, scrub the face gently yet with vigor. The
friction opens the pores and relieves the muddy looking skin of the
poison which has choked them.
A woman whose skin at fifty is as fresh as a girl’s told me that she
would as lief retire without saying her prayers as without ironing her
face with ice. This causes the blood to flow to the surface, refreshing
and feeding the skin.
Cold cream is needful for most complexions but not for every one. A
good test of your needs is to pat cold cream into the skin and note
whether it quickly absorbs it. If so the skin is hungry and requires
daily feeding.
Cocoanut oil, if secured in its purest state is an admirable skin food.
Olive oil feeds the skin well but there is a deep rooted objection to
its too frequent use because it is charged with making the skin yellow.
The owner of one of the best complexions I know, a lovely French woman,
feeds her skin by nightly baths of the following:
Olive oil, 3 ounces; almond oil, ½ ounce; benzoin, ½ ounce.
In this case the olive oil’s tendency to make the skin yellow, if such
a tendency lies in this greatly remedial oil, is neutralized by the
presence of the benzoin, which is a whitener. The benzoin has still
another office useful to those whose skins have become flabby. It is an
astringent drawing the relaxed skin up into the desired tightness.
Primarily the cause of most facial blemishes is indigestion. To remove
an effect, one should always try first to remove the cause. Most women
have some form of indigestion, and it is due to one or both of two bad
habits. One is eating harmful things. The other is not drinking enough
water.
Here are ten things I beg women never to eat: Sausages, dried fish,
pies, bonbons, puddings, ice cream, beef, except when well roasted,
pork, especially ham, oysters, unless one is absolutely certain of
their freshness, hot bread, as usually made in America. I am opposed
to the practice of drinking hot water. Instead of being an aid to
digestion, it is a hindrance. Granted after a heavy dinner, when the
sense of overfulness oppresses us, a cup of hot water, slowly sipped,
aids digestion. But this should be used only in emergencies. The
regular habit of drinking a great deal of hot water is harmful, for
when the stomach is flooded with it the gastric juices go on strike.
Finding the intruders there they refuse to do their work and retire.
And the hot water is left to do the work, ineffectively and alone. So
the hot-water habit seems to me a distinctly bad one.
Light foods, as chicken, fresh fish, beans, spinach and beets,
containing iron, and stewed fruit, slowly eaten and well masticated,
are excellent for the complexion.
Three quarts of water a day should be drunk to keep one well, which
state a good complexion always follows. Drink three tumblerfuls on
rising, and while you are about your morning toilet. Sip, do not gulp,
it. If you are not thirsty, drink it anyway. That morning bath for the
stomach is imperative. At each meal it is permissible to drink one
glass of water, slowly sipping it.
For the work of cleansing the stomach I should advise a half
teaspoonful of soda taken in a wine glass of water every morning. If
the disorder is very pronounced I should repeat the dose after each
meal for three or four days. Bicarbonate of soda, like other good
things, may become a bad thing if used in excess. I am grateful to the
Paris pharmacist who gave me this warning.
Pulverized charcoal is also an excellent corrective for the stomach
which is tired or rebellious. One teaspoonful every morning and one
after each meal is as good as a broom in the stomach.
Large, red splotches appear upon the face sometimes, seeming to try to
burn their way out. This literally they are trying to do. An excess of
uric acid causes this condition, and it is best to consult a physician
about a cure, for it is the parent of rheumatism. If a consultation is
not convenient, then diet, diet, diet.
Eat no more fruit in the morning. Eat it only at noon and night. Let
the breakfast be most simple, of some coarse cereal, or crusts of
coarse bread; and avoid rare meats, especially beef.
But a beauty complains that there are spots on her face and yet she
must shine at a ball to-morrow. There is no time for diet, for
consulting a physician, for any of the thorough roads by which one
arrives at the goal of a good complexion. What she does must be quickly
done.
Very well, then. A pimple mars the curve of her lovely chin. What shall
be done? Use acetone.
Acetone is a colorless, ethereal liquid. It has been used chiefly to
dissolve fat and resins. It is effective for asthma. Under the form of
a fifty per cent. solution, with two per cent. of iodide of potassium,
it has been much used in hay fever and similar irritable conditions of
the respiratory tract.
Into a one-ounce bottle of acetone dip the wooden end of a match and
press it upon the pimple. Then with a silk sponge or bit of absorbent
cotton saturated with alcohol press the spot to disinfect it and
neutralize the acetone.
Another of the hasty remedies which I would recommend is:
White zinc, 1 ounce; a pure cold cream, 1 ounce. Mix these thoroughly
together and apply with a bit of cotton cloth to the pimple.
For blackheads, I have successfully used an entire face bath of a four
per cent. solution of borax, wiping it off soon after and giving it a
second bath of rosewater to soften the skin.
An ointment prescribed by a great French physician, whose specialty was
treatment of the skin, is made up of the following ingredients:
Ergotine, 3 grams; oxide of zinc, 7 grams; vaseline, 30 grams.
Another that is quickly efficacious is:
Precipitate of sulphur, 1 dram; tincture of camphor, 1 dram; glycerine,
1 dram; rosewater, 4 ounces.
A third, that is more agreeable in its action than the last, consists
of:
Bicarbonate of soda, 36 grains; distilled water, 8 ounces; essence of
roses, 6 drops.
I have seen pimples removed by a half dozen applications of bicarbonate
of soda, dampened slightly, and placed with the tip of the finger upon
the irritated surface.
Another simple remedy for splotches or pimples is this:
Bicarbonate of soda, 36 grains; glycerine, 1 dram; spermaceti ointment,
1 ounce.
This should be applied with absorbent cotton, allowed to remain on the
affected part for a quarter of an hour, and removed.
For the blotched condition of the skin, which is caused by sun in
summer and wind in winter, if the skin be delicate, I recommend this:
Borax, ½ dram; glycerine, 1 ounce; elder flower water, 7 ounces.
Steaming is often recommended for cleansing the face. I do not use
it because I think its tendency is to make the skin too delicate, to
detach it from the muscles and to cause premature wrinkles.
I am often asked how to remove moles. I answer, “Do not remove them. In
the time of Marie Antoinette they were regarded as marks of beauty. Let
them alone.” But if anyone insists, I say then go to a physician and be
by him guided. Probably he will remove them by electricity, but I am
afraid--afraid.
Indigestion is the great foe to the complexion within. The foe to be
feared without is the careless use of powders. Powder judiciously used,
especially at night, is an aid to beauty. Its use in the evening is an
indication of refinement. And a dainty powder fluffed upon the face
before going out, especially if cold cream has first been applied, is
an excellent protection from the cold or heat or from a high wind. But
it is absolutely necessary that the powder be pure. Rice powder is
harmless to the skin. It protects the complexion as would a fine veil.
And it removes the disagreeable “shine” upon the skin that makes the
best-groomed woman look vulgar at night.
This powder I have found most valuable:
Rice flour, 6 ounces; rice starch, 6 ounces; carbonate of magnesia, 3
ounces; boric acid, 1½ ounces; powdered orris root, 1½ drams; essence
of bergamot, 10 drops; essence of citron, 15 drops.
CHAPTER II
HOW TO MAKE YOUR NECK BEAUTIFUL
It is a most decided advantage to be born with a beautiful neck, as it
is to be born with beautiful features, a beautiful figure or beautiful
hair. It is one of the compensations of being overplump that the
woman of too ample lines has a beautiful throat and arms. While the
thin woman, whose features are well defined, not being blanketed by
superfluous layers of flesh, and whose figure is more elegant because
not swathed by adipose tissue, has, as a rule, a scrawny neck and
whip-like arms.
The neck to be beautiful must be neither too long nor too short, too
fat nor too lean. It must be shapely; that is, evenly developed. The
skin must be soft and white.
The length of the neck is one of the fixed quantities of nature. One
cannot change it, but we can learn the lesson of illusion from the
stage, and try to make it seem longer or shorter than it is. The
best aid to this is the poise of the head. The woman whose chin is
carried well up, whose poise of the head is habitually high, gives the
impression that her neck is at least an inch longer than it is. Also
the manner of the trimming of her high-neck gown and the line at which
the low-cut gown is finished determine whether the neck looks longer
than it is or shorter.
If the neck is short the collar should be of solid colors or be trimmed
with perpendicular lines. The low-necked gown should be cut lower than
that of the woman with the long neck, for the neck is more dependent
upon its surroundings for its effect than is any other part of the
body. If there is a wide sweep of the shoulders the long line from the
point of the shoulder to the chin will lend itself to the neck and make
the neck seem longer than it would if the gown were merely one of the
collarless sort with a line of cloth defining where the neck actually
begins.
If the neck is long the problem is an easier one, especially at times
when much dressing for the neck is in vogue. Even an ostrich’s neck
could be so wrapped about with laces, with collars and ties of a
contrasting color which would cut the apparent length, that it would
be far less conspicuous than unadorned. I should say it could be
made to look a foot shorter. The human neck can be dressed to make a
proportionate change of appearance. The extremely low décolletage is
less becoming to the woman with the long neck. If she must adopt it, or
thinks she must, she should wear her jewels or a band of ribbon about
her neck to make her neck seem shorter. The drooping Madonna poise of
the head may be becomingly affected by the woman with the long neck,
especially when sitting for her photographs.
The neck, I have before said, must be neither too fat nor too lean.
To correct either too much or too little flesh upon the neck we must
summon the aid of that lieutenant to beauty, massage. On the beautiful
neck the flesh is evenly distributed. The neck should be, save for the
two parallel lines about an inch apart which encircle the neck and are
seen on the necks even of babes, perfectly smooth. If the flesh be
uneven, persistent, skillful and gentle massage should redistribute the
disproportionate bulk of flesh.
There is always a possibility that the neck will be flat in front
and display thick layers of fat at the sides and back. This can be
corrected by patient and careful massage. The front of the neck should
be made plumper by massage. Olive oil or a pure cold cream should be
freely rubbed into the skin by the first three fingers of each hand,
massaging first on the right side of the neck with the right hand, then
on the left with the left hand, then with both hands together. The
motion should be a rotary one, always the best movement for rebuilding
tissue because it induces circulation, which feeds the starved,
atrophied portions.
To reduce the bulk of the back and side of the neck a reducing lotion
should be applied by long, sweeping, downward strokes, the effect of
which strokes is to melt the flesh downward into the larger masses of
flesh on the shoulders. A lotion I have known to be used with success
for the melting away of too ponderous flesh about the neck is this:
Tincture of iodine, 30 minims; iodide of potassium, 60 grains;
hyposulphite of soda, 20 grains; distilled water, 7 ounces; aniseed
water, 170 minims.
Be careful not to tamper with and so enlarge the large glands in the
neck. Enlarging them may permanently disfigure a beautiful neck. They
are the danger points of the manipulation. It is they and the gorged
veins that give to a neck that aged, withered appearance which we
describe by the word “ropey.” Once these glands are enlarged and the
veins swollen there is no art in beauty lore to diminish them. Perhaps
a physician can reduce their size, but I have never known it to be
achieved.
For the “aged neck” there is almost no hope. Mme. Sarah Bernhardt
realized this, and while combating all the other signs of her
increasing years, yielded to the demands of the neck that was no longer
young, and covered it. The collarless gown is not for her. Always she
wears a high-necked gown, or, if circumstances require, a costume
décolleté, she wears a ribbon of velvet or a collar of jewels about her
throat.
For battling against the ageing neck I can give no better recipe than
this for a massage cream, which should be plentifully applied night and
morning:
Glycerine, 5 ounces; mutton tallow, 1 pound; tincture of benzoin, 2
drams; spirits of camphor, 1 dram; powdered alum, ½ dram; orange flower
water, 1 dram; Russian isinglass, 2 ounces.
If the neck is thin, but the veins and glands are not enlarged, there
is hope. The skin must be fed by cold creams and the circulation
promoted by massage. The rotary motion with the first three fingers of
each hand is the desirable one. Fifteen minutes should be spent night
and morning in this massage. One nourishing massage cream especially
excellent for the neck is this:
Oil of sweet almonds, 10 grams; lanolin, 15 grams; tannin, ½ gram.
A successful fattening cream for the neck contains:
Alcohol (95 per cent.), 20 grams; lard or cocoa butter, 100 grams;
essence of rosemary, 12 drops; essence of bergamot, 12 drops.
A third and most important essential is that the skin of the neck be
white and soft. To secure this effect one must, as you say in America,
“start right.” First prevent stains upon the neck.
A stained neck is always a revolting sight. A dark, shadowy rim about
the neck may have been caused by dark collars and there may have been
valiant efforts to remove it, but if they have not been successful I
beseech you wear only high-necked collars until the stain is removed.
The casual observer at a dinner or a ball will make no allowance for
the cause, the stain-communicating collar of colored net or some other
fabric. To him your neck will be soiled. That is all and that is very
much.
To prevent such stains avoid wearing dark colors next to the neck. If
the dark collar is unavoidable then line it with something soft and
white, old muslin or part of an old silk handkerchief.
But, having acquired the dark, shadowy look about the neck that is
so repellent remove it as soon as possible. A thorough sponging with
peroxide of hydrogen, full strength, followed immediately by another
bath of rose water, I have found excellent.
Or there may be frequent baths with this preparation, which is
admirable for bleaching:
Glycerine, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 ounce; carbolic acid, 10 drops;
tincture of benzoin, 10 drops.
This home remedy is useful when less drastic remedies are not at hand:
One-half lemon; one small tumbler of water. Squeeze the lemon juice
into the glass. Bathe the neck frequently with the mixture.
For those, and there are many, among them experts, who do not wish to
use the peroxide of hydrogen full strength, I would recommend:
Peroxide of hydrogen, ½ wineglass; witchhazel, ½ wineglass.
To bleach a neck that is too oily this used once a day for three
successive days is helpful:
Rosewater, ½ wineglass; ammonia, 5 drops. Use this sparingly, for the
action of ammonia upon the skin is to make it exceedingly dry.
The woman who would have a beautiful neck must consider it even in
repose. She should never use a high pillow, preferably no pillow at
all. For when the head rests upon the pillow, the chin falls upon the
breast. The muscles of the neck are contracted, wrinkles are formed
and muscles become flabby. Lying on the back is the best posture for
sleeping. The muscles of the neck are thus given full play and rest.
Many times I am asked “If you had a mole on the neck what would
you do?” I would let it remain there, and be thankful that I had a
distinguishing mark, a beauty spot. But if you insist upon removing it
a physician might try electricity.
I have been asked how to remove superfluous hair from the neck. I
should not remove it, for I should not regard it as superfluous. Why
do American women so dislike hair upon the face and neck? There should
be a fine covering of hair. It is beautiful. It is like down upon the
peach.
Sometimes the collar supporter, or a pin or hook used for fastening
the collar, scratches the neck. For these or any other bruises of
the neck I should first bathe the injured part with absorbent cotton
dipped into peroxide of hydrogen. If the bruise is severe I would apply
collodion or court plaster to protect it from air-floating germs, while
healing. I would remove these by moistening them with alcohol. If this
precaution is not taken a bit of the skin or flesh might adhere to the
application, so causing a scar. When the new skin is formed, covering
the wound, and it is no longer very sensitive, I would massage it
gently once a day. This relieves the congestion and gradually removes
the disfiguring red line that might remain as a trophy of the adventure.
A traveling companion of mine once scraped her neck against a deck
railing while the ship tossed. She treated it as I have advised and
when there still remained a broad pink stain as a souvenir of the
accident she massaged it very lightly every day for a fortnight, when
the pink stain utterly disappeared.
If your neck is suffering from wearing a too high collar I recommend
one of the following recipes:
Equal parts of peroxide of hydrogen and water. In extreme cases there
is no objection to a neck bath of pure peroxide of hydrogen.
Equal parts of alcohol (95 per cent.) and water.
Equal parts of lemon juice and water.
Water, ½ pint; ammonia, 1 dram.
Still another remedy is to scrub the neck with a soft complexion brush
dipped into a warm lather of Castile soap with a few drops of ammonia
added.
In summer when the neck becomes tanned and blistered by the sun massage
it with a pure, cold cream and bathe it frequently with a mild solution
of peroxide of hydrogen.
CHAPTER III
THINGS TO DO FOR THE EYES, EARS AND NOSE
As with all other parts of the body, the beauty of the eyes depends
upon their health, and their health depends upon care. The eyes have
two arch enemies. They are fatigue and dust. To keep the eyes beautiful
one must avoid the one and shun the other.
Do not read too much. I never read at night. Artificial light destroys
the luster of the eyes. At night we constantly strain the eyes to get
more light, and the strain makes a network of fine lines about the
eyes. Never read on the train, no matter how long the journey. It is
five days from New York to San Francisco, and many persons make that
journey several times a year. But if they have regard for the beauty
of their eyes they take no magazines or books on the train with them
and they buy none on the way. It is quite as good a mental exercise to
spend the time on a railroad journey thinking of what you have read,
and of what you have learned in reading the book of life, as to read
something new, and it is a thousand times better for the eyes. At
its best a railway journey is a severe tax upon the eyes as upon the
nerves and the complexion. I spend as much of the time as possible in a
reclining position with my eyes closed.
When the journey is at its end I send at once for a solution of
adrenalin. The proportions and quantity of the solution I always leave
to the druggist. I would not take the responsibility of prescribing the
amount for myself, and so will not for another. Adrenalin is derived
from the supra-renal glands of animals. A solution of it applied
frequently to the eyes rests them after a severe strain. I know of
nothing more refreshing and immediately rejuvenating, but I insist that
it must be used only after a physician has prescribed, or by the advice
of the pharmacist, who will tell you what under the circumstances is a
safe solution.
I said I do not read too much. An hour and a half a day, and that at
two or three sittings, instead of continuously, is enough. Close study
of a printed page is dangerous to the eyes and to other attractive
features of a woman’s face.
For the sake of the beauty of the eyes--and there is no greater
beauty--I utter now a different warning. If you would have beautiful
eyes don’t drink too much. A glass and a half of wine at a meal
is enough. A pint of wine a day is all that any woman who wishes
to be beautiful should permit herself, and that only if she has
been accustomed to drinking wine. Too much drinking makes the eyes
bloodshot. It congests the blood vessels in them, causing disfiguring
little red streaks in the whites of the eyes. It causes also a
congested condition that inflames the lining of the lids.
When the eyes are tired the thing to do is to rest. Go to your room.
Loosen your clothes. Lie upon your back and place upon your eyes a hot
compress. Make the compress in this way:
One gill rosewater; one gill witch hazel. Heat this mixture and when it
is nearly at the boiling point dip into it a bandage of soft linen, or
of absorbent cotton, and press this upon the eyes.
Sometimes a friend of mine points to her yellow eyeballs and says:
“What shall I do to make them white?” I answer: “You are bilious. You
must cleanse the liver and the stomach. A physician or a pharmacist can
best tell you how to do this. But if you do not wish to go to either
try a semi-fast. Eat only half as much at each meal as you have been
doing, and drink water freely. We need three quarts of water a day to
keep the body in health. If the system has reached such a condition
that the eyeballs are yellow then that quantity should be increased
by one-half. Water drinking is a necessity that should become a fixed
habit.
Every morning at rising we should drink at least two glassfuls of cold,
but not ice water. If the stomach is very delicate it would be better
that the water were warm. If cold it should be sipped, not tossed off
at a draught, because by the time it reaches the stomach it should be
as warm as the lining of the stomach itself, to prevent chilling that
important organ. Throughout the day a good deal could be drunk and
the remainder should be drunk in a leisurely way at night. It is well
under the most ordinary circumstances to drink two or three glasses of
water before retiring. For the woman with the yellow eyeballs a half
teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda or of pulverized charcoal could be
taken to advantage in a glass of the water at morning or night. Also I
should advise for this woman exercise out of doors.
For the daily care of the eyes there should be two baths. The body
must have its bath. The face must have its cleansing. Why not the eye,
especially as the eye, with its thick lid and the fringe of eyelashes,
is a dust trap, and the slightest speck of dust allowed to remain
beneath the lid may cause inflammation of the lid and irritation of the
eye.
For the eye’s daily bath I offer you the choice of several lotions. My
favorite is:
Ten ounces purest rosewater. Apply with an eyecup, turning the eyecup
upside down so that the half open eye is completely washed by the
contents of the cup. Hold it thus for thirty seconds, or, if not
uncomfortable, a full minute. Throw away this rosewater. Rinse the
glass and give the eye a second bath. If the eyes are irritated the
bath can be repeated several times. Ordinarily a bath in the morning on
rising and another at night on retiring are enough.
One ounce elderflower water. Some of my friends who have beautiful eyes
prefer this to rosewater. It is equally good. Apply it in the same way.
Another excellent eyebath is:
One-half ounce witch hazel; one-half ounce distilled water. Shake well
in bottle and apply with an eyecup.
One other bath is excellent:
Six drops boracic acid; one wineglass distilled water. Shake well
before applying.
Salt has its advocates. Certainly salt is stimulating to tired eyes,
but I would only use it in emergencies. Then once a day, before
retiring as follows:
A pinch of salt in an eyecup of cold water. Use with the eyecup. Also
bathe the lids with a bit of cotton dipped into the salt water.
A bath of borax water is beneficial and has the advantage of always
being convenient. Even while traveling one may carry a box of borax.
Futhermore, it is safe, because borax will only form a four per cent.
solution, that is, four per cent. of it only will be absorbed by water.
A borax bath is strengthening. If the eyes be delicate or the person
so prejudiced against experiments that she is not willing to introduce
this substance into the eyes, a silk sponge or a soft cloth dipped into
borax water and pressed upon the eyelids is efficacious, soothing.
The old fashioned home remedy of cold tea leaves pressed upon the lids
has value, not from the tea leaves intrinsically, but from the cool,
moist contact. Cloths dipped in water are quite as good.
Whatever reduces the fever and inflammation in eyelids makes for
the beauty of the eyes. And here a word of warning. If the lids
become granular, that is, if tiny lumps form inside the lining of the
eyelid, don’t attempt to cure them yourself. Give yourself over to a
physician’s care.
There is nothing more disfiguring or dangerous to the eyes than these
irritating little lumps. They are caused by eye strain and if the
strain be removed the granules are likely to disappear. If, however,
the case is far advanced it needs medical treatment.
As the greatest enemy of the beauty of the eyes is strain, so the
greatest friend is rest. If my eyes were losing their brightness I
should first of all rest. But rest may be taken, to use the druggist’s
phrase, “in small doses.” If I am too much engaged to go into a dark
room and rest for days I can at least rest my eyes by taking extra
sleep. From the standpoint of beauty every one should retire before
twelve, to give the eyes sufficient rest.
And there are twenty chances a day to close the eyes for a few minutes.
Say five minutes at a time, and twenty times. There we have one hundred
minutes. Those chances can be taken on the Subway, the “L” trains or
in the surface cars. Often have I seen a man on a train admire a young
woman for the demure, downcast glance of her eye. He thinks that is one
of her individual lures. Silly man. The girl doesn’t know he exists.
She is merely taking an eye rest. When you are bathing your face, when
you are massaging it, when you are brushing your hair, while you are
being manicured or pedicured--there are countless opportunities to give
the eyes the rest they need. Try it for three days and the results will
amaze you.
Never use preparations in or upon the eyes, unless you have them
analyzed. Do not count the cost of analysis. What are a few American
dollars or French francs or Italian lire compared with beauty!
Never use any toilet article without such analysis. And even after you
have used the preparation for a time it is wise to again submit it to
another analysis, for when an article has secured its vogue through
excellence I am sorry to say that manufacturers oftentimes increase
their profits by cheapening the ingredients and adulterating the
article.
The surroundings of the eyes are as important as the eyes themselves.
Keep lines away from the eyes by keeping them well rested. Also massage
lightly about them for four or five minutes. Never longer, because too
much massage will tire the exceedingly delicate muscles about the eyes
and cause them to sag. Massage them at retiring with any good cold
cream.
Rub with light rotary motion, with the tips of the second and third
fingers, outward and away from the corners of the eyes. With the
same fingers stroke the muscles that lie along the upper edge of the
cheekbone. The stroke should be a slow, sweeping one from the lower
corner of the eye to the edge of the hair line. Never touch the soft,
flabby skin beneath the eyes. It will make wrinkles. A third, valuable
stroke is above and along the upper edge of the eyebrows. It is most
soothing and restful.
The eyelashes depend for their length and beauty upon the condition
of the eyelids. Do not allow them to become inflamed. If they are
irritated the lashes will be weakened and will stop growing, or will
fall out. To make them grow long and evenly they should be clipped two
or three times a year.
If the eyelashes grow thin or unevenly it may be because the eyes are
strained and the lids inflamed. To remedy such a condition I recommend
either of the following prescriptions:
Rosewater, 1-3 glass; witch hazel, ½ glass. Warm and apply by opening
the eye when covered by the glassful of the mixture, thus giving the
eye a thorough bath.
Camphor water, 1 ounce; powdered borax, 3 grains; infusion of
sassafras-pith, 2 ounces. Apply with an eye-dropper, the glass tube
with rubber bulb that can be obtained in any drug store. Apply as
frequently as is needed to allay the inflammation.
The growth of the eyelashes can also be promoted by frequent brushing
with an eyelash brush, also by carefully clipping the ends twice
a year. Brush the lashes upward and the brows toward the temples,
training the arch to be high and piquant. For eyebrows that are weak
and thin this lotion is excellent and should be applied frequently:
Sulphate of quinine, 10 grains; oil of sweet almonds, 2 ounces.
The eyebrows should be kept clean by brushing with a tiny eyebrow
brush. A half dozen strokes upon each eyebrow is enough. The lashes
should be brushed upward. That makes them curly. Sometimes eyebrows
grow unevenly. They begin well, but end drearily, in a straggling line
of sparse hairs or in no hairs at all. Massaging the scant parts of the
eyebrow with lanolin will improve them.
Here is a most excellent tonic for the brows, and indeed for the hair.
Applied three times a week it will give the hair a fine stimulus
toward growth. You can get from the druggist a smaller quantity than I
describe but the proportions should be as follows:
Tincture of vanilla, 6 grams; tincture of carnation, 10 grams; Peruvian
balsam, O.65 grains; alcohol, 450 grams; oil of bergamot, O.45 grams;
oil of lemon, O.90 grams; quinine, 0.40 grams; infusion of civet, O.10
grams; infusion of musk, 0.10 grams.
Sometimes the eyelashes show a bothersome tendency to curve inward,
usually on the lower lid. To insure comfort and avoid dangerous
irritation of the eyes they should be removed by careful manipulation
of hair forceps especially made for the purpose.
Girls often ask me how to make their eyelashes darker. There are dyes
or stains for eyelashes, but I do not recommend them. In themselves
hair dyes are likely to be injurious. The application of one of them to
the eyelashes by an unsteady hand might permanently injure the eyes.
Eyelashes are often too light because they are faded. To restore them
to their original color, clipping the ends carefully and slightly every
two months may strengthen and stimulate and so darken them. This pomade
is in common use in France:
Red vaseline, 1 ounce; tincture of cantharides, ½ dram; oil of
lavender, 8 drops; oil of rosemary, 8 drops. _Apply with the utmost
care so that none of it gets into the eyes._
If your eyelids are encrusted when you wake up in the morning don’t
attempt to remove the incrustations until you have moistened them with
a lotion from your eye cup. The best one for this purpose is made by
dissolving an ounce of boracic acid in a pint of rosewater.
Styes are ugly and disfiguring. In their first stages they can be
removed by applying ethereal collodion with a camel’s hair brush. If
the condition has progressed far, a tiny flaxseed poultice soon brings
it to the “ripe” stage, after which it can be lanced by an ordinary
needle, that has been sterilized, by passing it through fire.
If your eyebrows are straggly and uneven, and in places very thin,
use an eyebrow brush twice a day. Every morning and evening brush the
brows, giving them at least twenty-five strokes each and being careful
to brush in the direction you want them to grow. In this way you can do
much to cultivate the beautiful arch. It will also remove the dandruff
that is likely to accumulate about the eyebrows. Massaging the brows at
night with lanolin is also helpful.
The greatest menace to a business girl’s beauty is that of eye strain.
The danger that this eye strain will produce wrinkles between her
eyebrows, will inflame the lids and cause the eyelashes to fall
out, and will dim the brightness of the eyes and produce the tired
expression of the old or of those who are devitalized by age or
overwork is great.
These tendencies she must balance by greater care than the woman in
her home gives to her eyes. Since the strain during business hours is
excessive she should not add to that the further strain of reading
on trains or by lamplight. This will cause some intellectuals to cry
out: “La Cavalieri would empty our girls’ heads.” No, but the purpose
of these articles is to reveal beauty secrets, and one of the secrets
of beauty is to keep the eyes clear, bright and untired. Therefore, I
repeat that the beauty in business must not read on the moving train.
Nor must she read by lamplight. The best use she can make of her eyes
for beauty’s sake while upon a train is to close them, and her brothers
or sisters would better read to her at night.
She can save the strain upon her eyes by closing them for a few seconds
at a time several times a day. They as well as her face must have their
daily bath, better two daily baths, one in the morning and one in the
evening. The baths may be of equal parts of witch hazel and warm water,
or of warm water into which a half dozen grains of boric acid have been
sprinkled, or a full cupful of rose water.
And the girl who would keep her eyes beautiful must have plenty of
sleep. She should sleep at least eight hours a day, more if her system
requires it. If she can take a quarter or half an hour’s nap after
coming home from business and before her evening meal or before going
to the theater or a dance, she will find her tired eyes have regained
much of their luster.
Before I finish my advice about the eyes I must not forget to give
still another formula which is excellent for bathing them:
Salt, ½ grain; sulphate of zinc, ½ grain; rosewater, 4 ounces. Mix with
an equal quantity of water and apply with an eye cup.
The eyes tire most easily in summer and that is when they should be
given an extra amount of rest and attention. Rest them from the glare
of white country roads by wearing smoked glasses. Rest them by giving
up the distractingly becoming but eyes-torturing, crossbarred, myriad
dotted veil. Read little. Persuade your beaux, your little sisters or
your maids or poor relations to read to you. Close your eyes while you
listen. Don’t read in a hammock nor on a lounge. Don’t read on a train.
Don’t read in a room dimly lighted “so that it will keep cool.” Rest
the tired eyes by plenty of sleep at night and an afternoon nap.
Bathe the eyes night and morning with witch hazel and warm water, mixed
in equal parts; or with an ounce of boracic acid in a pint of rose
water.
Use an eye cup, turning the eye upward and opening it so that it will
be laved by the contents of the cup. When wiping the eyes use a soft
cloth, oil linen or silk, and wipe the lids toward, not away, from the
nose. This will help to prevent the wrinkles about the eyes, also the
wrinkling of the eyelids themselves.
For hot, tired eyes Mme. Recamier used to apply a lotion made by
pouring over dried rose leaves a quantity of water of twice their bulk.
If the eyes are very inflamed washing them in equal parts of witch
hazel and camphor water will be found beneficial.
For granular lids many pastes have been recommended. My advice is
to seek out a reliable physician and have the eyes examined and his
prescription filled.
A “cold” in the eye is most annoying and liable to be expensive. You
get up in the morning, look in the glass, and find that one of your
eyes--or maybe both--looks much inflamed. If you do nothing about it,
the condition may not pass away for a number of days, and meanwhile you
are more or less disabled.
Very possibly, in some alarm, you go to see the oculist. He frightens
you at once by telling you that it is “conjunctivitis”--a long word
which means simply inflammation of the membrane that covers the eye. He
puts some drops in the eye, and tells you to come back the next day.
You are finally cured, and the bill comes to $15 or $25.
That is well enough. Perhaps you don’t mind the bill, or the trouble
of going to the doctor’s. But it is likely that you would be less
satisfied if you knew that you could easily have cured yourself much
quicker and without any expense at all.
If you have a “cold” in your eye, you can get rid of it within a
few hours by bathing the eye freely and often with a solution made
by putting _two drops_ of formaline into a teacupful of water. The
formaline you can buy at any drugstore. It may be used with an
eye-dropper or an eye-bath--either of which can be had from the
drugstore. But it is even more effective to allow somebody else to pour
it into the eye by squeezing again and again a rag or piece of cotton
saturated with it.
A “cold” in the eye is nothing in the world but a germ infection.
Formaline kills the germs. But don’t use formaline in any stronger
solution than two drops to the teacupful. If you get it into your eye
in a pure state, you might destroy the sight. At the least, you would
suffer frightful pain.
Incidentally it may be said that the best eye-water known to oculists
for the treatment of sore eyes or lids is made by mixing ten grains
of boracic acid and five grains of tannic acid with one drachm of
camphor water and enough ordinary water to make a total of one ounce.
The ingredients are cheap, purchased from the apothecary, and you can
prepare them yourself if you care to.
When not due to over indulgence in alcohol an excessively red nose is
usually the result of indigestion or clothing that is too tight. In
the first stages of the trouble Parisians bathe the unfortunate feature
frequently with this, recommended by Dr. Vigier:
Distilled water, 50 grams; rosewater, 50 grams; tincture of benzoin, 1
gram; sulphate of potassium, 1 gram.
If it has become chronic, this, massaged freely into the affected
organ, is recommended by M. Andres-Valdes:
Rectified alcohol, 8 grams; pure glycerine, 8 grams; precipitated
chalk, 8 grams; cherry laurel water, 8 grams; precipitate of sulphur, 8
grams.
The ear is the most neglected part of the head. That a pair of ears
stand out unduly from the face, making what one of your American
artists term the accessories of the face, more prominent than the
countenance itself, most parents regard as a wise visitation of
Providence, or ignore it. Or if the ears are so jammed against the head
that one can not see them without an effort, that, too, is liable to be
overlooked by parents, not by anyone else who sees the child who is a
victim to the malformation.
Be as careful to frame your child’s face well as you are to frame a
picture, so that its colors are best thrown into relief. Some mothers
are artists in the matter of the arrangement of the child’s hair, and
when this is becomingly done they think their duty done. The ears are
neglected.
If they stand out prominently from the head they can be trained,
especially in childhood, back into the relation they should bear to
the head. An ear harness made of strong cotton tape is made for this
purpose and should be worn at night by children or adults who need it.
It is far better, of course, to use it in childhood, when the cartilage
that forms the outer part of the ear is more plastic, but it is more
or less efficacious after you have reached your full growth. It is
certainly well worth trying.
If the ear is packed closely against the head train it outward by
gentle massage and light pulling, done by yourself. You are the best
judge of whether the pulling hurts. If it does, stop. If the ears are
less than the normal size they can be enlarged by the same process.
An earache that cannot be quickly relieved by placing loose, warm
bandages over it should be brought at once to the doctor’s attention,
for a persistent earache is often the forerunner of serious conditions,
especially of deafness.
If your ears are delicate, riding in the tunnels may be permanently
injurious to them. The greatly increased pressure of air under the
rivers is a menace to the eardrum; may cause it to burst and bring
about incurable deafness.
You do not know, perhaps, that chronic and severe diseases of the
ear often begin in the nose or throat. Wherefore you are taking care
of the ear when you keep the throat and the nasal passages free from
obstacles. Gargling the throat every morning is a measure for health
and cleanliness that no one should neglect. A tablespoonful of salt
in a glass of warm water, or a pinch of borax in the same quantity of
water, will serve well. But I am inclined to the later belief that no
one should douche the nose except by the doctor’s order. The liquid
you use for the douche might carry germs of disease into the back of
the head and cause a general infection, while they might disappear in
the natural way if there were no interference with nature’s plan of
carrying away invaders of the head. If the nose is in healthy condition
it secretes a pint of liquid every day and is nature’s adequate channel
for clearing the head.
But the ear must not be encouraged nor allowed long to “run.” A chronic
discharge from the ear is a serious condition and may have a fatal end.
Hasten with it to a physician. Life insurance companies, knowing how
serious this is, will never insure the lives of persons with running
ears.
Doctors generally advise us not to try to remove the wax from the
ears. They say that if we let the ear alone the wax will finally
form into a hard little ball and drop out without assistance. They
advise us not to put cotton into the ears unless specially advised
to by a reliable physician, who will never give the advice unless
the need is imperative. They forbid poulticing or syringing the ears
without special advice, and they are quite right in warning against
the indiscriminate use of ear drops. Better regard the inner part of
the ear as inviolate. So, too, the outer, except for keeping the folds
clean. In the cleaning do not handle the ear roughly. Remove the dust
from the folds of the ear with a soft cloth, soap and water. Be careful
to immediately and thoroughly dry them. If you leave the neck or hair
about the ears wet or chilled the earache or neuralgia that will follow
may lead to deafness.
Never box a child’s ears; it may cause a rupture. Do not pull a child’s
ears, lest injury follow. Be sure to have the adenoids removed.
Adenoids in children are a cause of ear troubles, among many others.
Physicians now believe that sea-sickness is due to ear disturbances.
CHAPTER IV
KEEPING THE HANDS, ARMS AND SHOULDERS YOUNG
If I were to summarize my experience and the advice I wish to give
about the hands in one sentence I would say: “Never let the hands get
cold.” The advice is very comprehensive, and in a sense sufficient.
If you never let your hands grow cold they will be soft and white and
retain their natural shape and size.
For example, the fresh air curists travel the radical road to the point
of keeping their bathrooms cool or cold. That is absurd. The bathroom
should be kept at an unvarying temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
The bather should step from tepid water into surrounding air two or
three degrees warmer. Yet I have seen a famous beauty step from an ice
cold tub of water upon her bath mat and shiveringly towel herself dry
in a bathroom whose window opened for six inches above and below upon a
court where the air was at zero. And she wondered why the skin of her
hands and face were rough and purplish.
Another friend, an athletic beauty, disliked carrying a muff, and
December and January found her swinging along Fifth Avenue, her pretty
hands covered only with a pair of cold, thin, cramping kid gloves. She
called at my atelier and showed me her hands. They were shockingly red
and rough. Both she and my friend of the cold bath room had violated
the first command of the care of the hands: “Always keep them warm.”
For each of them I prescribed first changing their habits. “Always wash
your hands in tepid or hot water,” I said to the first. “Carry your
muff from October to April,” I said to the second. And when they had
promised, I having sternly exacted that essential thing, I set about
removing the ugliness. The first aid was to show them the right way to
wash their hands. Not one person in fifty knows how to wash the hands.
The water should be tepid. If it is what is known as “hard water” it
may be softened with a little borax, say one teaspoonful to a quart of
water. Or, if possible, it would be well to use distilled water, since
borax must be used with discretion.
Then dip into the water a cake of the best soap. A scented soap is not
necessarily a bad soap. So I try various kinds, liking one, but seeking
another that is better. When I have dipped the soap into the water long
enough to make a dainty lather I plunge my hands into it.
Then I dry them, but only partly, upon a soft linen towel. Before the
hands have time to dry, and especially before they have time to chill,
I take from my toilet shelf or medicine chest a bottle of my favorite
hand cleanser. The bottle may be large or small, but the proportions of
the mixture I keep always the same. Here is how it is made:
Hydrated glycerine (glycerine mixed with water), 1 tablespoonful; any
favorite perfume (mine is Italian pink), 3 drops.
Rub the hands thoroughly with this. Rub is not a strong enough word for
the process. It does not suggest the thoroughness of the process. Say
rather, wash your hands in it. Ten minutes is none too long for washing
the hands. Five minutes should be given to the water, five to the
glycerine bath. Then dry thoroughly with a towel. Observe how soft your
hands are after such a bath and you will be surprised and delighted
with this treatment.
[Illustration: ANNA HELD The fascinating beauty of her eyes is famous
the world over.]
I am aware that there is some prejudice against glycerine. Would-be
authorities will rise and say that glycerine burns an exceedingly
delicate skin--that it is an irritant in some cases. So it is. The
person who uses it must be a judge of that herself. It has always
“agreed” with my hands, making them soft and white and supple. But for
those whose hands burn and itch after using it there is this lotion for
occasional, not regular, use, for I am opposed to a too free use of
peroxide of hydrogen:
Peroxide of hydrogen, ¼ wineglass; witch hazel, ¾ wineglass; always
shake well before using.
I should not advise this oftener than three times a week, at most. And
I should vary it with rubbing with olive oil, which is of especial
value to thin hands. A few weeks of using it will result in a
perceptible plumpening of them.
Or, to whiten and soften the hands, this has many advocates, and I see
no objection to its occasional use. Ammonia is too powerful for regular
use:
Olive oil, 1 wineglass; ammonia, 6 drops.
But to assure beautiful hands, and that in the shortest possible time,
massage them with a simple cold cream and wear rubber gloves at night.
But the gloves should be at least two sizes larger than the 5¾ or 6 you
wear in kids, and they should be punctured as freely as the top of a
pepper box. Ventilation is necessary to the health of the hands and of
the owner of the hands.
For a cold cream for the hands for the night toilet I should advise
this mixture:
Spermaceti, 2 ounces; white wax, 1 ounce; almond oil, 2 gills.
There are two pastes that are excellent to be used as a night cosmetic
with gloves:
Rosewater, 6 ounces; honey, 4 ounces; yellow beeswax, 2 ounces; myrrh,
1 ounce.
This can be prepared at home, if you desire. Melt the wax. Stir the
powdered myrrh while hot. Add the honey and rosewater, drop by drop. If
the preparation seems to be a bit too thick to handle comfortably thin
it with a few drops of hydrated glycerine.
Another delightful paste has the following ingredients:
Tincture of benzoin, 2 drams; fresh yolks of eggs, 2 drams; rice flour,
1 dram; rose water, 1 ounce; oil of sweet almonds, 2 drams; glycerine,
1 dram.
This is a home preparation and because of the perishable nature of the
eggs can only be kept for a few days.
Now as to how to massage the hands. For the face a rotary motion, but
for the hands a lengthwise one. I can best describe the massage for
the hands by summoning your imagination. Fancy that you are wearing a
pair of gloves for the first time. That you have accurately fitted the
fingers and that you have now only to see that the glove fits smoothly
upon the back of the hands. You stroke the back of the right hand
gently, but firmly, with the fingers of the left, and the left hand
with the fingers of the right. Do this at least twenty times for each
hand. Then lightly pinch the ends of each finger, pressing the sides of
the fingers between the thumb and second finger.
Some excessively nervous or anæmic persons are annoyed by cold, moist,
clammy hands. This is a remedy that is safe and efficacious:
Tannic acid, 10 grains; tincture of benzoin, ½ ounce; elder flower
water, 3 ounces; rosewater, 6 ounces.
If there is a strong objection to soap, try the liquid sort. If your
objection persists then substitute fine almond meal, a handful for one
cleansing of the hands. Tincture of benzoin is also a good softening
agent for the water, and its odor is refreshing. Four drops to a quart
of tepid water are sufficient.
“How can I have nice, white hands, though I do my own work?” This is
the problem many housewives continually face. By wearing loose gloves
as much as possible about your work. By thoroughly drying your hands
after washing them, or, better still, by washing them again before
they are dried, in:
Glycerine, 1 ounce; lemon juice, 1 ounce.
The beauty of the hands suffers in different ways at different times
of year. In winter the cold winds frequently chap them. For this
disagreeable condition I have used with good results a lotion made as
follows:
Glycerine, 1 ounce; spirits of wine, 1 ounce; violet extract, 1 ounce.
Pour over the hands after washing.
If the chapping has made the hands too sensitive to bear the glycerine
try this:
Oil of almonds, 1 ounce; lime water, 1 fluid ounce; borax, 6 grains.
In summer the hands and arms often suffer as much if not more than the
face from the sun’s burning rays. Here is a lotion which will cool them
and reduce their unlovely redness:
Lemon juice, 1 ounce; strained honey, 1 ounce; cologne, 1 ounce.
If the sunburn results in freckles apply with a small sponge or a bit
of absorbent cotton or a camel’s hair brush the following:
Powdered borax, ½ dram; sugar, ½ dram; lemon juice, 1 ounce.
Here is still another remedy which answers the purpose as well as the
ones just described:
Muriate of ammonia, ⅜ dram; lavender water, 1 ounce; distilled water, 4
ounces.
For a mild case of freckles here is a simple remedy that will often
prove sufficient:
Peroxide of hydrogen, 1 ounce; ammonia, 10 drops. Apply with a camel’s
hair brush.
Of no part of the body is it quite so true that curves are the lines of
beauty as it is of the arms and shoulders. A lovely woman in an evening
gown always reminds me of a beautiful bouquet rising out of a vase.
The woman’s head and shoulders and arms are the flowers, the gown and
the rest of her body the vase. Fancy a bouquet with one fresh, purple
pansy in the center and all about it withered yellow flowers. It is not
a pleasant picture even in fancy, but that is precisely how the woman
with a charming face and unlovely arms and shoulders looks.
Beautiful shoulders must first of all be symmetrical shoulders. They
must be just broad enough to balance finely the figure. If the figure
which they surmount be slender the shoulders also should be slender.
But they should never be thin. For beauty’s sake they must be soft,
not muscular. They must be overlaid with a veiling of firm flesh. They
must slope gently into the lines of the arms and bust and back by
almost imperceptible degrees. While they are plump in front they should
be thin at the back. A roll of flesh between the shoulder blades is
unsightly and gives the appearance of age.
After shapeliness of the shoulders in importance comes whiteness.
Shoulders well cared for should be the whitest part of a woman’s body.
A third important element in the beauty of the shoulders is the texture
of the skin. It should be of satin fineness.
To attain shapely shoulders begin with the chest. The woman with a
high chest always has beautifully shaped shoulders. Form the habit of
breathing deeply. A shop girl in one of New York’s department stores
had so fine a development of chest and shoulders that I asked her how
she achieved it. Her figure was so slender that I knew she must have
built up those shoulders and the chest by some wise system of exercise.
“Yes, haven’t I done fine?” she answered. “Two years ago I was the
scrawniest thing you ever saw. My neck and shoulders looked like a
wood pile that had tumbled over itself. I was all sharp corners. I
heard of this new deep breathing and I tried it. Most of it I did on
the platforms of the “L” trains. Winter and summer I rode downtown
from Harlem to work, and instead of sitting in the car I stood on the
platform. At first it made me tired, but after I got used to it I began
to look forward to feeling the clear, cool air rush through my lungs.
Now it’s the best treat of the day. Maybe I would have got lazy and not
kept it up, but I saw the flesh beginning to pad all the corners of my
neck and shoulders. My chest lost its caved-in look. You just bet that
deep breathing pays.”
Deep breathing does pay. It pays a large dividend in health and beauty.
But next in importance comes massage. Give me an excellent masseuse and
I could dispense with a doctor, except in some tremendous emergency.
Thin shoulders can be plumped and fat shoulders can be reduced by
massage.
If they are thin a light massage, using a rotary movement of the palms
of the hands, applying olive oil copiously, will gradually plumpen
them. If they are fat the massage should be much deeper and more
vigorous. The masseuse should knead as near the bone as possible.
For this massage a cream may be applied to feed the tissues. Here is a
good one:
Oil of sweet almonds, 20 grams; lanolin, 30 grams; tannin, ½ gram.
Yet another cream that is an excellent builder of flesh is this, so
commonly in use in Europe as to be almost a household article:
Lard, 50 grams; alcohol (95 per cent.), 10 grams; oil of rosemary, 6
drops; oil of bergamot or orange, 6 drops.
If the shoulders are fat the massage should be much deeper and more
vigorous. The masseuse should get as near to the bone as possible. She
should use neither oils nor cream, but instead some astringent lotion,
as, for instance, this:
Rosewater, 12 ounces; tincture of benzoin, 1 ounce; tannic acid, 20
grains; elder flower water, 4 ounces.
Shoulders should be white. Normally they are, and if not the general
health should be looked to as a corrective. Are the shoulders yellow?
Probably their owner is bilious and requires a change from a heavy meat
and sweets diet to a lighter one in which cereals and green vegetables
and salads predominate. The system should be irrigated by much
water drinking. Try to remember that the amount of food for a day’s
sustenance has been estimated in the proportion of five parts to seven
parts water. Are her shoulders marred by pimples or acne? Again she
should look to her diet, eating less rich food. A thorough scrubbing of
the shoulders with warm water and pure soap once a day, followed by a
rub-down with alcohol, should be sufficient to keep them prettily white
if the diet is a correct one.
If the shoulders have been tanned or freckled by much sea bathing or
lolling on the burning sands, they will be improved by applications
twice a day of this old-fashioned remedy:
Horseradish root, 1 ounce; borax, 2 drams. Pour over these one pint of
boiling water. Apply with a sponge.
Also apply distilled water and the juice of a lemon or peroxide of
hydrogen, mixed in equal parts.
The effects of a half dozen applications of these should be quickly
apparent.
Arms, like shoulders, must possess symmetry. That is, they must seem to
be of the body, included in the original plan instead of being hastily
added as an afterthought. They must be in perfect proportion. The size
of the arm depends wholly upon the size of the body.
In Paris recently a pretty little Russian, Miss Amelia Rose, won the
prize for having a perfect arm. In Paris, where beauty is the chief
divinity, the awarding of the prize to one not of the French nation
was a momentous matter. Everyone wanted to know the proportions of
the arm. The Russian beauty’s height was five feet five inches. Her
arms conformed to the canons of statuary. The upper arm was one-third
shorter than the forearm. The circumference of the upper arm was
thirteen inches; of the forearm nine inches, and of the wrist six
inches.
The beautiful arm looks as though it were made for ornament, not for
use. No muscle is unduly prominent. It should be as soft and smooth as
white velvet. If the arm is too fat its size can be reduced by massage
with the wringing motion. The masseuse should manipulate the arm
exactly as though she were wringing out clothes before hanging them out
to dry.
To develop the arm there are many exercises. Small dumbbells, weighing
half a pound, can be swung to great advantage. Also to develop at once
the muscles of shoulders and arms this is valuable. Stretch the arms
horizontally from the body until the muscles are tense. Then slowly
raise them above the head, trying to keep the muscles rigid. Clench
the fists and, stretching the arms horizontally at the sides, raise
and lower the arms. This develops the biceps. Clench the fists and
turn them slowly about on the wrists to make the wrists supple. Light
massage with olive oil supplements the exercises.
I know a girl who otherwise had a charming figure, but whose arms were
distressingly thin. It took two years of attention to them to make
those arms attractive, but she succeeded.
The means were a change of diet to more nourishing and muscle-building
food, a half hour twice a day with dumbbells, and daily massage with
cold cream or olive oil. The results were soft, well rounded, pinkly
white arms that charmed everyone who saw them.
An exercise that develops the arms and the back and bust as well is
this: Holding the arms at the sides, inhale deeply. Clench the fists.
Bend the elbows. Bring the fists to the shoulders, moving only the
lower arms. With the fists resting at the shoulders raise the elbows
to a straight line with the shoulders. Move the fists down slowly
until they fit close into the armpits. Move the fists slowly around
to the back, crossing them, and then lowering the arms to their first
position. Keep the muscles tense while so doing. This is a famous
resistance exercise.
If the texture of the skin on the arms is coarse, a dry rub every day
with a soft flesh brush should open the pores, whose long collecting
accretions have made the skin rough. This treatment will make the skin
tender. If it seems sensitive apply a good cold cream every morning and
evening. After the morning application powder may be added. The arms
may be dusted with a pure powder. One of the best cold creams for the
purpose is this:
Oil of sweet almonds, 50 grams; white wax, 10 grams; spermaceti or
sperm oil, 10 grams; rosewater, 20 grams; tincture of benzoin, 5 grams;
tincture of amber, 2 grams.
While reducing her arms, or before she has succeeded in so doing, the
stout woman should not wear sleeves shorter than the elbow length. Her
upper arm is gross and she should veil it until she has reduced it to
lovelier proportions.
To keep my hands smooth and white I wash them à la Cavalieri. First in
soapy water, through many waters until they are spotless as my linen.
Then I dry them, but only partly, by the heat of the hands themselves,
not with a towel. Then I bathe them again in this mixture:
One ounce glycerine; three ounces rosewater; ten drops lemon juice.
This should be well shaken when being mixed, and also every time it is
used.
Cold-roughened hands must be treated with special care at night. That
is the time to give them their complete toilet. It is well for them if
it has not been necessary to wash them often during the day. They must,
of course, be kept clean. But better avoid soiling them during the day
than wash them too often.
Buy a large pair of rubber gloves, at least three or four sizes larger
than the kid gloves you are in the habit of wearing. After washing
the hands in warm water, softened with a few drops of ammonia, say a
half dozen drops to a quart of water, and a good, pure soap, as white
castile or one of the tar soaps, bathe the hands in cooler water and,
before drying them, rub thoroughly over them:
Glycerine, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 ounce. Then draw on the rubber gloves.
If the hands be much darkened or reddened this will whiten as well as
soften them:
Glycerine, 1 ounce; lemon juice, 1 ounce.
In extreme cases a paste worn for two or three nights under the
rubber gloves will facilitate the work of making the hands once more
presentable. This is a good paste:
Almond meal, 1 ounce; tincture of benzoin, 10 drops; honey, ½ ounce.
In similar fashion when hands have been reddened and blistered by the
sun wear a pair of loose gloves at night, first covering the hands with
this mixture:
Honey, 2 ounces; glycerine, 1 ounce; barley flour, 8 ounces; whites of
two eggs.
Or the following lotion rubbed into the hands well will answer the same
purpose:
Cologne, 2 ounces; lemon juice, 2 ounces; liquid honey, 2 ounces.
Much is asked, and much from time to time answered, about the care of
the arms, yet an attractive arm may be hopelessly marred by an ugly
elbow. Resolve that your arms are only as pretty as your elbows, and
set to work upon them.
First examine them closely and while you examine them keep in mind
the standard for a lovely elbow. To be lovely it should be little in
evidence, so little, in fact, that it seems to be merely an appearing
and disappearing feature--so to speak--a dimple playing peekaboo.
Instead of this what do you probably see? A sharp, bony corner, or a
mass of unsightly wrinkles, in either case darker than the surrounding
flesh. Almost certainly the skin covering it is dark and rough, “a
patch of goose-flesh” a young girl complained when dressing for a dance.
Now what is to be done?
Try first to rid the elbows of their disfiguring redness or darker
color. Rub them every night before retiring with a half grape fruit.
This is better than a lemon because the elbow can settle into it and
work about it. If you place the halves of grape fruit on a table and
rest your elbows in them you can read or chat or meditate and leave the
elbows to their bleaching for an indefinite time. Repeat this every
night until you notice an improvement in their color.
But do not be satisfied with this progress. Scrub the elbows daily with
warm water and a bleaching soap. One of the peroxide soaps would be
useful. Or use castile soap with water, into which you have sprinkled a
few drops of peroxide of hydrogen or of ammonia.
An ingenious girl I know bound slices of lemon on her elbows every
night before going to bed. While this is not as quickly efficacious as
the grape fruit it is cheaper.
When this gradual whitening of the elbows has been accomplished take
the next step in their beautifying, which is smoothing them. If they
are very rough, scrub them with a pumice stone that has been dipped
into warm water. Rub the roughened spots gently with this, and slowly,
lest you irritate the skin. Then apply cold cream or olive oil to
allay even any tendency to irritation. Or if they are only slightly
roughened, rubbing them round and round with fingers that have been
spread with cocoanut oil is enough, if long continued, to soften them.
If the elbows are very sharp massaging the flesh about them with palms
well greased with mutton tallow should in time nourish them into
roundness.
CHAPTER V
MASSAGE AS A BEAUTIFIER
Massage is of two kinds--good and bad. It is good or bad, according to
the knowledge and skill of the masseuse. I have a profound, unshakable
belief in the efficacy of massage. It is my cure-all. I rarely take
medicine. Almost never in all my life, in fact. For long ago I heard
what your American poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote: “If all the drugs
were thrown into the sea it would be hard on the fishes, but it would
be better for humanity.” That, from a man who knew medicine deeply
impressed me.
That which will most interest readers of this book, probably, will be
the consideration of massage as a beautifier. In that aspect I most
earnestly recommend it. For half my life I have had my face massaged
frequently, and for many years I have had it massaged every day. With
what result? That my face is absolutely free from lines. That my
complexion is smooth and absolutely free from blemishes. I resolved
that it should approach the smoothness and clearness of an infant’s
skin if care could achieve that effect, and I have succeeded.
Moreover, there is no abnormal growth of hair upon the face. With
pleasure I lay the ghost of that fiction against massage. Despite all
that we hear to the contrary, the friction has not caused the growth of
the tiniest of beards.
If you entrust the massage of your face to a masseuse, be sure that she
has had proper instruction and considerable experience. Bad massage is
much worse than none, for it will cause wrinkles instead of removing
them. The masseuse must know the geography, as it were, of the muscles.
She must learn to follow instead of countering those muscles.
To make this quite clear, let me quote from the usually baffling words
of a medical authority, Dr. William Murrell, of the Royal College of
Physicians of London: “The individual muscles, or groups of muscles,
are picked out or isolated and mechanically stimulated to contraction.
The movements must be made in the direction of the muscle fibers, and
the tips of the fingers must be carried along in the interstitia, so
as to promote the flow of lymph and increase tissue metamorphosis. The
manipulations are carried out systematically in definite order with a
definite object.”
Massage promotes circulation. By promoting circulation it nourishes
parts of the body in which circulation is ordinarily defective. The
well nourished portions of the body are the last to grow old. The
best illustration is perhaps those regions of the Western part of the
United States where there is little rain. These regions would be waste
places if it were not for irrigation. Canals are made that tap the
nearest rivers. From these canals ditches are dug. The ditches form a
vein-like network of little streams that feed the arid land. So massage
stimulates sluggish circulation and nourishes the muscles that might
otherwise grow flabby and the skin that would grow dry and wrinkled.
The face must be massaged with a nourishing cream. This is one that
cleanses as well as feeds the skin, and is simple and especially
grateful in midsummer:
Almond oil, 2 ounces; spermaceti, ½ ounce; white wax, ½ ounce; cucumber
juice, 1 ounce.
After facial massage with a cold cream some women of exceedingly
sensitive skins choose to bathe the face in this or a similar lotion:
Tincture of benzoin, 1 ounce; tincture of vanilla, 4 drams; sweet
almond oil, 3 ounces; bitter almond oil, 1 dram; spermaceti, 5 drams;
white wax, 5 drams; lanolin, 1 ounce; witch hazel, 1 ounce; rosewater,
3 ounces.
Having first had your face massaged several times by an expert masseuse
you can learn the movements yourself and massage your own face. Some
become deft at self-facial massage in a short time. Some who have
clumsy fingers, or a lack of perception, never master the art. Some
beautiful women never entrust their faces to a masseuse, I am told.
First look to the shadowy new lines upon your face. If there be none,
consider where the lines form when you laugh, when you frown, when you
sulk, or when you cry. Anticipate these lines by nourishing well the
muscles in those regions.
The wrinkle regions of a woman’s face are four. The first is about the
outer corners of the eyes. The wrinkles there formed have been known
for many ages as crow’s feet, because they radiate outward in somewhat
the fashion that a bird’s toes are disposed. They might as fittingly
be called chicken’s toes, or pigeon’s toes, or eagle’s toes. They are
supposed to be the ineradicable, unmistakable signs of age. The truth
is, they are the paths of laughter, and indicate a merry disposition.
I have seen them on the face of a boy of twelve. I have seen them
strongly marked on the countenance of a young woman of twenty-one. They
are the measures of the laughing capacity of the person who bears them.
In that light they are the least ugly of the wrinkles; yet wrinkles
they are, and at best wrinkles are undesirable.
To remove crow’s feet, dip the tips of the fingers in one of the good
massage creams, and with the second and third fingers rub the area
affected with a rotary motion, working from the corners of the eyes
outward.
More disfiguring than the crow’s feet, because of more ignoble origin
and more difficult to erase, are the diagonal lines from the nostrils
to the corner of the lips. They are known variously as the “bad temper
lines,” the “emotional lines,” the “lines of discontent.” Using the
middle finger, the massage should begin at the corners of the mouth,
and should end where the lines end, at the nostrils. This movement
should also be a rotary one. It should be deeper and firmer than that
about the eyes.
The third of the wrinkle areas, and the one in which the wrinkles first
appear in most faces, is the forehead. One of your American women
doctors said that the signs upon the forehead are unmistakable and
infallible ones. “When a woman has three transverse lines across the
forehead I know that she is twenty-seven,” said this woman physician.
“When she has two vertical lines between the eyes I know that she is
forty-five.” This is interesting, but untrue. I know half a dozen women
of fifty who have neither of these groups of telltale lines.
In massaging the lines of the brow, remember the general rule for
massage. The movement must be in contrary direction from the line. For
instance, the vertical lines between the eyes must be treated by the
second finger of each hand and must be rotary and upward, branching
above the eyes with a gently diminishing motion to the right and left
toward the temples. The transverse lines, forming as they do by a
creasing of the skin from bottom to top, should be massaged by a rotary
motion from the bottom to the top of the forehead.
The fourth of the danger zones is that in front of the ears. The
vertical lines in front of the ears are believed to betoken advancing
age. Yet, like those about the eyes, they are misleading. They
sometimes appear on the faces of infants. The manner in which the ear
is set accounts largely for the presence of these wrinkles. If it is
set out from the head prominently the skin is loose in front of the
ear and falls readily into wrinkles. If the ear sets close to the
head the skin in front of the ear is drawn taut, and the so-called
age-betraying wrinkles never appear. To check this fold of skin is
almost impossible if the ear stands out from the head. To retard its
deepening, use the middle finger for massage, and with deep, firm
motion push slowly upward toward the top of the ear.
The lines on the neck behind the ears distress some women. To correct
them, massage with the first and second and third fingers deeply upward
toward the hair.
Massage of the body is prescribed by many physicians for nervous
disorders, for defective circulation and for reduction of flesh, for
insomnia and other disorders. While invaluable, it should only be
given by a skillful masseuse, preferably one recommended by a reliable
physician.
Of all systems of massage the Swedish is regarded as best. Its
operators must study their art for two years.
If a woman be thin this massage emollient is agreeable and adds to her
weight:
Oil of sweet almonds, 6 ounces; oil of bitter almonds, 20 drops; balsam
of tolu, 4 grams; benzoin, 4 grams; essence of orange, 6 drops; essence
of cajeput, 6 drops.
If the patient be plump, talcum powder is the only aid to the hands of
the masseuse required.
The beautiful woman has points. Let us enumerate them: A figure
graceful in outline, not too thin, nor too fat. A face that is
fascinating, and by fascinating I mean interesting. But to make it
interesting it must have what? Features that are well proportioned,
let us say regular. They must seem to belong to one’s own face and no
other. The nose must not be too large nor too small, but just large
enough for the face in which it is set.
[Illustration: PAULINE FREDERICK Painters and sculptors agree in giving
her high rank among the most beautiful living women.]
How to keep the lines of that face as good as they were at the
beginning, or better? It is most important. The nose should be
massaged--intelligently massaged. The owner of the nose herself can
do it quite as well if not better than any other.
If the nose is too broad, she should massage it delicately toward
the point. If it is too sharp, she should massage it away from the
point to the flare of the nostrils, always with the merest points of
the cushions of her fingers. To keep its normal whiteness it should
have often, at least once a day, a hot compress of cotton dipped in
rosewater or other distilled water, spread upon it. And after that
there should be a dash of cold water upon it to close the pores.
CHAPTER VI
WHAT TO DO FOR THE FEET
The beautiful foot is that of the baby. It is beautiful because it is
natural, unmarred by ill-fitting, cramping, distorting shoes.
Just in so far as the foot has departed from its original shape and
habit is it less than perfect. It is hard, indeed, to find a beautiful
foot. The story is told of a New York sculptor who, searching for a
perfect foot, dismissed three thousand models who were applicants for
the honor, declaring that there was not one beautiful foot among them.
By the established modern standard, the foot should be neither small
nor large, though it is preferable that it be small rather than large.
The tiny foot of a large woman is absurd. It suggests deformity. So
does the short foot on the tall woman. The foot should seem to belong
to the woman, not to have been loaned to her for the occasion. Like
her hand, it should seem to be in perfect harmony with the rest of her
body. If the owner be plump, the foot should not be thin. If she be
thin, the foot should not be plump.
It should be neither bony nor too fat. The bones should be well
covered, but their outline should be plain, enough to give a certain
distinction called “character” to the foot. The toes should spread
comfortably apart, yet there should not be unseemly spaces between
them. The spaces should be slight and even like those between regular
and well-kept teeth. The skin should be smooth and pinky white. The
nails should be strong but smooth and semi-transparent and delicately
pink. Above all, there should be no blemish, no disfiguring corn on the
small toes, no enlargement of the joints, nor bunions, no calloused
spot upon the sole. The high-bred foot lies, according to existing
standards, not flat upon the ground, but rests upon the heel and front
part of the sole, so that a rill of water may easily run under it.
To correspond with this natural bridge, there must also be an arched
instep.
This is the standard. Now how to achieve it. First, wear shoes that are
large enough and let them be of soft, pliable leather. Large enough, I
said, but not too large. The foot that slips about in large shoes is as
likely to get callous disfigurements as the one that is pinched. Heavy
leather and thick soles have no place on a woman’s delicate feet. The
stiff, unyielding boot may be all right upon the masculine foot, and
it may keep more perfect upon the inch-thick sole, but the skin of a
woman’s foot is too tender for this. The leather should be close but
fine, the soles of medium thickness. But I cannot lay too much emphasis
upon the need of a straight, even heel on the shoe. The heel is to the
shoe what the cornerstone is to the house. It is quite as necessary
that it be well laid, straight and secure. The crooked heel threatens
the health as the insecure cornerstone the security of the house.
The run-down heel disturbs the adjustment of the internal organs. It
pushes some of them close upon each other, draws others away from their
natural support. It destroys the balance of the foot, causing blisters
and callous spots. It throws the weight where it should not be, doing
violence to the center of gravity.
Watch your heels as closely as you should the running time of your
watch. When the bottoms of the heels disclose an inclined plane at
the back or the sides, you will find a corresponding blister or newly
formed callous spot on the sole. Your ounce of prevention is sending
the shoes to a cobbler the moment you see the hint of crookedness in
the heels. They can be planed or built up to their former evenness at
very slight expense. The money spent thus is much less than the fee of
a chiropodist that you will save.
Having formed the habit of wearing comfortable shoes--and let me say
here that American shoes are the best and that I always wear them--see
that the feet are released often from their prison. Even the best pair
of shoes is a prison. In your own room wear the Japanese sandals that
protect the delicate soles from the floor, but that leave the toes free
to lie loosely apart, though they are secured by strong cross bands.
These give the muscles of the feet a chance to relax. They are much
better for this purpose than the felt slipper or shoe, which is too
closely woven to permit proper ventilation.
The feet, like that other extreme of the body, the hair, need sunlight.
Think how little the poor, imprisoned feet get. They need air. How
little of that they get.
Well-shaped feet are so much rarer to-day than they were in the days of
the Romans and Greeks, mainly because we imprison them in unventilated,
sun-forbidding shoes instead of wearing the sandal of the ancients,
which gave the feet the light and air they need.
It is unfortunate that the arbiters of fashion have not seen fit to
condemn modern shoes in favor of the ancient sandal. More harm is done
to the feet by the present-day footwear, than is done to the hair by
rats and puffs or to the vital organs by tightfitting corsets.
Some years ago it did become the fashion for children to wear sandals,
but their elders were not wise enough to follow their example. But
if you cannot wear sandals yourselves, there is no reason why you
shouldn’t have your children wear them, for it is even more important
that the child’s feet be properly taken care of than the adults.
In early life, the bones are naturally soft and may be readily forced
out of their normal shapes by any considerable exterior pressure. It is
obvious that to maintain the proper contour of the child’s feet, the
sandal is much more satisfactory than the shoe. The former permits the
feet to be flat on the ground and spreads the toes, the latter crowds
the toes and compresses the whole foot.
And adults can improve the condition of their feet by wearing sandals
in the house, even if prevailing fashion does not permit of their
wearing them out of doors.
To be healthy, the feet must be kept scrupulously clean. So much are
they exposed to the dust of the streets, especially by those who
wear low shoes, that they need more than the perfunctory share of
the morning plunge or shower. They should be bathed every night in a
foot-tub containing warm water. If the feet be tender, the water should
contain borax in the proportion of an ounce to a gallon.
Warm salt water is also very easeful for tired feet, especially useful
for reducing the congestion in swollen feet. This powder, sprinkled
into the warm bathwater, affords great relief:
Borax (powdered), 1 ounce; sea salt, 1 ounce; alum, ½ ounce. Use one
teaspoonful to a gallon of water.
For tired, swollen feet, lemon juice, sprinkled freely into the water,
is a means of alleviation. An easier way to apply it is to cut a lemon
in half and rub the soles of the feet with it.
Calloused spots may be removed from the sole by planing off the rough
surfaces with pumice stone.
English women give ease to their feet after a long walk by bathing
them in an infusion of rosemary leaves. Steep the rosemary leaves, a
half ounce to a gallon of water. When cool, bathe the feet for twenty
minutes in the mixture, adding warm water now and then, as the water in
the foot-tub cools.
For feet inclining to excessive perspiration a powder made of these
ingredients should be used in the footbath:
Tannin, 60 grains; alum, 2 drams; lycopodium, 6 drams. One teaspoonful
of the powder to a gallon of warm water is sufficient.
Sensitive feet are much relieved by this remedy, which is popular in
England:
Rosemary leaves, ½ pound; juniper berries, 3 ounces; dried mint, ½
ounce. Boil in three quarts of water.
Corns are merely hardened portions of the skin usually appearing upon
the top of the toes. Each speaks loudly of pressure by shoes. No Indian
ever had a corn until he began wearing the white man’s boots. Corns and
bunions are the record of the fact that the shoe, as many wear it, is
an instrument of torture. If the corns be new and not deep-seated, they
can be removed by self-treatment.
Soak the feet from fifteen to twenty minutes in warm water, softened by
a few drops of violet ammonia, or of benzoin. Bind a slice of lemon on
the toes, tying it securely with a bandage of white muslin. If the corn
responds naturally to the treatment it should be so loose after three
or four applications that you can push it out by gentle friction with a
towel. Never use your finger nails in extracting a corn, no matter how
loose it seems. Blood poisoning might result.
If the case is more obstinate, this, applied with a small camel’s hair
brush should be quickly efficacious:
Collodion, 4 grams; ether (65 per cent.), 2 grams; alcohol (95 per
cent.), 1 gram; tincture of Cannabis Indica, ¼ gram; salicylic acid, ½
gram.
Less expensive is this:
Collodion, 1 ounce; salicylic acid, 1 dram; fluid extract of Cannabis
Indica, 1 scruple. Apply several times a day until the corn is soft
enough to be scraped away.
If the corns are of the “soft” variety that grow between the toes,
absorbent cotton powdered with tannin or alum may be inserted between
them. Ring plasters to protect the corn from further irritation by the
shoe have their friends and foes. I think it much wiser to remove the
pressure permanently by abandoning the shoes that caused it.
Bunions, or enlarged and inflamed joints, are the greatest affliction
to which suffering feet can be subjected. A new broad pair of shoes
with low heels is the best remedy. To assist this remedy, the joints
may be painted three times a day with this simple but strong bunion
lotion:
Tincture of iodine, 2 drams; carbolic acid, 2 drams; glycerine, 2 drams.
A dainty foot powder should be on every woman’s toilet shelf or table,
especially if her feet perspire freely. An excellent one is made like
this:
Florentine orris powder, 100 grams; starch, 100 grams; alcohol, 10
grams; phenic acid, 5 grams. This should be sprinkled on the foot
before dressing it, especially throughout the summer.
And here is still another foot powder which I have used for a long
time, sprinkling a half ounce of it into a foot tub holding two gallons
of water, or dusting my feet with it after the bath:
Powdered alum, 1 ounce; powdered boracic acid, 2 ounces; talcum, 4
ounces; starch, 6 ounces; a few drops of perfume at pleasure.
This yet simpler powder is much used for perspiring feet:
Powdered orris root, 1 ounce; powdered alum, ½ ounce; rice powder, 3
ounces.
The nails should be cut square across, except when the formation of the
toes, acquired by close pressure of the toes upon each other, demands
that the nail be cut round to adapt itself to the shape of the toes.
At the first sign of an ingrowing toe nail each of two simple remedies
may be used. The corner of the nail at the side where the toe is
inflamed may be gently lifted and cotton thrust beneath it to relieve
the pressure. Also at the middle of the upper edge of the nail a tiny
V may be cut. Nature in extra efforts to heal this breach in the nail
withdraws her forces from the irritation of the side of the toe.
Light massage by a skillful masseuse is greatly beneficial to tired
feet. Dancers, pedestrians and female cyclists have used this unguent,
rubbing it well into the muscles and about the joints, to make them
more flexible:
Portugal extract, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 ounce; brandy, 1 gill; olive
oil, 3 ounces; mutton tallow, 4 ounces; virgin wax, 1 ounce; ambergris,
½ grain.
Walking barefoot in the early morning is still a fad of many society
women and actresses and singers who have regard for the health of
their feet. Besides the beauty of the foot and the elastic carriage so
secured, walking with bare feet upon the bare earth is believed by many
physicians to be very beneficial in certain cases. It is recommended
also as a tonic for the nerves.
A good exercise to develop the elasticity of the foot is to sit with
the feet scarcely reaching the floor, and press the fore part of the
sole upon the floor. This also strengthens weak ankles.
No woman is ever pretty while her feet hurt; and a horrid male person
has been ungallant enough to say that the awkwardest thing in nature is
“a woman with a sore foot.” That he didn’t exaggerate, we must admit.
What shall we do to stop this wearing of beauty, this most excruciating
of the minor physical ills? We should first look to the cause.
Is the skin between the toes cracked and sensitive? It is possible that
this is a symptom of a uric acid condition. See your physician and let
him determine whether it is so. If you have joined the great army of
those who have the uric acid diathesis, be treated accordingly. If the
cracks between the toes are caused by the feet being excessively hot,
either of these should complete a cure in a short time:
Spread zinc ointment over the cracked surfaces; or, powder them thickly
with Fuller’s earth.
If the feet are bathed every night before retiring in tepid water
into which a little borax or common table salt has been sprinkled,
there is little likelihood of sensitive, swollen feet, or of hardened
or calloused portions on the feet. As the evening foot bath is a
preventative, so is it a cure for such conditions, unless they have
reached an extreme stage. If so, after carefully drying the feet--being
careful to dry them thoroughly between the toes so that no soft corns
will form there--rub the swollen portions of the feet gently with witch
hazel; or the hard, calloused portions with olive oil or cold cream.
Keep several pairs of shoes so that you need not wear the same pair on
two successive days. Wear a different pair of hose each day, turning
wrong side out and leaving to air the pair that you have worn the
previous day.
If the feet perspire this remedy is a good one--apply it by dusting the
feet with it:
Borax, 10 grams; starch, 10 grams; salicylic acid, 3 grams; powdered
alum, 5 grams; talcum powder, 50 grams; naphthol, 5 grams.
This simpler preparation can be applied with a camel’s hair brush:
Distilled water, ½ pint; bichromate of potassium, 1½ drams; essence of
violet, 1 dram.
The masculine habit of resting the feet upon another chair than
the one occupied by the sitter has its origin in the instinct of
self-preservation. The blood flows too freely into the legs and feet
that remain too long in a suspended position, engorging the veins and
causing discomfort. It is this condition which men seek to relieve by
placing their feet on desks and chairs. It is a habit which women may
well imitate when alone--at least to the limit of the height of a chair
seat. The “long chair” of the French meets the need of allowing the
legs to lie on a level with a portion of the body while the upper part
is in a sitting posture.
Rest the feet by wearing larger shoes and only cotton stockings. Wear
sandals without stockings in your room on warm days.
CHAPTER VII
THE PROPER CARE OF THE MOUTH AND TEETH
To be beautiful one must have an ideal of beauty and strive always to
reach it. Wishing to make and keep the mouth beautiful, we must have
ever in our minds an image of a beautiful mouth.
What must a mouth be to be beautiful? Ideals about beauty differ
greatly, but there can scarcely be any difference of opinion about the
attributes of an attractive mouth. It must be well shaped.
It must be red, but not too red. The teeth must be, or seem to be,
perfect.
If I were harsh enough to criticise American women, I should say that
their eyes are beautiful, but their mouths are not so beautiful. I
should say that their lips are too thin. I should say also that their
teeth are not perfect. I should qualify this by saying that I am
speaking of the average, not the exceptional, American woman.
The reason for this fault of lips that are too thin and too straight
lies chiefly in character, and there we have a paradox, for it is
not a fault of character. American women have immense self-reliance,
tremendous decision, and these are written in lips that might be carved
from pink marble, straight, fine, unyielding. I would not change those
admirable traits of character, but I would use massage to relax the
muscles about the lips and remove that drawn expression.
The pleasing mouth has lips that curve from thin outer corners to a
ripe fullness at the middle. The sweep should be upward to a fine cleft
at the middle of the upper lip. A deep cleft just above the upper lip
is one of the recognized marks of beauty. The lower lip should be
straighter and not so full as the upper. Much has been said about the
beauties of the lips, but nothing has been said more illuminative than
the phrase “Cupid’s bow.”
Study the gentle sweep of a bow, held in place by a cord. It adheres to
the rule, “Curves are the lines of beauty.” The curve is soft, tender.
It seems to be the blending of countless curves. So the mouth. I once
saw the mouth of a cruel woman described as being “like a slit in a
stone wall.” I thought the phrase apt.
I believe in allowing the mouth to take care of itself. It is its
surroundings, its environment, so to speak, that is important. Look to
the lines from nostrils to lips. See that they are removed by massage.
Massage restores circulation. Massage is like a system of irrigation
for waste land. Creases are caused by lack of circulation. The muscles
that hold the mouth in a firm line are thread-like, one just above and
at the sides of the lips. It is most important to keep these taut by
massage.
As to color, I have said that the lips should not be too red. The
normal lips should be the same color as the gums, and has not your
dentist said to you, “Your gums are too red, are not healthy”? So the
lips should be a deep pink, or a light red. Not blood color, but three
shades at least lighter than a stream of arterial blood. I make this
distinction because venous blood may be bluish, and far from a model
for the healthful color of the lips.
An Italian authority on beauty said the beautiful mouth must always be
open enough to show five teeth. This is attractive, but not hygienic.
The teeth are to the beauty of the mouth as important as the keystone
to an arch. Without the keystone there can be no arch. Without lovely
teeth the beauty of the mouth does not exist. The lips are a promise of
beauty. The teeth are its fulfillment.
The teeth should be regular. They should not be crowded together, and
there should be no aggressively noticeable spaces between them. They
should be white, or seem white. The unromantic truth is that teeth are
never white. They are of three shades, blue, yellow and gray, always
one or the other. But in contrast with the lips they look white, and
the more vivid the lips the whiter do the teeth look in contrast. Which
is the reason, I suppose, that I have seen women with frightfully
overcarmined lips.
Now, how to make the mouth or keep the mouth well shaped, red but not
too red, and teeth to be or look perfect. The time to train our mouths
to beauty is in our infancy. Our mothers should begin the work, and
when we have reached years of intelligence, we should carry it forward.
If an infant’s mouth is too large it can be trained to lesser size by
tender pinching of the corners. This makes the line at the corners
almost indeterminate, and diminishes the size. Need I tell any mother
that this must be most gently and tenderly done? Also train the lips to
deepen their beauty cleft by pushing the middle portions together with
the first fingers. This light pressure four or five times a day, when
you are dressing the child in the morning and undressing her at night,
will marvelously refashion the mouth. I knew a Parisian mother who not
only made over her child’s mouth, but also the nose into good lines by
this light, discreet pinching.
If your mouth is defective, improve the shape of your lips by avoiding
careless habits. Many pretty women are disfigured by crude, careless
habits of mouthing their words, of chewing their lips, of ridiculous
labial contortions while they talk.
To correct them, practice in talking or reciting before a mirror. Note
whether you draw down the lips while you speak. Note whether you catch
them between your teeth and nervously chew them. Observe whether,
while you make a short speech, longitudinal lines form on the upper
lip. Notice whether your smile is simple, natural, unexaggerated, or
whether your mouth widens vacuously, or draws into a prim resemblance
to a buttonhole when you smile. When you have determined whether you
have any of these bad habits, determine to cure them, and do so. There
is but one way to cure them, and that is by remembering your fault and
avoiding it.
The lips should be lightly massaged before falling asleep. For that
massage this is my favorite pomade. You will observe that in no
preparation that I advise for the lips is any camphor. I dislike
camphor for the lips because it is an astringent, and the mouth is too
much inclined to pucker into unlovely lines without its aid. Try this:
Oil of sweet almonds, 125 grams; white wax, 28 grams; spermaceti, 28
grams; oil of bergamot, 1 gram; oil of geranium, 2 grams.
This softens the lips, effacing the tiny lines that form in the lips,
destroying their smooth surface, during the day. It can be varied by
another and simpler remedy:
Hydrated glycerine (50 per cent. water), 60 grams; rosewater, 20 grams.
Do not use glycerine alone on the lips nor on any other surface of the
body. It is too drying. It has the power to draw moisture from the
skin, and that moisture should by replaced by the water with which the
glycerine is mixed.
Leaving the shape, we come to the color of the lips. Preserve that by
keeping the bodily health good. If the circulation is defective the
lips will be pale. If we become anæmic, pallid lips will be one of the
first signs of our state. To make them healthily red improve the tone
of the system by two means. Be sure to sleep enough. You may need
eight hours or nine. You yourself know which. Take it.
Eat nourishing food. Eat often and lightly. That is far better than
to eat seldom and heartily. Better five light than three heavy meals
a day. Eat of meat sparingly, for most meats are hard to digest. Once
a day, and that at dinner, is often enough. But depend greatly upon
vegetables and eggs. Eggs have much iron in them. So, too, have string
beans, spinach and beets. Milk, too, is an excellent builder of new
tissues.
If, after a fortnight, your lips are still pallid, try the iron
injections I have before recommended. Do this under a physician’s
directions and you will surely be vastly benefited.
Mouth mannerisms are leaks of beauty. Self-conscious young women
draw down the corners of their mouths when they talk or when they
smile. They twist one corner of the mouth downward, making the mouth
one-sided. They even suck the lips inward, spoiling the contour of the
mouth. They rub their faces with nervous fingers. They elevate one
eyebrow and pull down the other. They twist locks of their hair. They
play with folds of their gowns, or with their desk ornaments. It is
only the deeply learned lesson that it is vulgar to play with articles
on the table that keeps them from drumming with their knives and forks
or twirling their plates.
This is deplorable, for it not only mars their beauty, but shows an
utter lack of inward calm. They must get into a state of peace, must
harmonize inward with outward conditions. A dozen times a day they must
say to themselves and must obey their own command: “Peace, be still.”
Talk, if you will, but don’t talk unless you have something to say.
Believe me, you can be interesting though silent, by being an
interested listener. Wild, aimless, excessively excited talking is one
of the biggest leaks of beauty.
The mouth, if too large, may be lightly massaged by using the middle
fingers of each hand to coax it toward the greater fullness at the
middle and less at the corners. If it be too small, rotary massage from
the corners of the lips will tend to widen it.
If the chin be too strong, the jaw too heavy, as it is sure to be
in these latter days of new equality, the fact can be rendered less
glaring by dressing the hair well forward above the forehead, so that
there will be a semblance of brow and chin being of equal weight, and
the face seem to be well balanced. If the chin is too weak the hair
should be well drawn back, so that the strength of the brow will seem
to make up the character deficit.
For lips that chap easily and always have a parched look let me advise
that this pomade be applied every night, freely massaged into the lips:
Cocoa butter, 24 grams; white wax, 4 grams; oil of rose geranium, 1
gram.
This should relieve an ordinary case. If it be an obstinate one,
suppose you try this remedy prescribed by the famous Dr. Vaucaire,
whose commandments are the decalogue of beauty-loving Paris:
Castor oil, 6 grams; cocoa butter, 20 grams; oil of birch, 4 drops;
extract of catechu, 2 grams; essence of star anise, 10 drops.
To make rough lips smooth try this:
Oil of sweet almonds, 1 ounce; spermaceti, 1 ounce; white wax, ¼ ounce;
oil of rose, 6 drops. Melt together slowly, then work into a firm cream.
The gums should be of a healthy red. If they look pale massage them
gently for five minutes several times a day with this compound:
Woundwort water, 100 grams; horseradish extract, 12 grams; oil of
cloves, 1 drop. Dilute with an equal quantity of water.
The wholesome woman tries to keep her breath as “sweet as the kine’s,”
recalling the exclamation of Byron. She keeps a jar of bicarbonate of
soda on her bathroom shelf and takes a teaspoonful in a glass of water
whenever needed. She always drinks two or three glasses of cool water
slowly on rising. This is because when the stomach is in the tubular
shape that it is in the morning it lends itself easily to the work
done by the water, of cleansing the stomach for its work of the day.
To correct acid conditions of mouth or stomach she takes a couple of
unsweetened charcoal tablets now and then, and this is her favorite
mouth pastille:
Unsweetened chocolate, 1½ ounces; white sugar, ½ ounce; charcoal
powder, ½ ounce.
These are more easily taken if mixed to the consistency of paste by the
addition of dissolved gum arabic, cooled and cut into tablets.
For the care and preservation of the teeth four things are essential.
They are: Proper diet, proper tooth brush, proper tooth powders or
pastes, and proper mouth baths.
But beyond any doubt the first safeguard is to have a reliable,
skillful dentist--if you can make sure of finding one. One may go on
for years with false confidence in a dentist before one finds out her
sad mistake.
I go to a dentist once a month to have my teeth examined. No one should
let more than three months at most pass without a visit to the dentist
for an inspection of the teeth.
The best dentist is none too good. The careless or ignorant or lazy or
dishonest dentist may cause irreparable damage. And the saddest part of
it is that we are at the mercy of the dentist, because we cannot know
whether his work is good or bad until the damage is done.
There often come on the teeth, particularly between them where food
is permitted to lodge, small dark stains, which really are the first
warnings or premonitory signs of decay. If allowed to remain, the
enamel eventually disintegrates, and we have a cavity, which must then
be excavated and filled. Before this discoloration has advanced to
an actual breaking down of the tooth structure, it may very properly
and successfully be removed or polished away by the dentist’s engine
and the sandpaper disc used for this purpose and for smoothing gold
fillings.
The honest dentist will do this, and restore the tooth to its original
color and soundness, after which it may be, with care, indefinitely
preserved, but the unscrupulous dentist may, of course, construe this
suspicious-looking spot as caries, and he may wickedly cut away sound
tooth surface, fill in with the customary unsightly gold or amalgam,
and the unsuspecting victim pays the bill and departs none the wiser.
Of course, in front teeth it is especially a misfortune to make a
cavity where it could have been avoided.
Let us consider now the diet. We must avoid extremes. The English
girl’s answer to the question, “Why do you have such beautiful
complexions?” might as well have been made to another query: “Why do
English girls have such beautiful teeth?” The girl replied: “Because we
never eat anything very sweet or sour, nor anything very hot or cold.”
That is an excellent rule.
Whoever follows it will adopt an admirable dietary. Also live if
possible in a region whose soil is strongly impregnated with lime.
That its soil is so strongly impregnated with lime is the reason why
the Bluegrass region of Kentucky is as famous for the beauty of its
women as of its horses. Much lime in the soil means much lime in the
products thereof, and whoever eats of these products has strong bones
and correspondingly strong teeth. But we may not all live in Kentucky,
and unfortunately there is not enough lime soil to extend over the
world. So we must make up for this lack by careful attention to our
diet.
Let me explain why the diet is of so great importance. Those foods
which contain lime strengthen the teeth. Fifty-four and seven-tenths
of the composition of the teeth is phosphate of lime, when they are in
normal condition. To get as much lime as possible into the system, and
so into the teeth, is as necessary as to have as much iron as possible
in the framework of the house. The iron in the framework of the house
will resist fire. The lime in the teeth will prevent their softening
and decay.
Therefore, gluten and whole wheat bread and the cooked cereals, instead
of cakes and white bread and sweets, should be eaten. These should be
supplemented by various preparations of phosphates to introduce lime
into the system. A simple lime water, which can be prepared by any
housewife or any intelligent employé of a housewife, is one of the best
of these preparations:
Clean, unslacked lime, 1 teacupful; water, 2 quarts. Put the lime into
a pitcher and pour the water over it. Stir the mixture, or shake it
until it looks like milk. Then pour off the water. Fill the pitcher
again with pure water. Again stir or shake thoroughly. Tie over the
pitcher a piece of muslin to keep out the dust and possible floating
germs. Let it stand in a clean, cool place until the water is clear.
Pour the clear portion into clean, glass-stoppered bottles.
Another method is to use a tablespoonful of lime water in a tumbler of
milk.
If the teeth are soft from deficiency of mineral salts or sensitive
from the presence of excessive acids the dose can be increased to two
or three tablespoonfuls.
It is well after eating acid fruits to rinse the mouth carefully two
or three times with lime water or any alkaline mouth wash. Or when
the teeth have been irritated, or unpleasantly affected, or the gums
irritated by a food or medicine to which they are unaccustomed it is
well to rub precipitated chalk about the necks of the teeth and between
the teeth. It is well also to rinse the mouth with milk of magnesia at
night before retiring.
Again let me suggest that diet is of immense importance for two
reasons. If the diet be an unwise one it may create an excess of uric
acid, which makes itself manifest in the mouth and causes the teeth to
decay about the necks, that is, the portion enclosed by the gums, a
state to be avoided, for the cavities thus formed are hard to reach and
are the most painful to be operated upon by the dentist.
Again, the diet is important because if there is an undue fermentation
or any other unwholesome condition in the stomach the gases and acids
arising from these discolor the teeth.
Therefore, avoid, as I have said, articles of diet that are very sweet
or very sour, and articles of drink that are very hot or very cold. For
example, do not eat candy, pastry, puddings, except those consisting
chiefly of fruit; ices, pickles or sour oranges or grape fruit. Do not
drink sour lemonade, nor limeade. Avoid ice water or very hot tea or
coffee. I am extremely careful about my diet, quite as much for the
care of my teeth as for my complexion.
As soon as I rise in the morning I place my tooth brush, which should
be soft and shaped to fit the teeth, in a mug of hot water. I let it
remain there for a half hour, until I have had my bath and my alcohol
rub. This hint I received from my dentist, who said that it would
make the bristles soft, besides swelling them so that they would fill
the spaces for them in the brush, and thus prevent the bristles from
loosening and detaching themselves from the brush and irritating the
gums.
Always use a good tooth powder or paste which a reliable chemist has
analyzed and pronounced pure. Simple, pleasant and beneficial to gums
and teeth is this:
Camphor gum, 1 ounce; precipitated chalk, 5 ounces; pulverized orris
root, 3 ounces.
A good variant of this is the following:
Precipitated chalk, ½ pound; powdered starch, ½ pound; powdered orris
root, ¼ pound; sulphate of quinine, ¼ dram.
One of my own favorite powders is made according to this formula:
Carbonate of magnesia, powdered, 3 ounces; powdered orris root, 1
ounce; powdered sugar, 1 ounce; castile soap, ½ ounce; powdered
precipitate of chalk, 10 ounces; oil of roses, 25 drops; oil of lemon,
5 drops; oil of wintergreen, 5 drops; tannin, 15 drops.
I recommend also this as helpful and agreeable:
Precipitated chalk, ½ pound; powdered borax, ¼ pound; powdered myrrh, ¼
pound; powdered orris root, ¼ dram.
Another simple and effective preparation is this:
Powdered chalk, 2 ounces; oil of peppermint, 2 drops.
A good antiseptic powder for occasional use I have found to be this:
Bicarbonate of soda, 1 ounce; cinnamon, 1 ounce; oil of cinnamon, 2
drops.
If my teeth are discolored I brush them thoroughly with this powder:
Sugar of milk, 200 grams; powdered catechu, 3 grams; oil of peppermint,
4 drops; oil of anise, 4 drops; oil of orange flower, 4 drops. Pour
into the sugar of milk a few drops of alcohol. Add the catechu,
stirring them thoroughly. Sift them through bolting cloth and sprinkle
the oil of peppermint, the oil of anise and the oil of orange flower
into the powder.
Another which is less expensive, and is also excellent, is this:
Precipitated chalk, 500 grams; pulverized orris root, 250 grams;
pulverized camphor gum, 12 grams; alcohol (95 per cent.), 10 drops.
This should be sifted through bolting cloth to remove lumps that might
irritate the gums.
It has always been my habit to use powder only once a day and that in
the morning. I think it enough, because too much tooth powder in time
wears away the enamel. Yet my dentist tells me that the best time to
use tooth powder is at night, because the salivary glands, being quiet
during sleep, when we do not talk or eat, do not then secrete the
saliva, whose flow has a cleansing action.
After each meal I use dental floss, drawing it between the teeth to
remove any particles of food that may have lodged between them. Hard
toothpicks are liable to crack the enamel. Also I give the mouth a
bath, that is, I thoroughly rinse it several times with a good mouth
wash.
Of preparations for liquid dentifrices and mouth baths there is no end.
This, “the bath of roses,” is my favorite, and I rinse my mouth with it
after each meal and before retiring:
Tincture of orris root, 8 drams; spirit of roses, 8 fluid drams;
alcohol, 95 per cent., 8 fluid drams.
An agreeable preparation for a mouth bath is made of:
Powdered borax, 3 drams; honey water, 2 ounces; castile soap
(powdered), 1 ounce; warm water, 1 pint; oil of cloves, 2 drops.
Dissolve the powdered soap in the warm water. Add the other ingredients
and shake well.
Either of the following washes will be found excellent for the teeth:
Tannic acid, 1 ounce; oil of wintergreen, 1 dram; powdered orris root,
4 ounces; alcohol, 4 ounces; water, 4 ounces.
Tincture of orris root, 1 ounce; tincture of musk, 4 drops; oil of
rose, 2 drops; oil of neroli, 4 drops; oil of peppermint, 4 drops; oil
of spearmint, 4 drops; oil of ylang ylang, 1 drop; alcohol, 3 ounces;
water, 8 ounces.
Here is one which, besides being agreeable, has a medicinal value in
being a disinfectant:
Thymol, 3 grains; alcohol, 3 ounces; benzoic acid, 40 grains; tincture
of eucalyptus, 3 drams; essence wintergreen, 5 drops.
Easily obtainable, too, is this and very soothing to irritated gums:
Permanganate of potash, 10 grains; distilled water, 1 ounce.
Another simple mouth wash which I have frequently employed with good
results is made as follows:
Chlorate of potash, 2 drams; rosewater, 6 ounces.
For a mouth bath after a meal a solution made by adding a tablespoonful
of bicarbonate of soda to a tumbler of water is useful.
Use dental floss more and the toothbrush less. The toothbrush should be
soft and should be shaped to adapt itself to the teeth. It should slant
toward the front, with a tuft on the end so that the bristles can work
their way into all the crevices between the teeth.
I am glad that toothpicks have come to be classed with vulgar things.
A member of Parliament at a dinner in London played nervously with his
toothpick and thrust the end of it into his finger. The toothpick had
harbored some dangerous microbe, for the statesman had to have two
fingers amputated. The danger of infection from toothpicks is great.
Dental floss being protected from vagrant germs by its casing, and the
end being cut off as soon as used, is much safer, besides being less
irritant to the tender gums.
If the teeth are not straight, have them straightened. If there are
wide spaces between them have them drawn closer together. Dentists can
do this by fastening rubber bands about the neck of the teeth. It is
tedious and painful, but it is worth while. For a tiny space, but an
undue one between the teeth, may change the natural expression of the
face. I know an American statesman, whose face is of the strong, noble
lines of a statue of granite, but who takes on a fatuous expression
when he smiles, because there is a considerable space between his two
upper front teeth. After the teeth are drawn into their proper place,
they are secured by small bands of gold or by a rod at the back of the
teeth.
If the teeth are permanently discolored it may be because you need a
dentist’s services. It is well to call on him at least every three
months. Every two months is still better. His examination will show
any fault in the teeth that may be a tiny one, but which if neglected
for three months longer would be troublesome. Frequent visits to
conscientious dentists are best for your teeth and best for your purse.
The teeth are the most important of the appointments, the furnishings,
so to speak, of the mouth. They must be kept perfect at all costs of
care and forethought. But they, like all portions of a woman’s body,
must be delicately treated. Tooth powder should not be used more than
once a day. And that in the morning. For the rest dental floss and a
delicate liquid dentrifice after each meal and before retiring.
CHAPTER VIII
DUTIES EVERY WOMAN OWES TO HER HAIR
It is Monday, and I note that my hair does not respond readily to the
brush; that it lies lifeless under my fingers; that instead of being a
live, bushy, glowing mass, it has diminished to a wisp scarcely larger
than my two fingers. It is as though some witch in a rage had plucked
it, hair by hair, from my head as I slept.
But that has happened too often to give me alarm. Once I wept over it.
I thought that I was to become as the shiny-headed men that sit in the
first rows of the opera and stare and stare. But that was long ago.
Now I know when my hair shows these symptoms that it is dead, but only
temporarily, and that with care I can resurrect it, make it live again.
With this lifeless condition of the hair I have always found two
corresponding conditions of the scalp. The scalp is hot and dry.
Also, the brushing reveals dandruff--light, fine and profuse. It is a
condition that must be corrected.
First remove the dandruff. Hair cannot thrive when that fine, light
powder lies upon the scalp, obstructing its pores. To rid one’s self of
it the hair must be washed, not once but often. I resolve upon washing
it every day for a week. I choose the time when I have had my bath. In
the water I have dissolved half a cake of the best soap I can get. If
upon analysis it is proven to be made of spermaceti all the better. I
always have a new soap analyzed, as I do a new cold cream.
I part my hair, and, dipping a small brush the size of an ordinary
toothbrush into the water, rub the parting vigorously. I part it again,
and rub that parting, and the next, and the next, scrubbing it, as you
say in this country, strenuously with the brush dipped in soapy water.
When this has been done I empty the bowl, and in a second water, in
which the other half of the cake of soap is dissolved, I wash the hair
again, but this time rub the scalp, not with the brush, but with my
fingers. Then again and again and again, until the water is as clean as
when it runs from the faucet, I rinse the hair.
Now comes the problem of drying it. The hair that is dried in the hot
funnel becomes brittle and cracks. If it is dried by draughts of cold
air its owner contracts neuralgia. It should be dried first by a brisk
toweling. The towel should be rubbed quickly through the hair and upon
the scalp, taking the first dripping stage of moisture from each of
them. The rest of the drying should be done by the heat of the hands.
With the tips of the fingers every bit of space on the scalp should be
rubbed until dry.
As the scalp dries the hair dries, too. Last, that the hair may not
hang together in matted strands, but stand fluffily, each hair for
itself, there should be the last stage of the drying. This is the
rubbing of the hair, strand by strand, between the hands. Even this one
shampoo will prove that the hair that seemed to be dead is, after all,
very much alive.
After the drying the hair should, of course, be brushed--adequately
brushed. But there are curious ideas among women in this country as to
what is adequate brushing. American friends of mine give the hair one
hundred, even two hundred, strokes. I think this is too many. Excessive
brushing drags upon the hair and loosens its roots. Forty strokes of
the brush I believe to be quite enough. Less brushing, more massaging,
is what is needed by all heads, especially the heads on which the hair
is thinning.
After the forty strokes of the brush there should be massage. Dry
massage always. If you begin with dry fingers you will find that your
fingers soon become oily. The sebaceous glands yield their contents
quickly to the pressure of fingers, and the released oil softens the
hair and sets the tide of growth pouring into it.
It is well at this time to give the hair a sun and air bath. The hair
is precious, a splendid frame for the face, and you can afford to give
much time to saving it. Sit or stand near an open window. Let the
sunshine pour its tonic into your hair. Let the air sweep through and
about it. It will respond to the treatment as an invalid to his first
drive after a long illness.
Let the hair rest as much as possible. Decline invitations, or, if you
have accepted them, cancel the engagements. You can dispense with a few
perfunctory meetings and greetings, a cup or two of tea, rather than
with so important a part of your beauty as shining, healthful hair.
Remain in your boudoir, with your hair loosened and hanging. When it is
necessary to be visible to the world wear it in a somewhat different
way, and use fewer hairpins.
On Tuesday I would use a different and more stimulating shampoo:
Pure liquid soap, 100 grams; carbonate of potassium, 20 grams;
distilled water, 2 liters. These should be boiled until the soap is
dissolved, then let cool. When cool add from 200 to 500 grains of
tincture of vanilla or other favorite perfume.
A handful of this shampoo in a bowl of warm water will cleanse the
hair of any dust it may have accumulated since Monday. The hair is now
thoroughly clean. The next step is to stimulate it. For this purpose
use the camomile mixture, made as follows:
Two handfuls of camomile; two quarts of water. Boil until the mixture
is as black as after-dinner coffee. Usually fifteen minutes are quite
enough. Pour it into two more quarts of cold water and place in a
gallon jar.
Massage the scalp with it after the shampoo. This is a favorite
preparation in France. There no grease nor oil is used on the hair.
To encourage the hair to grow an application of a good quinine mixture
is a great aid. During the afternoon of the second day that I go into
seclusion for my hair’s sake I massage the scalp lightly with such a
tonic. Or I apply it before going to bed. Many of the quinine mixtures
sold in the drug stores I have used with good effect, after having had
them analyzed by chemists.
Here is a preparation which a friend becoming bald used to secure a
splendid new lot of hair. Were I in so serious a state I might also use
it:
Precipitated sulphur, 10 grams; alcohol (95 per cent.), 10 grams;
distilled water, 50 grams; rosewater, 50 grams.
And here is another which, were my case radical, I would use:
Alcohol (95 per cent.), 100 grams; acetone, 100 grams; oil of cade,
10 grams; precipitated sulphur, 20 grams; pyrogallic acid, 2 grams;
chrysophanic acid, 20 centigrams; bichloride of mercury, 40 centigrams.
On Wednesday I would do that which ordinarily I should do but twice
or three times a year--I would singe the ends of my hair. Then again
I would shampoo it with the preparation for which I gave the first
recipe, and would again give it the tonic of air and sun bath.
And again I would use the camomile, but if one prefers to have the aid
of the druggist here is a preparation that is much used in London with
great satisfaction. I shall give it in the English measure:
Resorcine, 1 dram; chloral hydrate, 3 drams; sweet almond oil, 1 dram;
chloroform, 6 drams; eau de cologne, 6 ounces.
On Thursday, if my hair is not showing great improvement, I may vary my
shampoo. Here is an excellent cleansing one:
Extract of witch hazel, 1 pint; eau de cologne, 8 ounces; chloroform, 3
drams.
On Friday and Saturday I would repeat this shampoo, the massage and the
sun and air bath.
By Sunday, with every morning a shampoo, a massage of the scalp for
fifteen minutes--not long enough to irritate the nerves--and the
sun and air baths and the repose, one’s hair should be excellently
vigorous. If the rigorous treatment should have caused it to be too
straight I would encourage it to curl by the application of rosewater
and gum arabic in these quantities:
Gum arabic, 100 grams; rosewater, 400 grams.
Always in brushing the hair the strokes should be backward, straight
back, instead of to the sides, for in that way the hair is aided to
grow low on the forehead, which is a most desirable mark of beauty.
Before retiring I always braid my hair in two loose braids. I never use
curling irons when I can avoid it. Use them cautiously. Better not at
all, especially if your hair have a natural wave.
If your hair persistently continues to fall out, it is probably
because of a generally lowered tone of your health. I should then
resort to iron or arsenic hypodermic injections under the direction
of a physician. When I have suffered from nervous exhaustion I have
always taken this treatment at a physician’s prescription. I have found
the iron particularly upbuilding. I would receive an injection every
day for ten days, then rest three or four days, then begin again for
another ten days until seven weeks have gone. Always at the end of
that time I have felt rejuvenated.
And after my complexion my hair was the first to improve. Never attempt
this without medical direction, I repeat. The injections of iron I
preferred to taking it internally, thereby saving the teeth from the
bad effects of the iron. Also the administering of medicines in this
way prevents an unpleasant disturbance of the stomach.
If there be an unconquerable objection to the injections a physician
will prescribe cod liver oil, or tablets containing quinine and
phosphorus that are a tonic to the system.
If the hair be prematurely gray I should first take a general treatment
for the system, hoping that the gray hair would fall out and a crop
of natural color appear. Or if I could gain my own consent to dye my
hair, I should go to a druggist’s and ask for a safe solution of henna.
This is the one hair dye which I can recommend. It is harmless, but its
range of usefulness is limited for it only dyes the hair red. It is
prepared like this:
Henna leaves, 1 ounce; boiling water, 2 pints; henna powder, 1 ounce.
Place the henna leaves in a stone jar. Pour over them the water. Allow
the liquid to stand undisturbed for twelve hours. Then strain and heat
until it reaches the boiling point. To the liquid add the henna powder.
Stir thoroughly and strain once more. The hair must be thoroughly clean
when it is applied, so the best time to apply it is immediately after a
shampoo.
But do not place too much reliance upon the henna. Look to the state
of your general health and be sure to keep the scalp cool, clean and
moist. If this is done the next crop of hair--for we raise new hair
every three years, you know--may come in the former natural color and
the former unwelcome gray may disappear before the new crop. Use a good
hair tonic to bring about that condition of the scalp. This is one
that has been long and successfully used:
Glycerine, 2 ounces; alcohol, 1 pint; sulphate of quinine, 1 dram; oil
of cloves, ½ dram; oil of lemon, 4 ounces; oil of bergamot, 1 ounce.
This, too, deserves recommendation:
Castor oil, 1 gill; alcohol, 3 pints; tincture of cantharides, ½ ounce;
borax, 2 ounces; water, 2 ounces; oil of lavender, 1½ ounces. Shake
well before using.
The wholesome woman has thick, lustrous, clean hair. I am sorry to say
that it is necessary to use this last commonplace adjective. But some
women there are who neglect the hair until it does not deserve to be so
described.
“She has such clean hair,” a man said to me of an American girl who is
much admired. When I saw the girl I knew his appraisement was just. Her
hair was clean. It was thick, light brown and slightly curling hair,
just the sort that a careless person might neglect, saying, as I have
heard women say, “Mine is the kind of hair that takes care of itself.”
But this girl’s hair was as clean as her radiant young face. One
received the impression that her hair, as all the rest of her person,
had as close neighbor the bath.
And so it is. Her hair being light, she washes it at least once a week
in borax water, made by dissolving an ounce of borax in a quart of warm
water.
Borax is somewhat drying, and if she finds her scalp growing too dry
she massages the scalp twelve hours before the shampoo with this:
Oil of sweet almonds, 45 grams; essence of rosemary, 45 grams; oil of
mace, ½ gram.
If the wholesome woman find her hair growing prematurely gray, and this
she is not at all liable to do, for gray hair is a sign of anæmia, and
from this the healthy woman rarely suffers, she makes her life more
than ever wholesome. She lives out of doors the more. She takes more
regular sleep and more nourishing food. She is more than ever punctual
and thorough as to her exercise. And having done all these she may
assist nature with this remedy, which her less wholesome sister has
used with success, to arrest the turning gray of her hair:
Good claret, 30 grams; sulphate of iron, ½ gram. To use the cook’s
parlance, “Bring these to a boil.” Keep in a well corked jar in a cold
place and wash the hair with it after each shampoo. If necessary it can
be used two or three times a week. Permit the mixture to dry on the
hair.
Here is another wash that has proved successful when the hair was
turning gray:
Sulphur, 2 ounces; bay rum, 8 ounces.
Sulphur to a degree strengthens the pigment--that is, the natural
coloring matter of the hair. Use the sulphur in lumps, for it will not
adhere to the scalp as will sulphur in the powder state.
If the case be beyond such relief a French dressing, which those who
use it disdain to call a dye, is used by brunettes whose hair has
turned prematurely gray:
White wax, 2 ounces; olive oil, 5 ounces; burnt cork (powdered fine),
1 ounce. The white wax and oil should be melted together over a slow
fire. Add the burnt cork and mix well. The mixture should be applied to
the hair as a pomade, and thoroughly brushed in.
Here is a good corrective for falling hair:
Oil of sweet almonds, 2 ounces; alcohol, 2 gills; aqua ammonia, 2
ounces; good whiskey or rum, 4 ounces; gum camphor, ¼ ounce. Shake
thoroughly each time before using and rub thoroughly into the scalp.
Massage your scalp well, so that you can feel the skin of the scalp
move.
For a scalp that is too oily use borax or bicarbonate of soda in the
weekly shampoo. A blonde of my acquaintance believes that the juice of
one lemon used in the last rinsing water after a shampoo adds to the
brilliance of her hair while also drying it enough to make it “fluffy.”
Allow your hair to be straight, if Nature planned it so. Find some
becoming method of wearing it straight. If the ends have become broken
and the hair is thin and uneven set about raising a new and stronger
crop. But first prepare the soil for the new crop by cleansing your
scalp with frequent shampoos, one every other day if necessary,
and by using on it a good oil. Olive oil is an admirable agent for
loosening and feeding a heat-dried scalp. Have the ends singed or
clipped. Massage the scalp every day, unless it is too tender to endure
massage that often. Irritating the nerves, which protest against
such treatment, does far more harm than good. A few applications of
electricity by a physician familiar with your case should stimulate the
anæmic scalp.
A few years ago there were almost no good hair tonics. Now there are
many. Almost any tonic containing a liberal amount of quinine is a good
hairgrower. Here is one much used in Paris:
Oil of almonds, 6 ounces; oil of rosemary, 2 drams; oil of mace, 60
drops.
An excellent tonic for the scalp is:
Alcohol, ½ pint; oil of mace, ¼ ounce.
One that has many advocates is this:
Fluid extract of jaborandi, ½ ounce; glycerine, 1 ounce; sulphate of
quinine, 10 grains; cologne, 2 ounces; rosewater, 10 ounces; bay rum, 2
ounces.
The wash that has tonic properties in addition to being an excellent
cleanser is made as follows:
Precipitated sulphur, 10 grams; alcohol (95 per cent.), 10 grams;
distilled water, 50 grams; rosewater, 50 grams. Apply it to the scalp
as all other tonics are applied with the tips of the fingers or a soft
brush, for instance, an old tooth brush.
This tonic will keep the scalp cool, clean and moist and help prevent
the hair falling out:
Tincture of cantharides (alcoholic), 1 ounce; spirits of rosemary, 1½
ounces; rose water, 3 ounces; aromatic vinegar, 1½ ounces.
Parisiennes have recently been washing their hair in gasoline. Not
because they believe that it will cause the hair to grow, but for the
same purpose that it is used upon a spotted garment--to cleanse the
garment and remove the spots. Also gasoline makes the hair soft and
silken of texture, I am told.
I have myself used gasoline a few times on my hair, but always try to
keep it away from the scalp as much as possible. I cannot believe that
gasoline is good for the scalp.
I take the gasoline shampoo somewhat as I do the water bath for the
hair. I wash it in a bowl of the gasoline, pour out the first bowlful
and wash it through another, then another, until the last bowlful is
entirely clean. Let as little gasoline as possible get to the scalp.
But the shampoo is always taken on the morning of a clear day. Never do
I have it done while there is a light or fire in the room. If I did,
there would be no more Lina Cavalieri. Gasoline is most inflammable and
one cannot be too careful when using it.
Never use vaseline on the hair, never, never. It is not harmful. It is
merely useless. It no more makes the hair grow than would sprinkling
flour over the face make it grow. It is derived from a mineral, and
nothing of mineral origin causes the hair to grow. I never use grease
on the hair. After the shampoo, once a week, I use the camomile lotion
I have already described, rubbing it in carefully with the points
of the fingers, and on no account permitting it to touch the face,
because it will make the face yellow. This cleanses the hair and tones
the scalp, promoting circulation.
Hair to be really beautiful should not lie in heavy, sticky bands, but
should stand out hair by hair, as separate as the down of a little
chicken. To acquire this use ten drops of ammonia sprinkled in the
camomile. It must be added after the mixture has boiled and cooled,
otherwise the ammonia will evaporate.
This is the favorite preparation now used in France. No beauty nor
fashionable woman ever uses oil upon her hair. By keeping it frequently
massaged and thoroughly brushed she permits it to develop its own oil.
The Egyptian women have the most beautiful hair in the world. This they
owe to henna. Sprinkle enough henna in the water to make it the color
of coffee. Part the hair in little strands and, with a small handbrush
dipped into it, rub the scalp.
The hair, so beautiful at its best, so disappointing and even
disfiguring at its worst, has many foes. The greatest of these is
the extreme heat of midsummer. Under the midsummer sun’s rays the
hair’s rich hue is liable to fade. The country roads powder their dust
finely upon it. The heat parches the scalp or causes it to perspire
excessively, and each of these evils, separately considered, seems
worse than the other. Their results are the same, and the hair rapidly
grows thinner.
If you are spending your vacation at the seashore beware of the action
of the salt water upon your hair. If your hair has been splashed in
the surf rinse it thoroughly with fresh water as soon as you leave the
beach. Be sure that no particles of sea salt adhere to it, for salt, so
healing and tonic for most of the body, is the contrary for the hair.
Keep your scalp in such condition that two words, “Cool” and “Clean,”
will always describe it. If the scalp be cool and clean the hair will
be beautiful. If the scalp be not cool and clean the hair will speedily
reveal that fact. How to keep it so during the summer is a problem that
every woman must be careful to solve according to her surroundings and
facilities. But somehow she must attain that end if she would preserve
the beauty of her hair.
Keep it free from dust. To do so it must be frequently shampooed--twice
as often, I should say, as in the winter. If, for instance, it is your
habit to wash your hair every two weeks in winter, try washing it every
week in summer. If it has required a weekly shampoo in winter you will
undoubtedly find it necessary to wash it twice a week in midsummer. But
you must judge that yourself, keeping before you the two words “Cool”
and “Clean,” which should always be your guides. When the dust from the
hair soils the fingers and brush it is time for a shampoo even though
for a time the hair must be washed every day. The observant one will
notice that so soon as the hair is unclean it falls out.
Also, she will observe that an itching scalp precedes almost
immediately the falling out of the hair. With these object lessons in
cleanliness she should resolve to be vigilant. Spare the shampoo and
spoil the hair.
A good shampoo, especially for an itching scalp, contains beside the
usual borax for softening the water, and the castile soap for cleansing
the scalp these:
White of 2 eggs; juice of 2 lemons. Apply by rubbing the whites of the
eggs thoroughly into the scalp with the tips of the fingers. After this
application moisten the scalp thoroughly with the lemon juice diluted
in one quart of cool water.
For the usual shampoo under ordinary circumstances the essentials are:
Warm water, 2 quarts; castile soap (shaven), ½ cake; borax, 1
teaspoonful.
I have heard women say: “I washed my hair yesterday and to-day it is
as bad as ever.” If that is true it is your own fault. You did not
give it a thorough shampoo. For a thorough shampoo care and nicety are
necessary.
First prepare the water for a head bath by pouring into the stationary
wash stand, or the portable washbowl or basin, the soap shavings. Over
these pour a quart of hot water. With hands or a long handled spoon
stir until the soap has dissolved and the substance has become mere
lather. Part the hair, which I assume has previously been well combed,
from the top of the middle of the forehead to the back of the neck.
Make similar partings at the sides, and transverse partings here and
there, as many as possible. With the finger tips, or with a soft, old
nail brush, scrub the scalp with this lather. In this way go over the
scalp several times, until it tingles under your very touch, and the
skin is loosened from the scalp beneath. When a fine glow convinces you
that this part of the task is well done attack your hair.
Dip your hands into the lather and taking the hair between them, wash
it thoroughly but carefully with light touch as you would a fine
handkerchief. When this has been thoroughly done empty the bowl and
wash the hair through a second water. If, to use the hair dresser’s
expression, the “water runs clear” you will know that the hair is
thoroughly washed. If the water is dark, showing that the lather has
not thoroughly removed the dust apply more lather. Then again wash it
in cool water. The rinsing is best done with a spray. It should be
continued until the water pouring off the hair is as clean as when it
flows from the hydrant. The clearness of the rinsing water is the only
criterion of whether the hair is clean. The rinsing water should be
gradually cooled, but it should never be cold. It is my opinion that
cold water is too severe a shock to the scalp.
Dry the hair as carefully as you have washed it. Never dry with a hot
air funnel, nor at a radiator nor fireplace nor stove. The intense
heat makes the hair brittle. A good brisk toweling is a method always
available. If you haven’t time to dry the hair by toweling wait for the
shampoo until you have time.
If you can sun dry it so much the better. Seated at an open window
shake the moisture out of the hair and as it slowly dries massage
the scalp with the fingers. The process of drying will be aided and
neuralgia prevented by vigorous massage of the scalp.
This is an excellent time for the hair’s daily airing. The hair needs
ventilation as well as your room, your lingerie, or your bed linen.
Every day it should be shaken out and allowed to blow about in the
wind. A balcony of a summer cottage is admirable for this purpose.
I know an English beauty who always gives her hair its airing as she
sits under an old apple tree in the back yard of her father’s home.
A friend of mine shakes her hair down and, sitting on the deck of
her husband’s yacht, lets the wind play hide and seek in it every
afternoon. Another friend returning by steamship from her vacation trip
to Maine sat up aloft and tumbling her hair about her shoulders let the
wind whip it at will.
Form the habit of always letting your hair down when you sit alone in
your room. This half hour or hour’s airing gives the hair exercise as
well. When a hair hangs by its roots it is gaining the strength it
loses while the hair is being supported upon the head by pins.
If the treatment of the hair has passed the stage of prevention and
reached that of cure, dry, falling hair can be helped by this variant
of the shampoo I have described:
Castile soap, ½ cake; borax (powdered), 4 teaspoonfuls; bay rum, 1
ounce; Italian pink, 20 drops; warm water, 1 quart.
A dry shampoo available for blondes, but which would leave unbecoming
traces in dark hair, is:
Cornmeal, 2 ounces; orris root (powdered), 1 ounce. This shaken well
into the hair and brushed out carries much of the dust with it, as does
French chalk when brushed upon and off a soiled frock. This I commend
in an emergency, but only then, for it does not clean the scalp as does
the liquid shampoo.
Another shampoo that has been successfully used to check the falling of
hair contains:
Borax, 2 tablespoonfuls; salts of tartar, 2 drams; almond oil, 2
ounces; Italian pink, 12 drops.
For dry hair this tonic is one of the best:
Sweet almond oil, 3 ounces; oil of rosemary, 1 ounce; oil of bergamot,
10 drops.
If dandruff afflict you in midsummer look first to your brushes. If you
have neglected to keep them scrupulously clean begin to do so. Dip them
whenever the least soiled into:
Hot water, 1 quart; violet ammonia, 1 ounce.
Place the brushes on the window sill to dry. Turn the brushes upon
their sides so that they will dry quickly, and the bristles will remain
firm.
Brush the hair thoroughly night and morning. Use a blunt edged, large
toothed comb. Do not scrape the scalp. Make your diet during this time
chiefly of fruit and vegetables. Apply also this lotion:
Borax, 3 tablespoonfuls; rosemary (best), 3 ounces; steep in one quart
of boiling water. When cold add ½ ounce of glycerine and 30 drops of
cologne.
If the hair be moist use one tablespoonful of borax in a shampoo two or
three times a week.
While in your room give the hair plenty of rest and exercise. Both are
provided by brushing the hair and letting it hang loose as long as
possible in the sun and air baths. Usually the hair needs in summer at
least one shampoo a week, unless the hair be extraordinarily dry. One
of the best shampoos is made very simply:
Shaved castile soap, 1 ounce; hot water, 1 quart.
For a dry shampoo this is good for moist scalps:
Alcohol (95 per cent.), 1 quart; table salt, 1 ounce; quinine, 1-6
ounce.
If you pass your holiday at the seashore you will welcome a formula
that will keep the hair in curl. Here is one of the best I know:
Gum arabic, ½ ounce; carbonate of potash, ½ ounce; glycerine, ½ ounce;
rosewater, 1 pint; Portugal extract, 2 ounces.
Fortunate are you, indeed, if you come back from your summer outing
with hair thick and lustrous, and scalp cool and loose skinned as when
you left. But even if you have achieved this, your hair is certain to
be faded, for the sun’s rays while stimulating to the scalp, diminish
the richness of the hue of the hair.
The probability is that the scalp has been dried by the heat and dust.
Massage with cocoanut oil or the following tonic:
Sweet almond oil, 3 ounces; oil of cinnamon, 30 drops; oil of rosemary,
1 ounce.
Let me tell you of an experience which taught me much about the hair.
I was invited to an informal house party. Arriving at an early hour
in the morning I was met in the hall by my charming hostess. She was
as lovely as ever, but there was something odd about her, something
unusual.
She laughed at the puzzled look in my face. “You are bewildered,” she
said. “I look different, but you do not know how. It is this. I am
resting my hair.”
“Wonderful woman!” I cried. “It is the great American common sense.”
Then I saw that her lovely blond hair, short, as is all curling hair,
rested about her shoulders in a golden shower. It was parted in the
middle. She had always worn it in a pompadour or some modification of
the pompadour. Now it was parted in the middle, and combed as smoothly
as its rebellious luxuriance would permit away from that part, and flat
upon the top of the head. Glistening from its recent brushing it hung
about her shoulders, fresh combed, fresh brushed, and with the faintest
odor of a cleansing tonic hanging about it. It had no ribbon about it.
No hairpin confined it. It was free. It was resting after the nine
months’ toil of a fashionable season.
“Every morning,” she said, “it has had a thorough combing and slight
brushing. Every night a slight combing and thorough brushing. The first
week I gave it a shampoo every day. I continued until the last trace of
dandruff was gone. A sun-dried shampoo, of course. Every other sort,
except the toweling, I consider barbarous and destructive to the hair.
Every afternoon when the sun shone in my bedroom window I have let
down my hair and sat where the breeze and sunshine came through the
open window. Sitting there I have taken my hair between my palms and,
strand by strand, have rubbed it lightly until every hair has had its
burnishing. When this was done I shook it out loosely between my thumb
and forefingers so that the wind and sun could reach every part of the
hair and scalp.”
My friend’s hair had made almost instant response to the treatment.
From being dead hair it had become live as a galvanic battery. From
being dull and faded it had become rich and glistening. All over
her scalp was the fine first fuzz of a new crop of hair. And the old
galvanized hair had grown an inch longer in one month.
She had experimented with various lotions or dry shampoos. This she
found the greatest cleanser and tonic for her hair:
Peruvian bark (powdered), 3 ounces; rum, 1 pint.
Another aid to this summer rest of the hair was a new brush. She showed
it to me. It was a plain wooden backed hair brush, with the bristles
set well into the back in groups. The bristles in these groups were
irregular, in order that they might reach all parts of the head, the
long ones penetrating the hair where it was thickest, the short ones
sufficing for the parts where it was thinnest.
She adjured vaseline, as I have advised my readers to do. It is a
mineral oil and cannot cause the hair to grow. Instead, she rubs olive
oil or beef marrow well into the roots of the hair at night, softening
the scalp and fertilizing a dry area.
Also she varied these treatments with this which, being a woman of wide
reading, she had copied from The Lancet:
Alcohol (95 per cent.), 4 ounces; quinine, 15 grains; castor oil, ⅛
ounce.
Careful to massage the head gently every night after its brushing, she
kept the scalp loose. When it was hot she cooled it by applications of
cracked ice in an ice cap. She shunned the tempting fine tooth comb,
that removes dandruff, it is true, but perpetrates atrocities upon the
scalp as painful and disfiguring as scratches upon the face. Once a
month she had her hair singed, before a shampoo.
Her greatest concession to the conventions was the slipping over her
shining, well curried mane a net of exactly the same shade, which she
wore at dinner, “a token of respect for the soup and butter, merely,”
she explained.
One hundred strokes every evening before retiring are necessary if the
hair be of vigorous constitution. If delicate there is danger of its
being torn from the roots by too strong strokes of the brush and too
many of these and the number of strokes can be considerably lessened.
Brushing removes the dust, but is not sufficient stimulant for the
scalp, which needs, beside brushing, massage. The most beautiful hair
I know is that of a young woman who gives her scalp a thorough massage
three times a week with a good hair tonic. This, her favorite tonic,
I publish here for the use of such of my readers as are blondes. It
contains one ingredient, bicarbonate of soda, whose tendency is to make
the hair a lighter shade. Therefore, I do not use it myself nor would I
recommend it for any other brunette:
Borax, 1 ounce; bicarbonate of soda, ½ ounce; camphor, 1 dram;
glycerine, ½ ounce; rosewater, 1 quart; alcohol, 2 ounces. The camphor
should be dissolved in the alcohol. The soda, glycerine, rosewater and
alcohol should be mixed and well shaken in another bottle. Then pour
this mixture into the solution of camphor. Apply with the finger tips,
or a soft brush, parting the hair and rubbing the tonic thoroughly into
the scalp, until it makes response by a healthful tingling.
A former method of scalp massage was to rub it haphazard with the
tips of the fingers. From Europe has come a later and more scientific
method. It consists in treating the scalp as though it were composed
of circular terraces, treating each terrace at a time separately by
pressing the cushions of the fingers firmly upon the scalp all the way
round the terrace, beginning with that which is the first or the outer
and working toward the center. This pressure achieves that for which
massage of the scalp was invented. It loosens the skin from the scalp,
permitting free circulation about the roots of the hair.
For a brunette my preference is for this:
Sulphate of quinine, 20 grains; fluid extract of jaborandi, 1 ounce;
glycerine, 2 ounces; cologne, 4 ounces; bay rum, 4 ounces; rosewater,
20 ounces.
The above is excellent also for hair that is too dry. For moist hair I
advise a dry shampoo or tonic treatment of this:
Eau de cologne, 4 ounces; borax, ½ ounce; tincture of cochineal, ½
ounce.
Some blondes whom I know use the following methods to keep their hair
light:
Washing soda, 2 tablespoonfuls; water, 1 quart. Dissolve the soda in
the water and give the hair a thorough shampoo with the mixture once a
week if needed, less often if necessary. The susceptibility of the hair
to treatment determines the number of the treatments.
A half dozen drops of ammonia in shampoo should keep the hair light.
Also one teaspoonful of peroxide of hydrogen in one quart of water will
lighten without injuring the hair.
Bear in mind that whatever makes the hair dry makes it brittle, and
use any preparation discreetly, studying the effect of one or two
applications on the hair.
Remember that headache is one of the greatest foes of the hair. When my
scalp is feverish I sometimes apply a rubber cap filled with cracked
ice for a half an hour or longer, until the congestion is removed.
Never retire without brushing your hair. The hair is a dust trap, and
no dainty woman would retire without removing the day’s accumulation
of dust. The brush tells its own story of the day’s catch of dust, if
you take the trouble to examine it. After brushing the hair, loosen the
skin from the scalp by slow, firm massage, pressing the skin toward the
crown.
This is the best time to apply a hair tonic. A good hair tonic is made
of:
Oil of mace, 2 grams; essence of rosemary, 60 grams; oil of sweet
almonds, 30 grams.
I have found that, while I may protect my skin, my eyes, my hands
somewhat from the winds of winter, my hair always suffers from it. The
wind I found dried the oil in it, making it harsh and brittle. Ordinary
massage and brushing I did not find as useful as in the summer. I tried
many remedies for the dry condition of the scalp, which, of course,
produced dry hair. At last I hit upon this, which I rubbed well into
the roots of the hair before retiring on the night before my shampooing
day:
Lanolin, 1 ounce; sulphur, ¼ ounce.
Let me explain, I did not rub this haphazard upon the scalp. I have
seen women dab a hair scalp emollient so carelessly upon the scalp,
here and there, that they might quite as well have left it undone and
employed their time for better purposes. I did this as thoroughly as, I
think, everything we undertake should be done.
First, I combed the hair thoroughly, doing it slowly, beginning
about an inch from the ends, holding the long hair near the roots so
that rough combing might not pull it out. Then I brushed it slowly,
beginning at the roots and brushing downward with long, slow strokes to
the very end. I parted the hair into fifty strands, combing it smoothly
away from each little parting.
Then, with fingers dipped into the mixture of lanolin and sulphur, I
began at the hair line and, with firm, long strokes, the effect of
which was to loosen the skin from the scalp, I rubbed the mixture
well into the roots. From the hair line I followed the partings to
the crown, from which it radiated. This done, and thoroughly done, I
unbraided my hair and combed and brushed it once more, and allowed it
to hang loose for an hour or more, exercising and ventilating it, until
I retired, when it was braided and tied into two large, loose braids
and tied at the end with narrow ribbons. I never use either elastic or
thread to fasten the ends of the hair, for I think it breaks the hairs,
making the ends uneven.
The next morning I have a shampoo. Ordinarily I use a lather of white
castile soap and warm water. But in winter, noting the drying effects
of the cold winds upon my hair, I try to use a shampoo which will aid
in making the hair soft and lustrous, doing for the time the work of
the natural oils, which seem to have suspended operations:
Yolks of 2 eggs; warm water, 1 quart.
I part the hair into fifty strands, as I have described, the night
before, and into each of the partings and particularly around the hair
line, which a woman cannot afford to neglect, I rub the tips of the
fingers with the yolks of the eggs, using the tips of the first two
fingers. When this has been thoroughly done I rinse the hair and scalp
in warm water. After the hair has “been through the first water,” I
turn upon the scalp a spray from a small hose, one of the small-size
sprays now made for shampooing. This distributes the water better, and
the force is not so great as when it is poured from a pitcher in the
old-fashioned “home” way.
The full force of city water must never be used upon the tender scalp.
The little sprays are cheap and a good investment. The shower from the
spray can be gradually cooled, but I do not believe in extremes of
temperature for the hair any more than I do for the complexion. I never
use either cold or hot water for a shampoo, nor cold water for rinsing.
Warm to cool water is a sufficient gradation that soothes the nerves of
the scalp, while dashes of hot and cold water overstimulate and shock
them.
CHAPTER IX
USEFUL BEAUTY HINTS FOR MEN
Men take beauty treatments. Had that been a secret heretofore, one of
their own sex revealed it. David Graham Phillips, whom some critics
have called the Zola, others the Flaubert, of American literature,
tells of the disappearance of a wealthy broker who was taking a beauty
treatment.
Of what do men’s beauty treatments consist? Like the soundest of beauty
treatments given to women, some of them are the rebuilding of the
constitution upon a basis of health. Muldoon, of White Plains, many a
New York man considers the greatest of beauty doctors. Men of London
and some men of Paris have the same unlimited faith in Sandow.
No intelligent person can doubt that rest, regular living and much
out-of-door air will make a person’s beauty greater, because it will
strengthen the very pedestal of beauty, which is health. Every man is
justified in taking one of these beauty vacations, which is, after all,
a health vacation, a tonic time for the entire system.
If I were asked what the smart man has most regard for in his
appearance, I should say his baths, which the English and those who
spend much time in England, call their “tubs,” and the cut of their
clothes.
As to the baths, the man who is really not unkempt, by the standards of
the high world, has two baths a day, in the morning a cold plunge or
shower as a tonic, in the evening just before dinner a tepid or warm
bath, with a shower afterward, as a cleanser.
The cold bath is not cleansing. On the contrary it merely closes the
pores, shutting the gates upon the effete matter that is trying to
escape from the system by means of the millions of little gateways in
the skin. It is valuable as a tonic to the nervous system, by means of
the shock it gives to that system. But not even my lord man, mighty in
his strength, should take such powerful tonics without having consulted
his physician about it.
A man who always seems to shine with the radiance of his bath pours a
wineglassful of perfumed ammonia into a tub of water. This softens the
water, removes the odors of perspiration and whitens the skin.
An exquisite who is the fashion in London uses a quarter of a pound of
borax in his bath to soften the water and so refine his skin.
I once heard the story of the physician with so admirable a skin that
all his women patients asked the secret of his complexion’s perfection.
He told one, who generously told many others, that knowing the mighty
power of absorption of the skin, he had experimented with the use
of Epsom salts in the bath. He had found it stimulating and, in
consequence, had used a pound of the salts dissolved in a bathtubful of
water, every day.
A salt bath is stimulating. Rubbing handfuls of table salt on the body,
getting it into a fine glow before the bath, is one means of absorbing
the salt into the system. Another is pouring an ordinary five-cent bag
of table salt into the water and letting it thoroughly dissolve before
taking the bath.
[Illustration: MAXINE ELLIOTT Whom Mme. Cavalieri admires not only for
her classic lines of face and figure, but also for her admirable taste
in dress.]
But ask any well-groomed man if baths are sufficient for cleanliness
and he will answer, “No. No man can be clean unless he walks four to
six miles a day.” There must be then three baths, the cold plunge in
the morning, the natural perspiratory bath at any time that is
convenient between the two, and the before-dinner tub in the evening,
for the cleanliness that obtains among men who are proud of their
grooming.
The man who fears baldness does well to avoid a tight hat. The size
should be large enough to permit ventilation of the hair and scalp.
Also he should puncture the hat with fine holes for the same purpose.
A man is his own best judge of when he needs a shampoo. If the hair
falls unduly, or if it feels sticky, or if the brush is considerably
soiled after brushing, it is time for a shampoo, even though you had
one three days before. If there is much dandruff in the hair there is
need of a shampoo. A shampoo successfully used by a relative of mine
who has beautifully thick and glossy hair is made of:
Tincture of green soap, 1 tablespoonful; the whites of two eggs;
cologne, 10 drops.
If the hair is dark the yolks of the eggs may also be used. The eggs
are beaten into the water, the soap added and the cologne sprinkled in.
To prevent catching cold after a shampoo, rub alcohol into the hair
about the neck and cheeks and temples.
Remember that there would be no baldness if the hair roots were
properly nourished. So keep a plentiful supply of blood flowing in that
direction by massage. If the scalp is dry rub olive oil or lanolin
liberally into the scalp at night.
Be sure to keep the skin of the scalp so loose that it can be easily
moved about, and keep it cool if to do so you must occasionally place
on the head when it is overheated a bag of cracked ice or a cloth
dipped into cold water, renewing it as the cloth dries.
One authority on the hair believes in a daily pulling, not by an
irate wife, but by yourself. He believes that this takes the place of
exercise for the hair and that it strengthens the roots as walking
strengthens the muscles of the legs or rowing the muscles of the arms.
Every man fears the ugly dewlap, often called “the statesman chin.” He
can prevent this by carrying his head and chin well up. He can to some
extent correct it by using webbing chin bandages at night.
CHAPTER X
THE CARE OF THE NAILS AND FINGERS
Dainty finger nails are Nature’s finishing touch for a beautiful woman.
They have always seemed to me to be the natural jewels of the hands,
and if they are in good order, that other jewels are unnecessary, if
not superfluous.
Let me describe these jewels at their best. They are of color pink, as
the deep, fresh heart of a blush rose. In shape they are nearly like
the filbert nut. In size they are in good proportion to the size of the
finger and the hand. They must be neither too large nor too small. They
must seem to be long. They are more like the petals of a half-blown
rose, or the lining of a sea-shell, than anything else in nature. At
their base must be a crescent tiny in proportion to the size of the
nail, but as clear cut and silvery as a young moon on the night of its
début in the sky.
Is there need to say that the other end of the nail be spotless, as
utterly beyond suspicion as the character of Cæsar’s wife? There must
not be the slightest rim nor shadow to darken the fair pinkness of the
nails.
The skin about them must seem to bear but remote and casual relation
to the nails. It must be discouraged from any intimacy with the nail,
any closer intimacy, shall we say, than the thorny calyx with the rose?
It serves, indeed, the same purpose. It is the mere protector of its
charming charge.
Thus should the nails be. But how to make and keep them so is what we
must discuss to-day. In the first place, as to their daily care. If
they are in normally good condition, the morning hand bath should be
supplemented by soaking the nails themselves for five minutes in warm
soap-suds or lather made of castile soap.
This supplemental nail bath should be followed by a careful pressing
back with the towel of the skin about the nails until each portion of
the skin is detached.
A third step in the daily care of the nails is to brush them vigorously
with a nail brush dipped into the soap-suds.
Notice next whether any portion of the skin about the nails is still
attached, or if not attached, is slightly sore. If it is, that portion
of the nail should be anointed with a bit of camphor ice or with
vaseline or lanolin, or a preparation containing witch hazel. If
necessary, wrap it round with white muslin or white silk.
If in spite of all these endeavors there remains a faintly dark rim
around the end of the nail, one further process is necessary. Wrap
around the pointed end of an orange-wood stick a bit of antiseptic
cotton. Moisten this with a few drops of peroxide of hydrogen. With
this carefully remove the dust that may remain between the nail and the
skin. Never use a steel instrument, an ivory nail cleaner, or anything
harder than the cotton wrapped around the end of the orange stick. If
you do, the sensitive skin under the nail is lacerated. Dust settles
upon the ragged ends of the skin, and the ugly, disfiguring dark rim is
evident.
If the nails become brittle it is because they are dry and they should
at once be moistened by an oil bath. Into a small, shallow bowl pour
a gill or more of olive oil. Soak the nail in this for ten minutes
or longer every evening until the condition is corrected. If for any
reason this is not feasible, massage them every evening with cold
cream. If white spots appear under the nails rub the nail with slices
of lemon.
Sometimes the nails grow soft and dull. In such case I have found of
value this mixture, which, after having been melted on a slow fire,
cooled and poured into a pomade jar, should be rubbed on the nails to
restore them to their former hardness and brilliancy:
White wax, 250 centigrams; nut oil, 15 grams; resin, 5 grams; alum, 1
gram.
If a kind friend gives you a manicure set, smile outwardly, but
inwardly regret that you have not the difference between the original
small cost of the tools and the exorbitant price paid for the elegant
case containing what is usually an inferior set of instruments.
The outfit should consist of:
One large nail brush, for the outer part of the nail; one small nail
brush to go under the nail; one strong but pliable nail file; one
polisher (chamois or covered); two pairs of curved scissors (one pair
for each hand. There are scissors made especially for cutting the
nails of the right hand, and vice versa); one orange stick; one box of
powdered pumice; one box of nail powder.
First go round the outer edge of the nail with an orange stick,
pressing the cuticle back firmly but softly, but do not press the nail,
which is exceedingly sensitive. Any pressure upon it may injure the
sensitive cutis beneath. Coax the white half-moon at the base of the
nail into full view. This moon, like the other young moon, is reluctant
to appear.
Then file the nail into any shape you wish. A slightly pointed effect
is admissible, and is becoming to nearly all hands. It especially
counteracts the plumpness of the hand that nature has made too short.
Dipping the nail polisher or brush into the powder, rub the nail
until my figure of their being “natural jewels of the hands” becomes
apparent. Stop short of a too high polish. With the extra brush remove
all the powder that has adhered.
Most manicures assist the process by soaking the hands alternately for
five minutes after they have been filed. The palms of the hands add a
polish to nails that are not readily susceptible to the polisher. You
will find that the oftener you polish your nails the more susceptible
do they become of polish.
This nail powder lends itself well to polishing:
Pulverized starch, ¼ ounce; boric acid powdered, ¼ ounce; talcum
powder, ¼ ounce; tincture of carmine, 10 drops.
Another which I have used satisfactorily is composed of:
Oxide of tin, thoroughly powdered, 10 drams; oil of lavender, 60 drops;
tincture of carmine, 20 drops. One-half of this quantity may be put up
and will serve for many weeks.
Still another good nail polish is made like this:
Zinc oxide, 1 ounce; carmine, 4 grams; oil of violet to suit taste.
This nail rouge is excellent:
Fresh lard, 1 dram; finely powdered carmine, ½ dram; oil of bergamot,
12 drops.
This, which was derived, I am told, from the Orient, is effective:
Chippings of alkanet, ¼ ounce; alcohol, 95 per cent., 1 ounce. After
this mixture macerates for one week it becomes a brilliant color. Apply
to the finger tips with jeweler’s cotton, blending it afterwards with
more cotton.
Personally I prefer to do my own nails. They should be done every day
to attain perfection. Two or three times a week are needful, and at
least once a week essential.
The purpose is to keep the nails clean, to make them shapely, to
preserve their color, to adorn the tips of the fingers.
I have tried to make my nails the exact shape of a filbert. I keep them
very pointed, and do not sandpaper, that is, shorten them oftener than
twice a month. But the daily process is this:
First, to study them in a good light and to see whether there be any
stains on the fingers. If there are I rub the stains with pumice stone
until they have disappeared.
Second, I look carefully to the half moons at the base of the nails.
They are as illuminating to the nails as the new moon to the heavens.
If they are well defined I merely press the cuticle back gently when
I dry my hands. But if they be overgrown with cuticle I give them a
bath in olive oil. Into a shallow vessel I pour a half pint of olive
oil. Into this I dip my nails, holding them there for five minutes if
they are but slightly overgrown, fifteen minutes if extremely covered
with the cuticle. Then when the cuticle is softened I carefully go
over each one with a linen towel, softly pressing back the skin. If
it clings obstinately I do not persist, but resolve that the fingers
must have several oil baths. Also I resolve that that night I will rub
them as carefully with cold cream as I do any other part of the hands.
In a week the half moons should stand beautifully revealed. If not I
continue the oil baths in the morning and cold cream applications at
night until they are visible.
Third, I twist about the point of an orange wood stick a bit of cotton,
dip the end into peroxide of hydrogen and rub the dampened point of the
orange wood stick along the inside of the nail. Mark that I said nail,
not skin. The reason so many persons must keep their nails short to
keep them clean is that they use sharp or jagged instruments to clean
the nail, and pressing this upon the skin beneath the nail makes it
ragged. The uneven edges of the skin catch the dust and give the gray
or even black rim that is so ugly a border for the fingers.
Fourth, with a chamois I polish each finger nail by three or four
strokes, using the least touch of nail rouge before the polishing.
Pink nails are charming. Red nails are horrible.
Don’t, I beg, allow your hands to grow old. Hands, unless well cared
for, betray the age more quickly than does the face.
Study your hands well. Don’t let the skin grow coarse. Don’t let the
veins grow large. Don’t let the skin hang in folds and creases about
them. Never allow the divorce of the skin from the muscles.
The young hand is smooth and firm. The old is rough skinned and loose
muscled. In the youthful hand the veins are only faintly indicated.
In the old hands they stand forth as whipcords. When the hand is
young, the knuckles are inconspicuous. When it is old, they are more
prominent than any other part of the hand. There is between the young
hand and the old the same difference there is between the thin bark of
a sappling and the thick, rugged bark of a storm-beaten old oak. The
nails in youth are thin and pink. In old age they are thick and yellow.
Knowing these signs, the intelligent student of beauty culture will
avoid them. She will discourage these symptoms of multiplying years.
The cause of aged hands is the common cause of bodily decay, defective
circulation. If you note signs of ageing in your hands, attend more
than ever before to the circulation. Exercise promotes circulation.
Exercise your hands, particularly the fingers.
Fancy that your fingers are but loosely attached to the hands and that
you are trying to shake them off. Raise them from the elbows, and, with
the hands bent at the wrist, vigorously shake them, with fingers spread
and loose. (1) Shake them from right to left and back again. (2) Shake
them up and down. (3) Shake them round and round.
Invent exercises of your own. Any movement that will cause the blood
to flow at an increased rapidity will renourish and so rejuvenate the
hands. We read in poem and story that the sorrow stricken heroine
wrings her hands. This may or may not be a vent for her grief, but
it is an excellent means of making her hands healthier and so more
beautiful.
Daily exercises, say ten to fifteen times every morning, will do much
to beautify the hands and so render them prettier. The ageing hand is
the hand whose muscles are shrinking. Increase the circulation and the
hand will plumpen and in time resume its youthful lines.
My favorite methods of massage for the hands are two, the motion we use
when washing the hands, and that we use when smoothing down and fitting
fingers of a pair of gloves. Stroke the hands down the back from the
spaces between the fingers, and lock the hands together, interlacing
the fingers and tightly squeezing them.
The skin of the hands needs food as well as does the skin of the face.
Both are exposed to drying tendencies of the outer air and the heating
influence of the inner, and both need a replenishing of the natural
oils thus lost. Olive oil is a good food for the skin of the hands. The
large pores quickly absorb this medium and a few weeks’ treatment soon
works a marvelous change.
Aged anæmic hands should have an oil bath, or should be fed with cold
cream every night. Wash them exactly as though they were soiled and
you were trying to remove the dirt with soap and water. Either the
following cream or the paste that follows serve well that purpose:
Almond oil, 1½ ounces; cucumber juice, 1 ounce; white wax, 1 dram;
spermaceti, 1 ounce; oil of neroli, 5 drops.
Crushed sweet almonds, 1 ounce; crushed bitter almonds, 1 ounce;
spermaceti, 2 drams; oil of almonds, ¼ ounce; white castile soap
scraped fine, ½ ounce; oil of orange, 6 drops.
To relieve the congested, swollen appearance of the hands, form the
habit of holding them upward so that the blood will run out of them
instead of downward so that the blood will run into them.
Also to avoid this congested condition of the hands, that distends the
veins unbecomingly, avoid lifting heavy weights. For lifting anything
of heavy weight stretches the hands, making them larger and overfilling
the blood vessels.
Even piano playing enlarges the hands that reach the octaves, and to
some extent causes swollen veins. The beauties of the old French courts
so well understood this that they never used their hands when it was
avoidable.
Enlarged knuckles, one of the signs of age, can be prevented by
avoiding overwork and carrying heavy weights. If the knuckles be
naturally large, it is well to keep the hands well plumped by good
circulation and much feeding of the tissues with oils and creams.
This same precaution will prevent the hands becoming unshapely. But if
they were unshapely from birth, they can be improved by pinching the
tips of the fingers from the sides, or by wearing clamps, or if these
be not available, by wearing thimbles on all the fingers a half hour or
more each day.
They can be made longer and slimmer by massaging the hands with long,
slow strokes from the wrists to the tips of the fingers, always with
the hands well oiled or covered with pure cold cream.
Massage of the fingers can be profitably combined with massage of the
face by using a rotary motion of the finger tips. This stimulates both
face and finger muscles.
Hands of any age should be kept white. Reddened hands are always
unsightly, whatever the cause. There are four causes for reddened
hands. One is washing in hot or cold water. Another is exposure to cold
air. A third is extremely hard manual labor. A fourth is the habit of
holding the hands downward.
There are a good many bleaches for the hands. One of the best is
washing the hands in a bowl of warm milk every night. Another is that
old friend of the dainty, which should be within reach of every toilet
table--a lemon. There is no bleach better than half a lemon rubbed on
the back of palms of the hands before retiring.
This, too, is an excellent bleach which also softens the hands. The
addition of perfume makes it a pleasant preparation:
Lemon juice, 1 ounce; honey, 1 ounce; eau de cologne, 1 ounce.
When my hands are soiled I wash them in warm--never hot--water with a
pure soap. Lifting my hands from the bowl of warm water I pour upon
them a tablespoonful from a bottle of:
Rosewater, 3 ounces; glycerine, 1 ounce; carbolic acid, 10 drops.
I wash my hands thoroughly again in this and dry them upon a soft
towel, a piece of cheesecloth or an old silk handkerchief, and am
careful to wipe them thoroughly dry. Chapped hands are the penalty of
careless drying. To further whiten the hands carbolic acid may be added
to this mixture: 10 drops to 4 ounces of the rosewater and glycerine.
The woman who does her own housework often finds the skin about the
joints of her fingers getting loose and flabby and the skin at the
sides of the nails becoming calloused. For these troubles I advise
wearing large, loose gloves while sweeping and dusting. Don’t put your
hands in hot water more than is necessary. Massage the hands as I have
directed and soak them every day in a bowl of milk or olive oil. Use
one of the bleaches I have recommended, and wear big, loose rubber
gloves, three or four sizes larger than your kid gloves, at night.
At luncheon one day in London I saw a girl trying to hide her hands.
Some one had remarked that hands may look old when their owner is not.
The discussion of the subject threw the girl into acute embarrassment,
and her hands sought to screen themselves beneath the damask of her
dinner napkin. Interested, I studied those hands when I could do so
without embarrassment to the girl. They were large and red, but what
made the unhappy guest try to hide them was that they were what every
beauty specialist knows as “old hands.”
Had I judged the age of their possessor by those hands I should have
said she was fifty. They were deeply wrinkled. The skin had formed in
deep creases about the knuckles. The texture was coarse. There was
the resigned look of accepted age in their contour. Yet when my eyes
traveled up from those hands to the figure of the girl I saw that it
was slender and undeveloped, and as my scrutiny extended to the face I
saw that it was fresh and sweet as an English primrose that grows in
one of the deliciously romantic English lanes. She was young as the
unblown rosebud, as the fledgling just peeping over the nest, as the
silver crescent moon is young. But she had old hands. Why?
A keenly observant man said to me: “I was traveling to Cherbourg. I was
in the same compartment as two women. My eyes tired of the landscape,
and came back to my fellow travelers. One of the women had drawn off
her gloves. Her hands lay in her lap. Idly I speculated about their
owner. I guessed by those hands that she was forty. Her face showed
she was not more than eighteen. Next I glanced at her companion’s
hands. They, too, were ungloved and, lying relaxed in her lap, were
aged hands. She must be eighty, I thought, and a glimpse of her face
confounded me. It was that of a woman in middle life. She was of that
opulent beauty whose midsummer is prolonged indefinitely. She was
probably forty-five. And the girl beside her was her daughter. She was
an exact replica of her, even to her hands. The girl had inherited
those aged hands.”
My friend the traveler is clever, but I do not agree with his
conclusions. At least not fully. Hands age prematurely because they are
neglected. We inherit certain tendencies rather than any unchangeable
physical appearances. And the girl had inherited her mother’s
tendencies to neglect her hands. Doubtless they kept them clean.
Perhaps they used the nail brush quite often and as vigorously as
necessary. Probably they used the orange stick around the edges of the
nails to loosen the skin. Nevertheless, I insist that these prematurely
aged hands were neglected.
Why? Because they were hungry.
You are surprised? But consider. Have you looked at your own face in
the mirror when you were hungry? Hunger had cut deep lines about your
lips and beneath your eyes and in your cheeks. Had it not? And you had
merely missed a meal because a train was delayed or because you had a
headache.
This is what happens to the hands that are not well fed. A great
American specialist on nerves said that the hand is a delicate
instrument of the body and needs especial care. He insists that much
thought should be given to their care. An important part of caring for
them is to feed them so well that the tissues worn out by continuous
using of the hands is quickly replaced.
Cocoa butter is a nourishing article of diet for the hands. When
you have removed the dust and powder from the hands by bathing them
in warm, not hot, water--hot water shrivels the skin and causes
wrinkles--and a mild soap, dry them on a soft towel and rub cocoa
butter gently and liberally into them.
Olive oil containing a few drops of benzoin, to act as a whitener, is
an excellent hand food. Wash the hands in it after the water and soap
bath. It neutralizes the drying effect of the soap.
Glycerine “agrees” with some hands. If it does not redden and make them
sensitive, as you can learn by two or three applications, it will be a
good article of hand food. Equal parts of glycerine and rosewater will
make a milder application, for glycerine alone is often an irritant. If
lemon juice is used instead of the rosewater, it whitens the hands.
Well fed hands I have seen have their daily meal of cocoanut oil.
Several cold creams are good hand foods. So is buttermilk.
Many of my friends complain that winter always leaves them with
“disgraceful looking hands.” I do not suppose that this statement is
really true. Americans, and especially American girls, are prone to
extravagance in conversation. What they mean by this bill of complaint,
is that the cold weather makes their hands look rough and red.
Don’t mourn those reddened, coarse-looking hands. You will only etch
lines in your face and cause the muscles to sag as muscles do early in
life if they have not been upheld by a cheerful disposition and the
facial exercise that laughter brings. Besides all force is wasted that
is not used in upbuilding new conditions or in remedying old ones.
What is to be done with those red hands? First, do not expose them to
sudden changes of temperature. Don’t plunge them into hot water and
draw them out of the hot water and dry them in a cold room. Sleep in a
cold room by all means, but don’t dress in one. If there are no means
to make your bedroom warm for the morning toilet dress in some part
of the house that is warmed, if necessary by the kitchen stove. Cold
followed by heat or the opposite extreme is sure to redden the hands
and to coarsen the texture of their skin.
Second, do not wear tight gloves. I dislike a tightly-gloved hand.
It has always seemed to me vulgar. I am glad to see that Fashion is
recognizing this and giving her endorsement to the practice of wearing
gloves a half or whole size too large, so that the glove will wrinkle
a trifle over the hand and look as though the wearer were comfortable.
Wear gloves that are otherwise comfortable, that is, that do not
irritate the skin. For summer cotton or very thin suede, silk or
chamois are best. Suede are best in winter, because they are softer
than most other materials used by the glover in providing his stock.
Woolen gloves may be worn over the gloves, but I do not advise wearing
them next to the skin, for they chafe the skin, making it rough.
Third, do not wash them in water too often while they are in the
coarse, reddened state. Remove the dust or grime when possible by
rubbing oil or cold cream over the hands and afterwards carefully
wiping them. When you wash them in water let it be in merely warm
water. Into this you may drop a teaspoonful of powdered borax to a
quart of water, or in the same amount of water a dessert-spoonful of
liquid ammonia or a half dozen drops of tincture of benzoin. All these
will whiten the skin. If you drop in the water a handful of bran or
oatmeal it will soften and whiten the hands. Dry the hands gently.
Don’t treat them as though you were putting them through a clothes
wringer with the Monday wash.
Fourth, until the hands reach the refined condition you desire, never
retire without dressing them for the night. Rub over them thickly
lanolin, or nafalan, or a mixture of equal parts of vaseline and
lanolin. If you have made the hands too greasy by this application
wipe off the superfluous cream with a soft handkerchief or piece of
cheesecloth. Or if you prefer you can use the English paste, or the
French, formulas for which follow:
Pure soap shaved, ½ quart; olive oil, ½ quart; mutton suet, ¼ quart;
brandy, ¼ quart. Warm the soap, suet and oil until they blend. While
they are still tepid pour in the brandy. Add a few drops of any
favorite perfume if desired.
Eau de cologne, 100 grams; oil of almonds, 100 grams; powdered soap, 30
grams. Warm to blending point; then shake well and pour into a jar, and
keep in a cool place.
Spread one of these pastes over the hands and draw over the hands large
loose rubber or large old kid gloves, before retiring.
If the hands have reached such stage of roughness that there are small
cracks or fissures in the skin cover these cracks or fissures with zinc
oxide plasters. If the fissures are very deep apply a salicylic soap
plaster.
If your hands “take a notion to be red,” say at an evening party or
at a tea, for instance, when you are expected to “pour,” shake them
violently, so that if the fingers were less loosely attached they would
fly off.
Also work the hands back and forth from the wrists for a few minutes.
This is better than the old French custom of holding the hands up to
let the blood run out, for the blood will run back into them again as
soon as the hands are held as usual. On the other hand the shaking of
the hands and limbering of the wrists will restore the circulation,
the interruption of which has caused the hands to redden. Be sure that
your rings are not too tight, for if they are they will impede the
circulation and cause the redness so many of you are trying to avoid.
[Illustration: LOIS EWELL A wealth of Titian hair adds the crowning
charm to the winsome beauty of this Century Opera House prima donna.]
CHAPTER XI
BEAUTY BATHS
Let me direct the baths of the body and the complexion will take care
of itself.
How shall I impress upon you, my beautiful reader, who would remain
beautiful, my plain reader--if ever a woman was plain--who wants to be
beautiful, how necessary is the frequent bath? By this I mean the daily
bath. Let me tell you that which you may have forgotten, that when we
speak of the skin as “the third lung” we minimize its importance. The
skin discharges twice as much waste matter from the body as do the
lungs. Keep that ever in mind and help the skin in its task.
Again there is the story, which you also may have heard and forgotten,
that the man whose skin has been gilded in an effort to make of him a
man of gold, died in a few hours because his pores, having been filled,
could not discharge their function.
The daily bath, in some instances, the bath twice a day, is not as
persons advanced in some directions and pitiably behind in others
tell us, a luxury. It is a necessity. It does not, as some ignorantly
assume, destroy the oils of the skin. It causes them to circulate more
freely through the medium of the skin.
Permit me to picture to you the condition which a bath changes. Have
you ever seen a shower of ashes? How, from a disturbed furnace, a
gray flurry rises, then falls thickly as snow upon the nearest smooth
surface? That is what happens to the skin. The shower of white ashes,
refuse from the fires in the human body, pushes its way through the
pores to the surface of the body, or the skin. There, in the mouths of
the pores, they remain, obstructing them as a wagonload of soil would
obstruct the mouth of a sewer if poured into it and allowed to remain.
The shower of human ashes must be removed, just as the traces of a
snowfall are removed from city streets, quickly and thoroughly, else
traffic is impeded. The scarf skin must go, and the best and most
direct way to send it is by the route of the bath.
I have described in a previous chapter my own method of bathing. I find
the tepid bath in the morning, followed by a slightly cooler shower, or
splash with sponge or hands, the best for my needs. Also for drying the
skin I prefer a soft towel, for it is best for my skin. But I do not
recommend this as a universal method.
My skin happens to be exceedingly thin and sensitive, annoyingly so.
If it were one of the hardier, more durable sort, with a tendency to a
coarsening and roughening, I should try this much more drastic method
of removing scarf skin. If I were strong enough and my physicians
vouched for the fact that I were, I would try the daily cold plunge
or shower. This I would take in the morning remaining in the icy tub
or under the chilling shower not more than one minute. Then I should
have a brisk rubdown, not with the soft linen towel or cheesecloth,
but with a big, coarse Turkish towel. For this purpose I like best
the big towels that swathe the body completely, which one may wrap
round herself, and, wrapped in them, sit upon a bathing stool and dry
herself with immunity from chill. Unless I were to dress at once, I
should briskly rub the body with alcohol to render less the possibility
of taking cold. But if my room were sunny I would prefer to run about
the room half a dozen times, or a rehearsal of dancing steps for five
minutes, or jumping the rope. One of the greatest authorities on
hygiene in your country has advocated exercise--he called it a sun
bath--directly after the bath.
But this would by no means suffice for my bathing. For every one except
an Englishman knows that the cold bath does not cleanse. It merely
exhilarates. For keeping the skin clean there should be the warm bath.
You observe that I did not say the hot bath, for it is my opinion that
the hot bath enervates. For cleansing the water should be from 90 to 95
degrees Fahrenheit.
A good soap should be plentifully used. White castile, the soaps made
from spermaceti and good glycerine soaps I believe to be the best. The
soap need not be used directly upon the skin. Much better is it that
for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour before you take your night bath
a cake of soap or a quantity of it shaved be thrown into the water, so
that the water becomes a milky color, or that a lather rise to the top
of the water.
Thus soap will never, except in its diluted form, touch the skin. The
per cent. of lye which is used in the manufacture of soaps that would
actually touch the skin would be very small. A soft brush would be
useful for a coarse skin. I never advocate a hard one, for it is liable
to abrade the skin.
No one should remain in the bath more than twenty minutes, and this
time should include the rinsing off of the soapy water by a shower
or spray of cooler, perhaps fifteen degrees cooler, not cold, water.
A cold shower at night, when this cleansing bath is taken, would be
over-stimulative, and tend, as does the strong coffee to certain
persons, to keep them awake.
Between the two extremes of gentle and drastic bathing lie many
intermediaries known as beauty baths. There is, for example, that
simple and efficacious starch bath, taken by women whose skins are
tormented and disfigured by pimples.
To an ordinary bathtub half filled with water add one pound of pure
starch. Let it dissolve in water at 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. To
this many French women choose to add one wineglass of toilet ammonia
for its whitening effect.
The oatmeal bag is an old and admirable remedy for rough or stained
skin. The best is made in this way:
Oatmeal, 1 pound; pulverized orris root, ½ pound. Stir well together
and sew into a large square bag. Toss the bag into the tub and let it
remain in the warm water for fifteen minutes. It will give the water
that delightful milky aspect so pleasant to the luxurious bather. Bran
may be manipulated in the same way with equally good results.
For whitening and softening the skin a bath powder may be made at home
from these ingredients:
Bicarbonate of soda, 6 ounces; cream of tartar, 5 ounces; starch, 8
ounces; oil of lemon, 1 dram; oil of bergamot, 10 drops. If another
scent is preferred to bergamot it can be substituted; for instance, 5
drops of oil of rose geranium.
For a person not strong enough to endure the cold bath, this tonic in
tepid water is recommended by many European physicians:
Aromatic vinegar, 1 pint; tincture of benzoin, 1 wineglass.
A delicious bath used by our grandmothers, and that is as efficacious
for their granddaughters, is made by boiling for three hours two pounds
of bran. Strain the bran through a sieve. To the remaining liquor add
some scent of your choice, let us say 10 drops of bergamot, 5 of rose
of geranium, or 5 of oil of lavender.
A belle of limited means utilizes all the left-over bits of her toilet
soap. These she grinds or chops with a knife into a fine powder. To
two ounces of this powder she adds four tablespoonfuls of borax. She
sifts these into two quarts of bran. A pint of this mixture poured into
an old linen or cheesecloth bag and the bag used as a washcloth gives
a pleasant touch of luxury to a bath, besides greatly softening and
whitening the skin.
Many women prefer to make their own toilet or aromatic vinegars to be
used in the bath. For them I recommend this formula:
Camphor, ½ ounce; oil of rosemary, ½ dram; oil of cloves, ½ dram; oil
of bergamot, 1 dram; acetic acid, 4 ounces; alcohol, 8 ounces.
When for any reason the perspiration is odorous in spite of the bath,
this sprinkled upon the offending portions of the body destroys the
unpleasant condition:
Subnitrate of bismuth, 1 ounce; pulverized boric acid, ½ ounce;
pulverized alum, ½ ounce; oil of eucalyptus, 10 drops; oil of rose
geranium, 5 drops; oil of lemon, 5 drops.
For those of full habit I recommend a Russian bath once a week as
beneficial to the complexion. I prefer those given in the cabinets. For
myself, being meager, there would be after six of them nothing left.
Let me suggest this means for the invalid or the person of lean purse,
of taking the Russian bath at home. There are inexpensive cabinets,
folding or stationary, made for this purpose, of wood or tin. Even a
packing box would suffice. But a good Russian, which means vapor, as
distinguished from the Turkish, or hot air, bath--and the Russian I
think much to be preferred, because it does not involve breathing hot
air--may be taken at home.
The home-made Russian bath requires: Three or more blankets; a
cane-seated chair; a spirit lamp; a can containing one quart of water.
Place the can upon the lighted spirit lamp, the spirit lamp beneath the
chair, and yourself, enveloped in blankets, upon the chair. The water
in the can can be replenished from time to time.
Drinking three or more glasses of hot water during the bath aids in
perspiration. If there are more blankets available lie down swathed
in from four to six dry ones, and the process of perspiration will
continue for twenty minutes longer.
In Turkey baths are regarded not only as means of cleanliness but as
agents of beauty. Here is a tonic Turkish women pour into the tub to
tone the skin and through that the whole body:
Ammonia (pure), 100 grams; cooking salt, 500 grams.
This is of special value when one is tired and listless. It is called
the Stimulant Bath:
Oil of turpentine, 100 grams; carbonate of soda, 50 grams; oil of
rosemary, 10 grams; oil of eucalyptus, 5 grams.
This oil bath is rubbed into the skin to render it soft and smooth. It
is an admirable remedy for a dry skin. The harem women style it “The
Beauty Bath”:
Rosewater, 100 grams; glycerine, 60 grams; starch, 50 grams; oil of
lavender, 15 grams.
Famous beauties were always careful about their baths, even in a
period when baths were disregarded or were despised as the habits of
the unduly effeminate. Marie Antoinette, for her full bath, used a
mixture of wild thyme and marjory, with sea salt. In the winter the
baths were taken cold, in the summer warm, it being the fancy of the
court physician, Dr. Fagoni, that the temperature of the bath should
correspond to the temperature of the outer air.
The wine bath is not a fiction of the imagination, but rather a fact
of history. The beautiful Russian, Marie Czetwertynoska, favorite
beauty of the Court of Alexander the Great, insisted upon the tonic of
a weekly bath in Spanish wine. Poppæa bathed in asses’ milk, and was
renowned for her complexion.
Novel was the method of Isabeau, Queen of Bavaria, for toning the body
and beautifying the complexion in spring. Each morning during May, June
and July she bathed in strawberry juice.
Mme. Tallien, whose skin was flawless, preferred raspberries, as
at once milder in effect and yet of more lasting quality. Ninon de
l’Enclos bathed alternately in chickweed water and milk, using oatmeal
freely in her face bath.
Enid Wilson, often alluded to as “the most beautiful woman in the
British Empire,” had a favorite bath, which she declared was the chief
secret of her wonderful English complexion. “Into a wide-mouthed gallon
jar I cram as many elder flower blossoms as it will hold. Over this I
pour boiling water,” she said. “After letting the jar and its contents
stand in a cool place for six hours, I strain the liquid and pour a few
tablespoonfuls of it into my bath.”
The beautiful women of every civilized nation are nowadays taking less
medicine and more baths. The medical directors, who are probably the
greatest beauty doctors, because they teach that beauty depends almost
wholly on health, are teaching them the tonic and sedative influences
of the bath. They are teaching them that of varieties of baths there is
no end. They tell them there is one sort of bath for the anæmic person,
another for the too full-blooded person, one for the person who sleeps
too little, another for the one who sleeps too much.
For every temperament and for every condition there is the special
bath. But there are some general rules which all should know. For
instance these:
The best average temperature for the bath is 68 to 72 degrees
Fahrenheit. The temperature of the bath should always be tested before
using.
The bath of cistern or rainwater is the best for the skin, because it
is the “softest”--that is, the purest water, being unmixed with the
minerals which well water collects on its tour through the various
strata of earth, and which “hardens” it.
The starch bath is one of the best to allay itching or cure annoying
skin eruptions. It is made like this:
Into a tub of say ten gallons of water drop one-half pound of starch.
The gelatine bath serves a similar purpose. It is soothing to an
irritated skin. The proportions are two hundred and fifty grams of
white French gelatine to ten gallons of tepid water.
The cold bath is a stimulant for those who are strong enough to react
from it. The test is whether after the cold plunge the skin turns red.
If it turns blue the vitality is not sufficient to bear such heroic
treatment. Cold baths should not be taken without the advice of a
competent physician.
The hot bath is soothing, but if taken too often is enervating. Once a
week, under ordinary circumstances, is often enough for a hot bath.
The tepid bath, graduated to a cool bath by letting the cold water run
in as the warm water runs off, is the best daily bath.
For the person who perspires excessively, a wineglass of ammonia to ten
gallons of water is a good corrective.
For the seaside bath, five pounds of table salt dissolved in a tubful
of water at home is a very good substitute. This, followed by a shower
or spray, will lend the illusion of Ostend or Atlantic City.
But besides these simple baths, that any one may take, there are some
that are complex, and that only those who have, for a time at least,
some spare hours to spend at their toilets may trouble to take. This is
what my physician ordered when I had come from a Russian tour, weary
from travel and in that state of depression that follows extreme
weariness. Used in tepid water every morning I found it invigorating:
Bromide of potassium, 1 gram; carbonate of calcium, 1 gram; carbonate
of soda, 300 grams; sulphate of soda, 300 grams; sulphate of iron, 3
grams; oil of lavender, 1 gram; oil of thyme, 1 gram; oil of rosemary,
1 gram.
The same physician recommended for the skin that was too sensitive to
endure soap:
Tincture of quillagac, 10 grams; glycerine, 20 grains; oil of bergamot,
3 drops.
The extremely nervous person, whose skin is much irritated, may take
the starch bath I have described and add to it a pint of vinegar.
Discreet bathing, besides its first office of cleanliness, aids and
even cures anæmia, biliousness, obesity, rheumatism, neuralgia and even
St. Vitus’s dance.
The hot water treatment for pimples is more efficacious than most
medicines given for that purpose. The application of soft cloths dipped
in hot water has effected a cure in a few days.
A class of skin diseases that produce postules on the skin, these
postules eventually bursting and forming crusts, are alleviated and
sometimes cured by a systematic course of warm baths. The falling of
the crusts like dandruff, and the gradual healing, may be brought about
by two warm baths daily. Tetter is one of these forms that has been
cured by warm water baths and careful, tender drying with soft towels.
An object lesson in the value of the warm bath in soothing the nervous
system is seen in the case of children screaming with the colic, who
cease their cries and grow sleepy as soon as they are placed in a tub
of warm water.
If possible, bathe not less than two hours before eating nor less than
three hours after eating.
Never take a bath while very tired. There will be no reaction--that
is, the blood will not leap to the surface as under favorable
circumstances it makes its response to the bath, and the bath will
merely reduce further the lowered vitality.
A little exercise just before bathing and a little exercise after, aids
the good effects of the bath. The exercise before opens the pores for
the reception of the water. The exercise afterward permits the entrance
of sun and air into the pores too little accustomed to either.
Light exercise after the drying of the skin with a soft towel and
before enveloping it with clothes is a splendid tonic and a wonderful
beautifier. I know a half dozen beautiful Parisiennes who have had
their bathrooms built in that part of the house most exposed to the
sunshine, and at the top of the house, and, opening from these, have
built small sun parlors, square rooms with roofs and sides entirely of
glass. Here they exercise for from five to ten minutes, jumping the
rope or flexing the arms and legs and head. One vigorous beauty has a
blanket spread upon the floor of her sun parlor, and upon this turns
somersaults, to make her body pliant and to assure herself that her
circulation is free. Some of these exercises are illustrated by the
silhouettes on this page.
During the sunbaths they are unclad, or if clothed are merely wrapped
in a light, loose dressing gown. After the bath and the exercise some
Parisiennes repose for an hour upon a couch in the sun parlor, their
hair hanging loose and their faces protected only by a delicate shade,
like a fire screen, from the too strong rays of the sun.
Bathe briskly in the water. Never stay in it more than twenty minutes.
Indeed, a good scrub can be taken in three minutes. A brush is better
than a sponge. It pries open the pores. Do not use coarse towels. They
abrade the skin. Use soft towels or bath gloves. Dry thoroughly and
quickly. Many bathe the face and neck first to prevent a possible
unpleasant dash of blood to the head. Bathe in a room whose temperature
is at least 68 or 70 degrees. Ordinarily the room should be as warm as
the water in which you bathe.
For those who dislike soaps, or if they do not dislike, at least
distrust them, lanolin milk is a valuable aid or even a substitute for
the bath:
Lanolin, 35 grains; water, ½ ounce; pure castile soap, 30 grains. Pour
the lanolin into the water. Heat slowly. The soap should be dissolved
in a half ounce of water. Mix and shake well.
Glycerine soap is one of the best for the winter. Those soaps
containing bran and oatmeal are also excellent for preserving the
softness of the skin in this trying season.
Almond meal poured into the wet hands and forming a paste, which is
gently rubbed upon the face and hands, is the best substitute for soap
for the face bath.
The ordinary daily bath is not enough for the feet, which are of
coarser fiber. They have larger pores, from which much perspiration
is discharged. And there is a greater discharge of dead matter from
the soles of the feet than from any other part of the body of the same
area. For this reason and because the feet are more exposed to dust
than any other part of the body except the face, there should be a
special daily footbath. It is best to take this just before retiring.
It is, by the way, helpful in calling the blood away from the head
to the feet. I always take my footbath a little warmer than my body
bath. I scrub them with a flesh brush well soaped, for there cannot,
fortunately, be too much soap used upon the feet. A teaspoonful of
borax or a teaspoonful of ammonia aids the cleansing.
CHAPTER XII
GOOD HEALTH AS A FOUNDATION FOR BEAUTY
Show me a woman who has indigestion and I will show you a person with
muddy complexion, dull or feverishly bright eyes, a coated tongue and a
languid manner.
None of these makes for beauty. All are signs of ill-health. Besides
these outward and visible signs of ill health, it is a heavy weight
upon the spirits. The girl thinks she is unhappy, and manufactures
causes for misery, or exaggerates the trifles that are not to her
liking, and makes them causes for unhappiness.
Besides these, indigestion causes yet graver troubles. I recall
several persons I knew who have since passed from the earthly plane,
whose decline in health began with various symptoms of indigestion.
It was never clear to me whether the indigestion was the cause or the
effect of these maladies. But I trust I have said enough to prove that
indigestion is a most undesirable state. Vanity alone should forbid it.
How to prevent indigestion? I shall have a great deal to say farther
on about food wrong in kind or quality as a cause of indigestion.
But first let me tell you of an excellent exercise to discourage
indigestion.
Knead the abdomen on retiring and several times a day when there is
opportunity. Double your hands as though for kneading bread. Place the
clenched hands beneath the ribs. Press firmly and regularly upon the
intestines, moving the fists forward until they meet. Having done this
five to ten times, allow the left hand to rest at your side and with
the right hand press gently but steadily downward at the left of the
abdomen until your hand is opposite the thigh. Repeat this operation
several times each time you take the exercise. This is still more
effective if taken while you are lying in your bathtub. The relaxation
of the muscles is aided by the fact that they are under water. The
hydropathic school believes this one of the greatest aids to restoring
proper digestion.
Much walking is an aid to digestion. So is this exercise, which can be
taken in bed:
Lying upon your back, draw the knees slowly up beneath the chin, then
let the legs fall to their former position. This is the most valuable
of early morning exercises for those who have a torpid liver or some
other form of indigestion.
Coarse cereals are an enemy to indigestion. Seldom does one see a case
of indigestion in Scotland, and if we do, it is when we meet a queer
Scot who dislikes his national dish, oatmeal. Oatmeal, whole wheat,
rice, all being large fibered foods, stir the stomach and intestines to
activity, which is good for digestion.
Again, every girl should know some of the principles of the values of
foods. Apply to your daily food these facts. Your food should consist
of these proportions:
Mixture of starches and sugars, about 16 parts. Proteids, 4 parts.
Fats, 2 parts.
In other words, one-half of our daily amount of food may be made up of
potatoes, rice, bread, etc. One-eighth should consist of the proteids,
as milk, or eggs, or cheese. One-sixteenth should be fat, as butter or
the fat to be found in meat or oil in dressing of salads. Keep this
table in mind and you will find a new interest in choosing your food,
and in a short time you will welcome a marked improvement in your
health.
Do not decline sweets unless you are overweight, but eat them at the
right time, which is as dessert for luncheon or dinner. Never eat cake
or candy between meals.
Turn resolutely away from all fried foods. You have heard that fried
foods are injurious, but you do not know why. It is my pleasure to tell
you. They are indigestible because they form in the stomach a substance
as thick and unwieldy as leather, and as difficult of digestion.
Neither meats nor eggs nor milk should ever reach the boiling point.
For this reason never eat boiled beef, nor a boiled egg, nor milk that
has been boiled. The beef cut up in a stew that has simmered below the
boiling point, an egg that has been dropped into water just below the
boiling point and allowed to heat there for eight minutes instead of
boiling four, and milk that has been heated but never permitted to show
one of the bubbles that attend the boiling state, are substitutes for
the old forms, and admirable ones.
Keep this also in mind in selecting your food: For the bones’ formation
we need lime, and the cereals, as oats and wheat and rice, contain
elements that make it. Sugar is converted into energy, as the Russian
dancers well know, for they eat inordinate quantities of candy and
sweet paste, yet, because they exercise it off, remain thin. The fats,
as butter and meat fat, cause warmth in the body, so should be used
more freely in winter than in summer. Bread is a good food if made of
coarse grain. Contrary to the general opinion, macaroni and spaghetti
are good foods. Examine them in their raw state and you will see
that they are yellowish. That shows the presence of gluten, which is
valuable as an aid to digestion, in bread form.
Are you anæmic? Then besides mild exercise in the open air, always
stopping before you are tired, and massaging the body and face with
feeding oils as lanolin and olive oil, feed yourself generously with
thickened broths and thick soups. Ham and bacon and mutton, chicken and
game are rebuilders of the weakened system, and butter may be freely
eaten. For the anæmic all kinds of fresh fish are nourishing. So are
oysters. Eggs are rebuilding agents. So are bread and cakes, tapioca
and hominy.
Much cream is desirable for the anæmic, and chocolate, custards, baked
fruits and jellies are friendly foods in the circumstances.
Avoid what especially taxes the digestion, as veal or pork, salt meats
and heavy hashes. Bananas being among the most indigestible of the
foods, should be avoided.
If you are dyspeptic don’t eat many things at one meal. Two or three
dishes are enough. If you have difficulty in digestion lie down before
or after a meal. For you vegetable soups as tomato, asparagus, pea and
bean soups are aids. Oysters and fresh fish, plainly broiled, are among
your dietetic friends. Squabs and sweetbreads and chicken that has been
broiled are best. Your meats should be short-fibered and broiled until
they are tender. Eat eggs with stale bread or dry toast. Eggs may be
cooked in any way you wish except broiled or fried. Do not eat meats
freely, and if you eat any butter let it be very thinly spread. If you
eat bacon be sure that it is crisp and thoroughly done.
Well baked potatoes, tomatoes and spinach and boiled onions, peas, lima
beans, asparagus and stewed celery and lettuce are edibles you should
choose. Do not eat fruits that are either very sour or very sweet. The
stomach of the dyspeptic is sensitive to extremes. Tea, if made very
weak and drunk clear and hot, is beneficial. So are milk and cocoa or
chocolate, if not too rich. Shun raw celery and cabbage and radishes.
If you are gouty or rheumatic be careful not to eat stimulating foods
and avoid all stimulating liquors. The gouty or rheumatic condition is
caused by the deposit of acids in the joints, and you should study how
to eliminate these from the body. Alcohol, sweets and strawberries add
to them.
Eat very slowly of the following: Thin vegetable soups, fresh fish and
raw oysters, whitemeats, as the breast of chicken, sweetbreads and
pigs’ feet. Take the whites of eggs, preferably raw.
Toasted graham or whole wheat bread is the best for your condition.
Zweiback and graham gems are also helpful. For you celery, lettuce,
cucumber, cabbages, young peas and string beans, spinach, those
vegetables containing much water, are excellent. Juicy fruits as
oranges, lemons, apricots, cranberries, pears, peaches, better stewed
or baked than raw, are medicinal for you.
But eat no beef, no fried dishes, no ragouts nor hashes, neither turkey
nor duck nor goose, no omelettes and no salt fish and no desserts
except fruits. If you drink tea or coffee let it be weak. Buttermilk
is better for you, and you more than any other class of person, should
drink water in large quantities.
If you are liverish or are troubled by bilious attacks eat less heavily
than you have been doing. Choose white meats and fish, and eat no fat
part of the meat. Of vegetables eat much watercress and lettuce and
spinach. Drink skimmed milk and that very slowly, and eat only raw or
poached eggs. Cornbread or bread made from whole wheat flour and hot
water in which you have squeezed the juice of a lemon or orange will
help you back to a state of health. Eat neither cheese nor potatoes,
oatmeal nor dried vegetables.
If you are neurasthenic never attempt the no-breakfast plan. It is
better for you if you can have your breakfast in bed. The diet should
be light. Meats, fish, eggs, green vegetables and fruits are a helpful
diet. Milk can be taken if the stomach does not reject it. Tea, coffee,
tobacco and alcoholic drinks are forbidden to you.
Train yourself to note your symptoms and treat them by diet. When your
face has a mottled appearance you may be sure that you are eating too
much food of all sorts, or that you are eating too much that is greasy
or rich or sweet. A chic Parisian friend of mine when she notices such
symptoms limits herself to one moderate meal a day--her dinner--and
the earlier part of the day contents herself with fruits and salads,
drinking water moderately at these meals and copiously between them.
There are many times when we “feel our bodies” and are growing too
heavy or too lazy that it is well to subsist for a few days on a liquid
diet. This nourishing drink strengthens the body even while the work of
removing the remaining ashes from the body goes on:
Whole barley, 1 tablespoonful; a slice of lemon; boiling water, 2
cupfuls. Place the barley and slice of lemon in an earthen dish. Over
them pour the boiling water. Cover the dish and let the mixture stand
for ten minutes. Then strain into another earthen dish. The drink may
be flavored with a small quantity of sugar if preferred. The quantity
given is ample for one nourishing meal for one person.
This is a drink often taken by athletes to refresh them during their
training period in England, but is useful to women taking a semi-fast
for beauty’s sake:
Bran, 2 tablespoonfuls; seeded raisins, 1 tablespoonful; lemon, 1 thick
slice. Chop the raisins fine and place them with the bran and lemon
in an earthen bowl. Over these pour a half pint of boiling water. Let
stand to cool and blend for ten minutes. Strain and drink while warm.
Raisins are of special value in cleansing and toning the kidneys.
The water in which peeled apples have been stewed and to which a few
currants have been added is a strengthening, cooling and cleansing
drink. It is made more appetizing by the addition of a few cloves or a
broken stick of cinnamon.
This is another tonic and refreshing drink during the time when you are
eating little, or nothing:
Squeeze into a large coffee cup the juice of one orange. Fill the space
remaining in the cup with boiling water. Add a teaspoonful of liquid
honey and the same amount of lemon juice.
This, too, appeases hunger:
Milk, 1 pint; hot water, 1 pint. Slowly sip in lieu of a meal. The use
of water in a way prevents the clogging of the system that sometimes
follows an exclusively milk diet.
A drink much in use in England, that is half food, half medicinal, is
this:
Two tablespoonfuls of whole wheat; a little caraway or celery seed to
flavor. Into a pint bowl of boiling water stir the whole wheat after it
has been ground. Add the caraway or celery seed. Sweeten, if you wish,
with a half teaspoonful of powdered licorice.
Nut drinks are among the strengthening beverages substituted for food
during a beauty fast. For example, this:
Ground peanuts, 1 tablespoonful; boiling water, 1 cupful. Flavor with
equal quantities of honey or lemon juice as desired.
Perhaps you prefer meat juices in the thinning or rebuilding time. In
that case:
Pour over finely chopped beef or chicken twice its bulk in boiling
water if you wish the tea to be strong, three times if weak.
Some things there are that no one who wishes to be beautiful should
ever take into the stomach. Those things should be contraband, as
poisons and leads. They are: Sweets, pastries, anything very sweet or
very sour, anything very cold or very hot, pork, puddings other than
those consisting chiefly of fruits, and the doughnut, or cruller,
which is fried dough.
I hear American women beseech me, “Tell us what to eat and what not to
eat, so that we may be thin.” I answer, “Eat foods containing cooling
properties, as limes, soda and acids. Do not eat what contains sugar,
fat and starch.” Shall I be more explicit? Very well, then. Choose for
your regular diet:
Green vegetables, boiled without grease and with a little salt; string
beans, peas, asparagus and spinach may be cooked in this way or dressed
with oil and vinegar in which vinegar largely predominates; stewed
fruits, as apricots, prunelles, apples, kumquats, cherries and plums,
with little sugar, better with none; lean meats, rare beef and mutton,
roasted; zweiback or gluten bread, or, if these be not available, then
the crust, never the inner portion of wheaten bread; green salads, as
lettuce, romaine, chicory or cucumbers, with French dressing, reducing
the usual amount of oil and increasing that of the vinegar.
Eat as little as you can subsist on and maintain your strength, of any
of these. Remember, that while the stomach of each adult equals in size
that of a quart measure, it is wise to only half fill it; that is, to
take into it at no time more than a pint of food or fluid, or of both
combined. The distended stomach causes many intestinal troubles. One of
the results is that always unsightly spectacle, a high abdomen.
Foods it is wise for the stout beauty to avoid are: Fat meats, gravies,
pastries, cauliflower, potatoes, rice, lima beans, chocolate, sweetened
tea or coffee, candy, puddings and milk.
The beauty with the persistently blotched skin requires different food,
less food, a more judicious dietary. For her skin indicates some form
of indigestion, and the first step to cure indigestion is to give the
digestive apparatus less work to do. For that reason I should advise
the beauty with spots upon her countenance to try for a few hours, or,
if possible, a few days, the water cure. Let her, so far as food is
concerned, fast, if her physician permit, and live as long as seems
judicious on air and water. The furnace of an engine must be cleansed
occasionally of its clinkers. So the intestinal tract must be cleansed
of its obstructions. I have said before in these pages that everyone
should drink three quarts of water a day. I repeat it. If the stomach
be very delicate the water may be taken hot, but, as I have also said
before, I have found that, while hot water taken copiously into the
stomach relieves a condition temporarily, if the stomach continues
habitually to be flooded with it, it checks the flow of the gastric
juices. The gastric juices refuse to work, pettishly leaving their
functions to the intruder. Cold or cool water--never, let me repeat,
ice water--should be taken so that when it reaches the stomach it is of
nearly the same temperature. It should be sipped and slowly swallowed;
never, no matter how thirsty one may be, gulped.
As well introduce a lump of ice suddenly into the stomach as a
tumblerful of cold water. If you have ever by accident swallowed a
lump of ice you know how painful and violent is the stomach’s protest.
Never drink more than two glasses of water at a time. A pint, as I
have pointed out, is all that the stomach should be asked to retain at
one time. If the beauty, the charm of whose face has been eclipsed by
blotches, desires, she can increase the amount of water by a quart or
more, but this only when she is taking no food. If she finds it more
palatable, three or four drops of lemon juice squeezed into a glass
will help the cleansing process. While she is taking the water cure she
should take as much exercise out of doors as her strength will permit.
She must not continue the exercise after she becomes tired.
This water cure can be assisted by flushing the colon with warm water,
a subject with which I may deal more fully later. Sufficient at this
time that the internal bath, given as often as her physician directs,
is of great aid to her who would have a clear complexion.
The water and air cure has been continued, under medical direction, for
one day, three, even five or six days, with beneficial results. The
length will depend upon the strength of the person taking the cure.
When she resumes food she would do well to begin with warm milk.
Beginning with one quart of milk a day, the quantity can be increased
to two and even three. It should be remembered that milk is food,
rather than a beverage, and should be consumed as such. Not less than
five minutes should be given to drinking a glass of milk.
When food has been resumed bear in mind that if the spots upon your
face are caused by acne (blackheads) tea and coffee should be avoided.
So should pastry, cheese, sauces and highly-seasoned foods. On the
other hand the beauty who would remove the small, black blemishes may
eat freely of well-cooked green vegetables and stewed fruits. While
following this cooling, cleansing régime, I would suggest that pimples,
roughnesses and spots will the more quickly disappear if for three or
more mornings the blood be cooled by a dose of one teaspoonful of Epsom
salts in a glass of warm water.
For the beauties who are too thin a diet that will enrich the blood
is recommended. For this condition fat meats, gravies, lima beans,
potatoes, rice, sweets--all those things above which I have written the
flaming sign “Don’t” for stout beauties--should be eaten.
When the cheeks and lips are pale, the eyes dim, the gait lagging and
the body abnormally thin, these conditions all indicate that there is
a lack of iron in the system. I use iron hypodermic injections myself,
preferring them because they save the stomach the disturbance that
follows introducing medicines. But if there is an objection to this
iron may be taken in food form by eating the yolks of eggs, spinach,
beets and string beans.
The same dietary will help the woman whose hair is falling or is
prematurely gray. The results, though slow, are beneficent.
I believe in fasting in moderation as an aid to the good health upon
which beauty depends. As fully as I indorse the beauty device of
staying in bed now and then for a day or longer, if circumstances
permit, one day of every ten, I am convinced that an occasional fast is
conducive to well being.
Fasting confers benefits in general and in specific cases. When persons
are in that condition for which you have a naïve word of description,
“logy,” which means heavy and listless, fasting serves an excellent
purpose. Usually the “logy” person has been overfed. Let her go back to
nature for a lesson on how to cure herself of this disorder. When an
animal has eaten too much it usually crawls away to some dark and quiet
place and fasts. That is what the woman who has overtaxed her digestion
should do. At such times the animal drinks plentifully of water. So
should the human being.
When the digestion goes on strike humor it. Grant the overworked
stomach and intestines a holiday. Let them suspend work for a time, but
only for a short time. Better, in my opinion, a forty-eight hour fast
taken four times a month than a fast taken for eight consecutive days.
In general, the body is better off for an occasional relief to the
digestive organs. But there are specific instances of the fast being of
great benefit.
For instance, I know a woman whose beautiful figure was seriously
marred by an enlarged abdomen. When she came to me for advice I asked
her to stand and to walk. I saw that she stood and walked well. Then
I asked her to sit, and I saw that her habit of sitting was correct.
She sat with her weight equally distributed and resting evenly on the
balls of her feet. She sat somewhat, though not awkwardly, forward in
her chair, so that her spine was straight. In none of these postures
was there any cause for the thrusting forward of the abdomen. Her
corsets were good and new, neither too tight nor too loose. Believing
that this puffy, vulgar appearance was due to some form of indigestion,
I suggested a short fast. I recommended forty-eight hours without food
and with plentiful drinking of hot water, into each glassful of which
was squeezed the juice of a lemon.
She repeated this every week for five weeks, with no unpleasant results
and with the flattening of the abdomen which she desired and which has
greatly added to the loveliness of her figure.
There is much in favor of the semi-fast, which is not so great a shock
to the system. When persons have passed their thirty-fifth year it is
wise to give no such shock to the system. Better be as considerate
of our own bodies as we are of the feelings of our beloved friends.
Begin gently any radical departure in the habits of the body. For this
reason it is well to begin fasting by semi-fasting, or by gradually
diminishing the amount of food taken.
A plan that seems to me worthy is to forego solid foods, and the first
day subsist on milks, gruel or soup. Of these the milk is better
because more nourishing. Some persons don’t like milk, but, it being
the natural food, everyone can train himself to like, or, at least, to
swallow it. Some to whom milk is repellent prevent its unpleasant after
effects by placing in each glass a pinch of bicarbonate of soda.
I allow my appetite to govern the amount and the frequency of these
meals of milk. I always remember that milk is food and so consider
that I eat, rather than drink, it. Five minutes at least for a glass I
always permit myself. Sometimes I take ten.
The stomach having been gently prepared for the change, it is ready by
the second day for the water and lemon. The lemon juice not only makes
the water more palatable, but it stimulates the liver, so clearing the
complexion.
When ready to break the fast I have found it well to accustom the
stomach to the change back to food by sipping orange juice that has
been pressed into a cup or glass, then to begin eating again by
consuming a small, sweet orange. I returned to regular diet by the
easy way of soups and gruels. My longest fast was for four days, and I
consider that one or two days too long.
In fact, the safest method of fasting I consider the semi-fast, with
milk, gruels and soups that I have described.
Thus of the manner of fasts. Now as to their value. Catarrh I have
known to be greatly relieved, if not wholly cured, by recurrent fasts.
Rheumatism in its early stages has yielded to repeated short fasts and
care to avoid sweets and beef in the intervals between these fasts.
Even nervousness, that form of it which is aggravated by rich and heavy
foods, I have known to disappear during one of these silent and dark
room fasts, the silence and rest being, probably, the chief agents.
A fairly good rule to follow is that whenever the tongue is coated the
amount of food may be reduced, or we would do well to have no food for
a short time. The coated tongue indicates that there is much dead,
refuse matter, like the choking ashes in a furnace, obstructing the
body. If you can fast until the tongue is once more clean and red you
will be the gainer.
Also when you feel your body, that is, when you are unpleasantly
conscious of its weight and its handicap, a fast will usually relieve
you. But a warning. Do not undertake a fast while you are doing your
heaviest work. Fast when the demands upon you are lightest, and fast,
if possible, alone, so that no one will be afflicted by the irritable
temper that is liable to follow.
No one looks her best when she has not had enough sleep. Little
lines come about the eyes, deep creases form in the flesh about the
mouth, the eyes lose their light, the facial muscles their firmness,
the complexion its freshness, and, what is most important, the mind
loses its alertness, when we have not slept well. Irritability and
supersensitiveness show in face and manner.
Lack of sound sleep is due to two causes, a brain under-nourished or
over-stimulated. Sleeplessness, or fitful, restless sleep, follows
nervous derangement. There may be indigestion, cause or result of
nervousness. There may be worry. There may be mental fag or nervous
exhaustion. But whatever form it takes the root of the matter is nearly
always in the nerves. This granted, we must look to relieving the
brain, the main station along the line, or we must supply it what it
needs.
Banish worry. Take plenty of exercise. Breathe much fresh air. These
are three excellent recipes for sleep.
If you find that you have been over-working, lighten your work a
little. Try to spend a day or two in the country, if possible. But
this, to a busy person, is sometimes out of the question. If that is
the case with you try to retire an hour earlier. Some dread retiring
earlier because they say they know they will not sleep. Try it at any
rate. Lying in a dark room will bring a sense of rest that should
soothe the nerves and tend toward sleep.
Make sure that the room is at the right temperature for your comfort.
If it is too warm you will surely not sleep. If it is cold to the point
of discomfort, you will lie awake. Sixty degrees Fahr., or less, is
a good temperature for a sleeping room. Be sure that the air of your
bedroom is fresh. If it seems stale or stuffy open the windows wide
and either move actively about the room or go into any other one while
this freshening is taking place. It would be much better if the airing
had continued all day and the air were as near the freshness of the
out-of-doors as you could make it.
If your head aches from the strain of the day, a bandage of cracked ice
should drive the excess of blood from the head and permit sleep. If, on
the other hand, you are anæmic, and your feet are cold at night thrust
them into a tub of hot mustard water. Place the elbow in the water
first to test its temperature. If it is too hot for the elbow it will
certainly be too hot for the feet.
If you are annoyed, while lying awake, by a gnawing of the stomach,
proving that it is quite or nearly empty, forestall this by sipping a
cup of gruel before going to bed. This will warm the stomach and quiet
the nerve disturbance, soothing the body for its rest.
A case of protracted insomnia I knew to be cured in this simple and,
it would seem, did I not know the results, trivial manner. Lie flat
upon the bed with a low pillow--or, better, no pillow at all--and
loosen your grip upon your muscles. Uncurl them, so to speak. Relax
as completely as does your house dog when he sleeps with his body
stretched out, nose upon his paws, before the fire. Then breathe very
deeply but gently counting six at each respiration. To aid in this
deep breathing, press one nostril shut by laying the forefinger firmly
against it and drawing the air through the other nostril. Repeat this
a half dozen times, counting six at each drawing in and letting out of
the air.
Call into use the hot-water bottle or the warming pan. Put on your
bedroom slippers if you awake with cold feet. Pretend that you are
sleepy, even though you are not, and let the eyelids slowly close as
though drooping from their own weight or from weariness, over your
eyes. This little device alone has been helpful in cases of insomnia.
The Orientals give us good advice concerning sleep: “Compose yourself.
Be calm. Think on pleasant events before falling asleep,” say they,
“for upon whatever plane of thought you enter sleep you will remain
during your slumber. And those thoughts will stamp themselves upon the
face.”
One of the greatest menaces to feminine beauty to-day is
nervousness--nervousness in all its forms, neuritis, neurasthenia,
nervous prostration, hysteria. All these prove that the little silver
wires have been drawn too taut and that they are at the snapping point.
Old age is the specter that stalks in the path of beauty. It is the
only thing of which beauty is afraid. But nervousness presages age and
the appearance of age. Observe one of your friends after a nervous
attack. She looks ten years older. The tumult of her emotions has
etched ugly new lines in her face, from nose to lips, along the temples
and between the eyes. If she catches sight of her face in the mirror at
such a time she is appalled, for she has a vision of the sort of old
woman she will become.
To keep young, discourage very nervous outbreak. Every woman needs a
calm mental center. She must have some place of spiritual and mental
retreat from her tumult of soul if it is only the reflection: “In a
year it won’t matter.” She should fly to this whenever a tumult of the
nerves threatens. I know a woman who cured her habit of flying into
tempers, which is only another expression of jangled nerves, by saying
over and over to herself:
“It is vulgar to show temper. Whatever else I am I will not be vulgar.”
Her face, which had begun to show the etching of deep, stormy emotions
has become a smooth, beautiful mask, whose expression lies where
expression should, in the flash of a sudden smile and the quick
lighting of brilliant eyes.
Need I recount the symptoms of disordered nerves? Not to mature women.
They know them too well. But for the benefit of my younger readers to
whom nerves are yet happily only names, I will describe a few.
Irritability of temper is one, the most common, and the one which
occasions the least sympathy.
Exceeding sensitiveness, which makes the person prone to take offense
when no offense is intended, is another.
Depression of spirits as often results from tired nerves as from an
overburdened liver.
The habit of “making monkey faces” which I have so often noticed in
American women.
The habit of making many and needless movements. The girl who flings
her head aloft in aimless little gestures may think she is vivacious,
but vivacity is rather of the mind than of the body. She is merely
revealing the unpleasant secret that her nervous system is impaired.
Capricious appetite is one of the symptoms. The nervous patient eats
either too little or too much, and she may eat too little breakfast and
too much dinner on the same day.
Insomnia is a sure and serious sign of derangement of the nerves.
The inability to sit still for a considerable time is still another and
very bad sign that the nerves are as you say here “ragged” or “jumpy.”
I have seen one of your most distinguished and beautiful women suffer
from this inability while at the theater, and to preclude jokes by the
paragraphers, I will explain that it was at a very good play, where no
person in the normal state could possibly be bored. I have seen her
lovely hands twitch in her lap. I have seen her knees create a silken
tempest among the folds of her gown. Into her face I have seen “that
worried look” come, the look that so disfigures the average American
face.
This overwrought state of nerves has many causes. Sometimes it is a bad
heredity. The daughters of men with the alcoholic habit, of overworked
and over-worried financiers, often suffer from this predisposition of
nerves. The daughters of fashionable mothers who laced too tightly or
who followed the will-o’-the-wisp of society too persistently for their
health’s sake, often so suffer.
Stimulants taken by the victim herself often produce it. Beware of
these stimulants in many guises. Some of the headache powders open
the gate to acute nervousness. Don’t use any without your physician’s
endorsement.
But I believe that the chief cause of nervousness is intemperance, not
of alcoholic or other stimulants, but of mental habits. Worry causes a
thousand breakdowns. I never knew work to cause one.
For those symptoms of nervous affection which I have mentioned I have
tried home treatment with success. One of the best methods has been
stretching. Standing on my tiptoes, raising my heels far from the
floor, standing as nearly in that straight line from toe to knee which
Genee does so admirably, as I can, I stretch and stretch my body,
fancying I am an India rubber woman and getting great fun out of trying
just how tall I can make myself. Sometimes I raise my arms above my
head with finger tips extended, and play again that I am trying to
reach the ceiling.
The value in stretching is largely in the pleasure one gets from it.
For this reason I never continue one posture after it has become
tiresome. Dropping to my heels and standing with my soles flat upon the
floor, I stretch the arms out at right angles with the sides. The fact
that one is always moved to yawn with this exercise shows that it is
valuable. For yawning is nature’s violent means of ridding the body of
an excess of impure air and securing a new supply.
If you can yawn naturally, do so while stretching or at any other time.
If you cannot yawn naturally, yawn artificially--that is, simulate a
yawn. It is at least as helpful to respiration as the Turkish bath is
to perspiration. They are both substitutes for the natural process.
Lettuce salad, both at luncheon and dinner, or raw onions eaten with
bread and butter at night before retiring, calm the nerves and aid
sleep.
Light--that is surface--massage is a good corrective for nervousness.
Deep, seeking-the-bone massage, which is used for liver complaint and
for obesity, is too severe for the nervous patient. Besides, so many of
the nerves lie near the skin that the region of the skin is the real
seat of operations for cure. Light massage by coaxing the blood to the
surface and inducing a new and stronger interflow among the nerves,
feeds and strengthens them.
Electrical treatment applied to the seat of the nervous affection, as
well as to the spine, is a means that has stimulated many depressed,
nervous patients. This I advise only under the supervision, or at least
by the direction, of a physician.
Long walks, and for disturbed nerves walking is better than driving,
have cured many cases of nerve exhaustion.
Cold plunges or showers are recommended by many physicians for
diminished nerve force. But the patient should be sure the advice is
adapted to her individual case, and she should be sure of her heart.
Neither the plunge nor the shower should be taken until a physician has
prescribed them.
Cold sprays upon the spine given at Turkish baths are tonic to the
nervous system. They, too, can be applied at home. The rubber tube
fixtures for a spray can be bought for ninety cents, and can take the
place of the expensive shower attachments.
For tic douloreux, for pains at the ends of the nerves, for spinal
affections and for vertigo, one needs the aid of a physician. But in
all nervous affections we must aid the physician by intelligent care of
ourselves and conservation of our energies. Never waste your nervous
force by unnecessary movements.
Deep breathing is helpful in correcting a nervous tendency, and
improving the general health. This is no strange or obscure act. It
is simply breathing as deeply as you can, from the very depths of
your being, “clear to your toes,” a little girl put it--not breathing
shallowly from a space somewhere near the collarbone.
I always recognize a shallow breather at sight. Usually she is round
shouldered. Always she has a pale skin, pinched nostrils, dull eyes and
a languid walk. Always she has little or no magnetism. The magnetic
person is one who is most fully alive.
But how to acquire the habit of deep breathing is the important thing.
Summon imagination to your aid. Stand at the open window or go to a
garden or to a roof where the air is purest, and imagine that you smell
the fragrance of a rose. Determine to draw into your being all the
fragrance you can gather.
Stand erect and draw in as much air as your lungs seem capable of
holding. Hold that breath; that is, keep the air in the lungs so that
it may do its cleansing work, while you count five. That is equivalent
to five seconds. Gently empty the lungs of the air. Then slowly fill
the lungs again, hold as long as you can and slowly expel the air. You
will learn to hold the breath longer and longer. Expert and experienced
deep breathers can hold the air newly taken into the lungs for fifty
seconds. But no beginner in the art should expect, nor try to do this.
At first the practice may cause a sensation of dizziness. But this is
not alarming. On the other hand, it is encouraging. It means that the
poor, pale, ill-nourished brain is receiving as large a blood supply as
it needs and it will soon become used to your new generosity.
If you are not so situated that you can get to a garden, a roof or
open window, try to go alone to a room where you can recline for a few
minutes. There let the muscles become limp. Folding the arms above the
breast or clasping the hands loosely above the stomach will aid this.
To be sure that both nostrils are doing perfect work, press one shut
by placing the finger against it and breathing through the other.
Generally you will discover that the left nostril draws a larger
volume of air through it than does the right. I have noticed it very
frequently while doing my deep breathing.
Test the correctness of your breathing by placing your hands against
your abdomen. If its walls rise and fall regularly and in obedience
to every breath, you are doing deep breathing. If not, you have not
mastered the art.
In two weeks, by repeating these exercises six or eight times a day for
two or three minutes each time, you will not only have learned how,
but you will have derived such benefit from it that you would not ever
forget giving up so healthful and improving a practice.
What does it do for one? I can hear as an echo this question,
impatiently put by practical American women. That is the feminine
variation of the question often heard in America: “What do I get out of
it?”
You get out of it free, well developed lungs. You get chest expansion.
You get, if you begin early enough, immunity from that dread disease,
tuberculosis. You get quieted nerves and an improved temper. You get
pure blood which will make your complexion clear. You energize the
whole body and stimulate your vital forces.
CHAPTER XIII
HOW TO ACQUIRE A PLEASING VOICE
If you would have a beautiful voice shun its two greatest enemies,
coryza (cold in the head) and the evil emotions.
Every woman would have a beautiful voice, for it is indeed one of the
most excellent things in woman. To my mind it is the most desirable
possession in the world. But then I am a singer. I wish only to be a
singer. If the singing voice were denied me I should choose, if I might
have my choice, first a lovely face, then a lovely figure, and third a
charming speaking voice.
There have been beautiful women without agreeable voices, but never
a fascinating one. The voice rather than the eyes is the seat of
magnetism. Many a plain woman has enjoyed that invaluable gift of
personal magnetism and students of character have been baffled by it
until they guessed the riddle of her voice. Plain women with low, well
modulated voices with the heart note in them, are more dangerous rivals
than pretty women who screech as peacocks. Painfully often the pretty
face and figure are accompanied by the harsh, squeaking voice. The
reason is the same that exists for the fact that pretty women seldom
cultivate the power of charm. Content with what nature has given them,
they make no effort to be responsive or entertaining. Their voices fall
gratingly upon all ears but their own, which have been dulled by praise
of their natural beauty.
Every woman may not have a sweet voice, but every woman may have an
agreeable one. The pleasantest speaking voice is more often made than
born. It is susceptible of cultivation.
The uncultivated voice reflects the emotions as candidly as the eye
mirror forth the soul. Culture of person and voice gradually suppress,
or at least restrain, this faculty. If the voice be pleasant it should
reflect only pleasant things. This, let it be understood, applies only
to the speaking voice. I am not giving in this article a singing lesson.
Anger, suspicion, jealousy, covetousness, if they be felt, must
be imprisoned in the spirit. As disfiguring to voice as face are
these which have been called “the dark emotions.” If they cannot be
eliminated from the soul they must be driven out of the voice. The
dark emotions make the voice harsh. The silly emotions make it shrill.
Mental and character poise are the father and mother of the beautiful
speaking voice.
Coryza (cold in the head) is a menace to the voice. Hoarseness hides
the beauties of a voice as a thick veil the face of a woman. Colds
should be avoided. Or having been contracted, they should as quickly as
possible be cured.
Many women of full habit who, as they say, “feel a cold coming on,”
go immediately to the Turkish baths, and by drastic treatment rid
themselves quickly of it. This, if followed by great care to prevent
catching a fresh cold immediately after the bath, is a good remedy. So,
too, is the ancient one of retiring early and with many blankets added
to the usual amount of bed clothing to coax a heavy perspiration. This
can be greatly aided by the other old-fashioned remedy of a glass of
hot lemonade. A moderate dose of quinine is also effective in “breaking
up a cold.”
The roots of the disease having thus been plucked up, the accompanying
ugliness caused by rheumy eyes, swollen, scarlet nose and “running”
nostrils, can be gradually cured by inhalations and gargles.
A yeoman remedy is the sniffing into the nostrils of quite strong salt
water. Another that is excellent is the sniffing of pulverized camphor.
A third is a nasal sweeping by the inhalation of ammonia.
Strong aromatic vinegars serve the same purpose. This is a valuable
one, agreeable and less expensive than the elaborate one used by the
beauties of the French court:
Glacial acetic acid, 1¼ ounces; rose water, 2½ ounces; lavender water,
1 pint.
This is powerful as well as pleasing and will reward the user for the
pains of mixing the many ingredients:
Glacial acetic acid, ½ pound; rectified spirits of wine, 1 ounce; oil
of neroli, ¼ dram; oil of allspice, ¼ dram; oil of lavender, ¼ dram;
pure oil of cinnamon, ¼ dram; oil of bergamot, ¼ dram; oil of rosemary,
½ dram; oil of cloves, ¾ dram; pulverized camphor, 1¼ ounces. This is
very strong and age makes it stronger. It is most advantageously used
by pouring a few drops of it upon a silk sponge and inhaling. Avoid its
contact with skin and clothes.
A third tonic vinegar useful for inhalation is this:
White vinegar, 1 pint; extract of lavender, 15 grams; oil of bergamot,
6 grams; oil of citron, 5 grams; tincture of benzoin, 6 grams.
Sage tea in which a small quantity of eucalyptus has been distilled is
excellent for cleansing the nasal cavities after a cold.
Beauties of many courts and times have removed the husky quality from
their voices by inhaling the vapor from a concoction of:
Sweet milk, 1 pint; ripe figs, ½ dozen. These should be boiled to a
pulp and inhaled while hot. The mixture can be heated again and again
and the vapor from it inhaled, until the cure is effected.
I am glad to see that fig and apricot paste has been imported from
the Orient, for Persian women have successfully used this jam-like
confection and medicine for many generations for the cure of hoarseness.
Weak elderflower tea is an admirable remedy. An infusion of chickweed
is also recommended. These latter should be inhaled. The fig and
apricot paste is, of course, for internal use.
Mme. Pompadour, the famous French beauty, used to clear her voice of
huskiness by inhaling the fumes of:
Pulverized myrrh, 1 ounce; amber, 50 grains.
A husky voice indicates that the throat is dry. Our ancestresses knew
this and made their children drink much sweet milk or buttermilk to
remove hoarseness. The poor singer seeking relief from that distress by
sucking a lemon has been a subject for caricaturists for twenty years.
But the ludicrous practice has a basis in common sense. A lemon is a
broom for the throat. A raw egg beaten with the lemon juice serves that
purpose and is soothing to the burning throat.
While I was singing in Philadelphia I acquired a bad cold. One of the
old families who had always extended me the courtesy of their home and
friendship offered me a cough syrup they called “Stewed Quaker.” It was
so quickly efficacious that I asked for the formula. Here it is:
New Orleans molasses, ½ pint; butter, 1 tablespoonful; white sugar, 1
teaspoonful; vinegar, 1 tablespoonful.
Cold compresses often cure a sore throat over night. Into ice cold
water dip a fold of cotton cloth. Wring it out only dry enough to
prevent its dripping. Pin this tightly around the throat with safety
pins, and over the compress pin a fold of flannel. Soon the heat from
the neck causes vapor and “loosens the cold.” In the morning remove the
compress and massage the neck with olive oil.
If you value your voice try to avoid that protracted unpleasantness
which is known as a summer cold.
To best understand how to prevent a cold, let us perfectly understand
its causes. I say causes, not cause for an authority on the subject
has recently said that there are four conditions that bring about the
annoying and dangerous condition we call “a cold.”
There must be lowered vitality. In other words, a person may be in that
state we describe as “run down.” When we are run down or “seedy,” as
they say in England, our resistance is lessened; we are like a besieged
town whose walls are falling. In this unprotected state we have little
chance against a cold.
A similar condition is fatigue. We are more prone to catch cold when we
are tired, because the good white corpuscles in the blood, the body’s
defenders, are lessened by weariness. Also fatigue creates an excess of
certain gases in the body, carbonic acid gas among others, and these
self-poisons weaken the body and open the doors to cold.
Now, how to prevent a cold. Keep your liver active. If it becomes
lazy take plenty of exercise to stir it into activity. If the liver
is torpid, the poison it should take care of is cast upon the mucous
membrane, irritating it and causing catarrh.
Be sure that your digestion is the best and that the intestinal tract
is kept clear. Unless you do this there may be an irritation of the
lining of the intestines that will cause all of the alimentary tract to
become catarrhal. This, in turn, will extend to the nose and throat.
To avoid indigestion, be careful that you eat only nourishing foods.
Tuberculosis is more common in the poorer quarters of every city,
especially of London, and physicians have concluded that this is not
because they do not have enough to eat, but because they eat too many
starchy foods, as pastry and potatoes, and too many sweets, as candy.
Prevent a cold by activity. Why do you catch a cold when you lie down
without any covering except the garments you are wearing? Because when
you are inactive your body is relaxed and the temperature is lowered.
Exercise much, keep the blood flowing briskly, and you will generally
avoid colds.
But be not satisfied with avoiding stagnant blood. Avoid stagnant air.
Keep the air circulating in the room you occupy. Try to keep a stream
of fresh air flowing through your room. At any rate, keep the window
open two or three inches at the top, no matter what the weather.
Cold plunge or shower or sponge baths harden the skin and help to
make one immune from colds, but before beginning to take them ask a
physician’s advice. You may not have enough vitality to endure the
ordeal. If you have your physician’s “O. K.,” the best time to begin is
in the summer.
Avoid coughing when you can, for coughing is sometimes merely a nervous
habit. Besides, a cough irritates the lining of the throat.
The old-fashioned remedy for a cold, of swallowing a mixture of equal
parts of vinegar and molasses, is as good now as it was when our
grandmothers dosed us plentifully and effectually for hoarseness.
A pleasanter and perhaps more refined remedy is the plentiful use
of honey. Use it freely on bread or with rice at table and swallow
a tablespoonful of it whenever between meals you feel the tickling
sensation that precedes coughing.
Gargling with strong salt water often clears the throat, saving fits of
violent coughing.
A good method, and a simple one, of relief from violent coughing is to
place upon the chest hot cloths, followed by cold ones, then hot, then
cold, so alternating many times. This reëstablishes natural circulation
and restored circulation means relief from cold.
CHAPTER XIV
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR FIGURE
Frankly determine how far your figure falls short of perfection.
Perfection, that is, according to the canons of classic statuary. The
standards of the Greek sculptors have never been improved. These are
their undeviating rules:
The figure should be exactly six times as long as the foot. The face
from the middle point of the hair line to the point of the chin should
be one-tenth of the entire stature. The hand from the tip of the middle
finger to the end of the palm should be of the same length as the face,
and so also one-tenth of the length of the body. From the highest point
of the forehead to the beginning of the chest should be one-seventh of
the length of the body.
If the face from the hair line to the point of the chin is divided into
three parts the first line of division is the point equidistant from
the lowest points of the eyebrows. The second division line is that
directly beneath the nostrils.
The body when standing with the arms extended horizontally should form
a human Maltese cross. The length of the body should be the same as
the distance across the body from the middle finger of one hand to the
middle finger of the other.
The ideal face of the sculptors has always been pear-shaped,
diminishing from a noble width at the forehead and top of the head to
a slim delicacy of chin. The trend of feature formation in this age
of personal dominance is in another direction, toward a widening and
increasing of the weight of the jaw. This adds to the impression of
strength of character, but it subtracts much from the sum of the beauty
of a face.
I have referred to the face because I wish to apply it as a determining
factor in judging the beauty of the figure. The sculptor’s test of
the beauty of a face is its profile. If the profile is strong and
beautiful, the face is equally strong and beautiful. In other words,
the beauty of a face cannot exceed that of its profile. So the
determining view of a figure as to its beauties or its defects is the
profile view. The woman who would improve her figure should study it
critically from the side. For this reason, the woman who sells her easy
chair and buys a duplex or triple mirror is an economist of her own
beauty.
Determine in what respect your figure varies from the canons of beauty,
and try to conform to them. Are you a little too short for the breadth
of your figure? Stretching exercises should add somewhat to your
height. Stand before the open window, and with hands back to back, the
finger tips touching, rise upon your toes and stretch to your greatest
height.
So the woman who would be taller should recline a great deal, take as
much sleep as possible. Physiologists have proven that the body is
considerably taller in the morning than in the evening. This is because
the muscles and joints have relaxed, while during the varied exercises
of the day they have contracted. The mass of muscles have much in
common with india rubber--they have elastic properties.
The critical view in the duplex or triple mirror may reveal that the
figure is too broad or too thick for its height. If too broad the
defect is serious, and will be difficult, if not impossible, of remedy.
If too thick, diet, exercise or massage, or all of these, may be
summoned. Breadth reveals the framework of the body, indicating usually
that it is too massive. You cannot change the framework of a bridge,
nor yet of the human body. The modification must take place in that
which covers it, the layers of muscles and fat. The figure that is too
thick, that is from front to back of waist, or from the middle of the
spinal column to the point of the bust, may be materially improved.
For this improvement I would look first to the back--I always notice
instantly whether the back be straight and flat or round and full. For
in that difference lies much of the elegance or lack of it in a female
figure. If the back is full and the hips bulge, the waist is large the
figure has no elegance; is, indeed, common. If you are the possessor of
such blemishes to beauty you should at once set at work to remove the
defects.
First give attention to your diet. Eat much less than usual. Say reduce
your diet at the beginning by one-quarter, then one-third, and after
that one-half. The slimming results will soon become apparent.
But do not be satisfied with one means of securing a flatter back and
slender hips. Exercise, especially in the open air. Walk, walk, walk,
beginning with a short walk if you are unaccustomed to walking, and
increasing the distance each day.
And if possible have recourse to massage. I have before said in this
series of articles that I consider massage the first aid to beauty. It
has always seemed to me a cure-all for defects in beauty. It improves
the complexion, improves the figure, brightens the expression and makes
more beautiful the eyes. Therefore, to give the flat back and narrow
hips that are part of an elegant figure, I advise deep massage, with an
astringent liquid preparation.
Some adventurous women have taken internal remedies under the advice
of their physician, which is the only safe way to take any internal
obesity medicine. I have never advised reduction remedies to be so
taken. By absorption, however, I consider this to be a good remedy for
over-development:
Oil of sweet almonds, 4 ounces; tincture of benzoin, 1 dram; extract of
Portugal, 4 ounces; oil of neroli, 20 drops.
This, too, is a good astringent lotion:
Tincture of iodine, 30 minims; iodide of potassium, 60 grams; distilled
water, 10 ounces; aniseed water, 170 minims.
Also this:
Tincture of iodine, 1 ounce; alcohol, 10 ounces.
If, on the other hand, the critical side view reveals not only the
back and sides as too thin, but the entire outline as too meager, then
this cream, freely applied by light and frequent massage, is an aid in
curve-making and flesh-building:
Fresh mutton tallow, 6 ounces; lanolin, 6 ounces; spermaceti, ½ ounce;
cocoanut oil, 4 ounces.
This, too, is a good tissue-feeding cream:
Lanolin, 60 grams; oil of sweet almonds, 40 grams; tannin, 1 gram.
Women who think their busts are too large write me often asking how
they may reduce them. Personally, I do not approve of any treatment,
except a general dietary and general exercise, such as tends to reduce
all portions of the body. In view of the many requests I receive from
determined women begging such a recipe, I give this European formula,
but I protest against any woman using it unless with the sanction of
her physician:
Oil of sweet almonds, 100 grams; white wax, 50 grams; tincture of
benzoin, 25 grams; rosewater, 25 grams; tannin, 15 grams.
After exercise and diet for improving the figure, there is nothing so
important as to be well corseted. If possible have your corsets made
to order. Pay less for a gown if necessary to order a better corset.
Get one that is pliable and hygienic and yet molds the figure into its
best lines. To fit well the hips should be the first consideration.
The rest of the body can take very good care of itself. Yet the corset
should not be too tight about the hips nor abdomen. For this reason I
always advise that there be rubber webbing in the sides of the corset.
Every corset should have eight elastics. Yes, I mean it--four on each
side. These elastics not only hold the hose in well, but they hold in
the abdomen and hips. The first pair of elastics should be fastened
directly in front, on either side of the steel fronts of the corset.
The next pair should be about an inch, or on a very stout woman two
inches, to the right and left respectively. The third pair should be
directly over the hips. The fourth should be at the back. While at
first this maze of garters seems a hopeless tangle, one soon acquires
the knack of fastening them. They add much to the trigness and tautness
that contribute elegance to the figure.
The fourth desideratum is a good carriage. Keep the shoulders and
abdomen back. Keep the bust and the chin up. Swing the hips well
forward when you walk. Observe all women who are stout, that is,
heavily stout. There is a distinction. Women may be stout and yet carry
their bodies as though they were weightless. Others of no greater bulk
walk as though they were weighted down with invisible handicaps.
The heavily stout woman walks with her hips back. In this faulty
carriage lies much of her awkwardness and apparent weight. Walk on the
balls of your feet, lightly. This becomes a habit that renders a woman
graceful and almost without apparent weight.
For the consolation of women who have shapely figures, though built
upon an ample scale, let me quote this dictum of an authority on
womanly beauty: “It isn’t the size, but the shape that counts.
Proportion is the thing.”
Some women are really tall enough, but they look dumpy. The thing for
them to do at once is to reduce their weight. “If you reduce your
hips you will look taller” is an axiom of the beauty culturists. So
set about it. If you are short and thin, then hasten to broaden your
shoulders, expand and inflate your lungs; draw back your elbows and
breathe deeply. Fill out your bust and chest. This will actually make
you taller and appear more so.
Short girls generally carry themselves badly. Keep your head thrown
back and your chin out. The woman who keeps her chin down in her neck
always looks shorter than she is. Take physical culture lessons, all
you short girls who would be tall; learn to walk gracefully, and train
your muscles into suppleness. Take walks in the open air with a light,
buoyant step, your shoulders thrown back, breathing deeply through your
nose. And stretch yourself, every moment of the day when you can.
Three inches, real or apparent, may be added to a woman’s stature by a
little common sense.
The short girl who would be tall should go in systematically for
stretching exercises. Lie down flat and stretch out your arms as far
as possible above your head. Also practice neck movements--keep on
stretching your neck out just like a goose, to elongate it. Stretch
your legs out taut and keep stretching yourself on tiptoe. Hold up your
chin and your abdomen, and stretch continually. Here are some excellent
stretching exercises to make you supple and straight--and taller:
Lie flat on your back on a hard mattress. Plant palms downward straight
at the sides, but do not grip the ticking with them. Now draw the legs
up slowly, bending at the knees, and holding the knees in the air and
heels close to the body. Now, with a quick, sudden movement, thrust
the legs out straight and flat on the bed, the toes stretched as far
as possible and pointing down. This brings into play every muscle
from the knee to the tip of the toes and sets the limbs tingling. Draw
up slowly, counting seven and inhaling; hold position through seven
counts, and again thrust down, exhaling through the mouth. Rest four
counts and repeat.
Lie flat on the back, heels and balls of the feet together, arms at
sides, palms down. Breathe slowly seven times. Now, with the shoulders
or upper part of the trunk rigidly flat on the bed, raise the middle
of the trunk, generally known as the waist line, by the muscles of the
hips. Inhale as you lift, counting seven; exhale as you fall. Next
inhale deeply and lift the lower part of the trunk and let it fall
in quick succession, repeating the movement perhaps five times while
inhaling once.
Reverse the exercise described above; that is, let the lower part of
the trunk rest on the bed and lift from the waist line up by means of
the muscles of the shoulder blades. Use the same methods of counting,
inhaling while counting seven; hold the position, then lower the trunk,
counting seven, and exhaling. Then work rapidly, with five quick
uplifts to each breath.
It is well to scan your figure occasionally in the mirror--to
satisfactorily do this you need a full length mirror--and decide what
are its flaws and how to rid yourself of them.
Perhaps you have a disfiguring stoop. Rid yourself of this, if
necessary, by wearing shoulder braces. You can buy strong, reliable
ones at most drug stores, and you can make them for yourself with two
strong stitched bands of muslin to which cross pieces are attached.
Fasten these to your corsets by safety pins. Perhaps that apparent
stoop is due not to actual bending of the shoulders but to a roll of
superfluous fat that accumulates just below the neck on women who have
attained thirty years, or even before. Remove this unsightly blemish by
several methods. First, throw away your pillow and lie with head and
feet on a level. Form the habit of standing very erect. Stretch your
arms sideways and on a level with your shoulders and twirl them rapidly
backward.
There are always several preparations which can be used to advantage if
applied outwardly. Bathe the shoulders every night with this, rubbing
it thoroughly into the shoulders:
Iodide of potassium, 1 ounce; alcohol, 12 ounces.
If your limbs are too heavy, as is liable to be the case in America,
where women’s figures are not so well proportioned as in many other
countries, the lower part of the body being disposed to stoutness, walk
much. This will reduce the bulk of the fat and make the muscles solid.
Occasionally I receive letters asking me to tell a girl how to make the
limbs larger and more shapely. Massage with olive oil should enlarge
them. To inquiries as to how to make the thin ankles plumper I make the
same reply.
No figure is attractive if the hips are out of proportion to the rest
of the body. They should be neither too large nor too small, but in
perfect accord with the rest of the figure. If the rest of the figure
is thin and the hips plump the effect is ludicrous. If the body is
ample and the hips flat the hips are incongruous. Fashion may dictate
broad hips one season and narrow hips the next, but their ideal size
remains the same. They must look as though they belong to that body and
no other.
They should be amphora shaped, as any sculptor will tell you. An
amphora, you know, is a large Roman vase with lines exquisitely curved
downward. Study the pictures of statues of the ancient Greeks and you
will comprehend the beauty of the hip line in the natural figure. They
are neither over heavy nor too thin.
The bones should be well covered, but there should be no fat creases
and no loose hanging skin. If there is too little flesh applications
of olive oil will increase it. But the fault in the American woman’s
figure is that she is unduly developed about the hips. For this figure
blemish it would be absurd to bant, for her whole body would diminish
under it and the hips remain proportionately as large as before.
Massage and exercise are the hope of the woman of overdeveloped hips.
Rub briskly and firmly, with a strong slapping motion, this mixture,
prepared especially for each application.
Unsweetened butter, 1 tablespoonful; tincture of iodine, 20 drops.
Long corsets that are not too tight keep up a continual gentle
friction that helps to some extent in reducing the hips, but these
should never be worn so tight as to compress the inner organs nor
constrict the muscles. Better too redundant hips than an interference
with the circulation, which may cause varicose veins or other serious
complications.
These exercises are simple, but will be found exceedingly helpful if
persevered in, in diminishing the hips:
First, stand perfectly erect; the knees should not be bent. The heels
should be held together. The palms of the hands should rest firmly upon
the hips.
Second, swing the right leg slowly and firmly sidewise, raising the
foot as high as you can. This should not be suddenly or violently done.
Rest the weight of the body firmly on the left foot while so doing.
Kick thus slowly a half dozen times or more, until the muscles begin to
be weary. Then shift the weight to the right foot and kick in the same
fashion with the left.
Third, stand with the weight on one foot and raise the other leg
slowly, until it is on a level with the trunk. Lower the foot and
repeat this exercise many times until you begin to grow weary. Then
change the weight to that foot and repeat the exercise with the other
leg.
Fourth, stand as I at first described, the body straight, the chest and
head high, the heels together. Raise the hands sidewise above the head,
bringing the tips of the fingers together. Then, in the posture that
swimmers take before they dive, bend slowly forward, keeping the knees
straight, until the finger tips reach the ground. Repeat this until
fatigue warns you to stop. Never exercise until weary.
But even a perfect figure avails little unless you have grace. When I
am asked how to be graceful, I answer: “Be careful of your movements
when alone and unconscious of them when you are in public.” Grace can
be cultivated. There is no excuse for a woman who is not deformed being
awkward. There are degrees in grace, but every woman may possess it to
some extent.
To the woman who wishes to enhance her natural grace, or who, having
none, desires to add it to her charms, I advise first of all the study
of great paintings and statuary that are models of line and poise.
Line is important, but I have seen women who were all straight lines,
to whom nature had given not one gracious curve, who were nevertheless
graceful. The long, flowing lines of grace may be assisted by careful
dressing, and this a dressmaker may do for us, but poise, which is a
much bigger and better word than pose, including pose and much more,
comes from within and may be self taught.
I wish that every woman who reads this chapter would pay a visit to
the nearest art gallery and study, if there be one, a good copy of the
wonderful Venus de Milo. Let her study it until something of the inward
strength which gives it its wonderful balance and power and perfect
symmetry is revealed to her.
One of the secrets of that marvelous statue is the calm soul it
expresses. Again and again I have said that serenity is the chief
secret of beauty, and I point to the Venus de Milo in proof of my
assertion. The nervous, distraught, ill-centered woman reveals her soul
state by nervous, abrupt awkward movements.
Compose yourself inwardly and see with what grace and strength you
stand before your mirror. Permit some emotion to disturb you, and note
the ravaging, unlovely effect. Grace is poise, and poise means a calm
soul center.
For a graceful carriage we must consider how to stand, how to walk
and how to sit. The late Heinrich Conried, being asked to describe a
beautiful woman, said: “That is simple. She is harmonious.” What he
meant was that she was harmonious within and harmonious without, the
inward harmony revealing itself in the outer. There was no discord in
her. To stand in a drawing room as you would stand on the ledge of a
mountain would be inharmonious. To sit on a high-backed chair with
straight lines, as you would sit upon an ottoman, or a tête-à-tête
would be strikingly discordant. To walk into a ballroom as you would
set forth for a walk along the beach would be ludicrous. There must be
in every movement harmony with your surroundings, and you must yourself
be governed by the immediate circumstances.
Lola Montez, the enchanting dancer and the dancing enchantress, well
knew the value of a graceful carriage and of the cheerful spirit of
which it is an expression. She said: “A crushed, sad, or moping spirit,
especially if allowed at a tender age, when the body is forming, is a
fatal cause of a flabby and moping body. A bent and stooping form is
quite sure to come of a bent and stooping spirit. If you would stand
well, sit well, walk well, lie well, ‘sway gracefully on the poised
waist’ as upon a pivot.”
Given a straight healthy spine, straight, strong bones and the serene
spirit of which I have spoken, and there remains for grace two
necessities, knowledge and training. One must know how to hold the
body correctly before she can so hold it.
The correct position, one in which the balance of all parts of the body
is perfectly preserved, is almost, but not quite, erect. It should
incline very slightly forward, above the hips. The weight of the body
should rest firmly upon the balls of the feet. The heels should be
close together. The knees should also be close neighbors. The arms in
standing should hang naturally at the sides with the elbows close to
the sides.
One position only is proper for the chin. It should be well up. Notice
any woman whose chin is lowered. Shadows fall about the hollows of the
face, or create an illusion of hollows there. Every woman looks five
years older with her chin lowered. Also such a pose of the head will
make wrinkles in the fairest and plumpest neck. Nature designed woman
to hold her head as proudly as that of a mettlesome horse. The chest
should be held up and out.
Observe how a well-trained soldier stands on parade. That is an
excellent model. He appears to have no abdomen, so well is it held in.
His shoulder blades are flat as a knife.
If the shoulder blades are not naturally flat, shoulder braces
should be worn to correct the projecting ones and to destroy the
round-shouldered effect so destructive of the beauty of a figure. These
can be purchased at drug stores and department stores, but can be made
at home at slight cost. Stitch two long strips of coutil two and a half
inches wide in many parallel rows to make it strong. Fasten these at
the back just over the shoulders with another horizontal stitched band
of the same width. A simple exercise for sagging shoulders is to draw
the arms behind you, bend them at the elbows and thrust a cane between
the elbows and back.
Practice the proper posture in standing before the mirror. Study not
only the front, but the profile view of your figure. If the chest sags,
thrust it forward. If the abdomen protrudes, determinedly shift your
weight so that it recedes. The prominent abdomen in half the cases I
know is simply the result of bad habits of standing. If the shoulders
curve forward, draw yourself erect until they are flat.
If you find your weight resting upon the heels, your figure will look
awkward and countrified. If you rest upon the toes, it will look
mincing and affected. Nature has indicated that to keep the balance of
the body the weight must fall upon the balls of the feet. Try all these
postures and notice how much better your figure looks when you stand
correctly. It will be an object lesson you cannot forget.
Five minutes a day for two weeks ought to teach the dullest of us to
stand well. After that the lesson of gracefully shifting the weight
when you are tired may be practiced. Move one foot slightly forward,
dividing the weight equally between the two. Then rest the full weight
of the body on one foot. Then, by a quick, slight shift, change it to
the other. But return quickly to the position of an equal division of
weight. For when the body rests upon one foot the hip and shoulders of
the other side will be raised.
A good walk is a thing of beauty. A bad walk is a pain to the beholder.
A bird balancing lightly on the end of a twig is the best model I have
ever seen for walking. He seems weightless. He vibrates with the joy of
motion. The best walkers in the world are Spanish women. They move with
a slight undulation that is exquisite. Their limbs move as though they
have no weight. One of your clever American women describing the good
walk said: “Move as though you lived altogether in the upper story.”
“The upper story” was that part of the body above the waist. The
remainder she classed as “the lower story.” It was an admirable hint.
The upper half of the body should be evident in the walk. The lower
should be merely a means to the end of walking.
The walk should invite attention only to the fine poise of the head,
the perfect carriage of the chest, the straightness of the back. The
limbs should be forgotten. A walk which attracts attention to them is
always an awkward walk. The upper part of the body should be as free as
though it turned itself upon a pivot. The lower part should be regarded
and utilized merely as a pedestal for holding the upper. In walking as
in standing the weight should rest upon the ball of the feet. The toes
should be turned slightly outward. The knee joints should move easily
and the movement of the whole of the lower part of the body should be a
stately and apparently unconscious motion.
Some women there are who stand well and walk well, who sit badly.
Indeed, they do not sit. They lounge. The same law of balance should
hold in all. That is, the weight should be evenly distributed, no
portion of the body having to bear the lion’s share of the burden.
As a rule, the comfortable attitude is the correct one in sitting,
though this is not true of the lazy person who sits with chin lowered
upon breast and abdomen thrust forward, as a caricature of the human
form. Sit with the feet resting upon the floor or upon a footstool.
Never let them swing without support. Sit straight, or rest against a
straight-backed chair, with the lower part of the body pushed close
against the chairback. This is a much better way to rest than the
half-lying, half-sitting posture that is so ungraceful.
In standing, don’t throw the hips far back. They should be straight, in
easy line with the body. In walking, do not swing the arms. In sitting,
keep the crown of the head up and back.
To test your carriage, pass the hand across the back. If the ends of
the shoulder blades can be felt at a light touch of the fingers, the
carriage is incorrect. The shoulders must be drawn farther back.
CHAPTER XV
SAFE, EASY WAYS OF REDUCING WEIGHT
In this chapter I shall try to answer that which I call “The Great
American Question.” In other countries where I have lived and visited,
women ask, “What shall I do to remain young?” In America women have
by their intelligence solved that problem. Here the torturing, ever
recurring question is, “What shall I do to be thin?”
Fat is the greatest foe to American beauty. But it is a self-created
foe. American women, learned in all other matters of personal hygiene,
ignore that which is chief, the hygiene of the table.
I will not say that American women overeat. They eat the wrong things.
In food they deal in extremes, which are always detrimental, whether to
beauty or to morals. They eat what is very sweet, or very sour. They
eat what is very cold or very hot. They eat foods that are too highly
spiced, or underdone. Extremes, always extremes! And when they have
had too much of this extreme food, and the tortured stomach revolts,
they go to another extreme, and fast, which is, in my opinion, a most
pernicious extreme.
One fact that the stout woman should keep ever before her mind, as a
signal light before a ship battling its way to port, is that fresh air
is a destructive agent to fat. Oxygen burns carbon. To make this clear,
let me ask you if you have noticed how a dying fire flames up when a
draught of cold air is turned upon it? That is precisely what happens
when a woman who is too fat goes out for a walk. Carbon, which is in
the great folds of flesh that lie upon her abdomen and blanket her
hips, is also a component part of the coat. Oxygen acts upon this as
a burning match applied to paper. Therefore, if you are stout, walk,
walk, walk.
This will not be easy. It will be hard indeed. For the woman who is
too fat is invariably ease and luxury loving and a long walk is to her
at first a hardship. But she should be in this as in all things else
discreet. Her first walk should be a short one. If she be one of those
women who always take a street car or a carriage, her first walk should
be only eight or ten blocks long. I am computing by short New York City
blocks. Twenty of these are equal to one mile. I have seen a woman
unaccustomed to walking come puffily into a room, drop into a chair
exhausted and say: “I am tired to death. I’ve walked eight blocks.”
But this woman persisted, or, rather, her friends persisted. They
insisted that after a few hours she take another walk. To their
pleasure she achieved this time ten blocks. In a walk the evening of
the same day she covered twelve, and came in with a pink glow in her
cheeks and a new light in her eyes. By the end of the week she could
walk one mile each morning without discomfort. The second week she
increased this to one and a half miles. The third week it became two
and when the second month of her exercise began she walked three miles
every morning and came home with heightened color, a diminished waist
and no complaints.
After two months her morning walk of five miles, regardless of weather,
had become a necessity of her health and spirits. It was amazing how,
as her girth decreased, her beauty increased. The cheeks that had been
heavy and flabby grew firm and rosy. At first, though there was a
perceptible decrease in her bulk, there was little difference in her
weight. Her waist measure decreased one and a half inches and her hip
measure two inches, yet she was but five pounds lighter. This apparent
riddle is, after all, easily guessed. Fat is of spongelike texture
and light weight. Much of it may disappear with little corresponding
reduction in weight. If a woman sees that her belts have become too
large and that she needs a dressmaker or tailor to take in her gowns
about the hips it does not matter whether she has lost five or twenty
pounds. She has accomplished that which she resolved to do. She has
grown beautifully less.
I have known women who never walked more than a few blocks at a time
accomplish a ten-mile walk in a morning. The wisdom of this I always
questioned. Walking is of no permanent value unless it is regularly
done. Better three miles every morning than ten miles twice a week.
Besides an exceedingly long walk is a severe tax upon muscles unused to
walking. The muscles must be treated gently as little children. They
should be slowly accustomed to their task.
Riding is an excellent reducing agent. A morning gallop in the park
or along country roads will soon diminish ponderous flesh. Golfing is
excellent. Swimming is admirable. Driving, because the body is entirely
passive, is of little use. Indoor exercise in a gymnasium is better,
much better, than nothing, but outdoor exercise distances it by one
hundred per cent. Although the windows of the room be opened wide the
room does not provide half the oxygen yielded by the great out-of-doors.
After the burning aid of fresh air, in importance comes diet. The stout
woman should try reducing the quantity of her food one-third, then
one-half. She should eliminate from it these dishes:
Pork, veal, beans, peas, fat beef or mutton, cauliflower, potatoes,
milk containing cream, puddings, pies, candy, sugar, white bread, eels,
salmon, chocolate, beets, butter, red wine, ice cream.
She should substitute for them:
Lean meats, eggs, green vegetables (as spinach, string beans,
asparagus, beet tops), oranges, whole wheat, graham or gluten bread,
white bread, toasted thin and crisp, saccharine instead of sugar, fresh
or dried fruits.
A famous woman rid herself of ten superfluous pounds in a month by a
modification of the milk diet. She drank two quarts of skimmed milk
a day, and ate but one meal. She dined at seven with her family. Her
breakfast and luncheon, consisted of two glasses of skimmed milk. She
sipped the milk, giving herself five minutes for each glass, for she
knew milk was rather a food than a beverage, and that since it passed
speedily into the consistency of cheese in the stomach it must be
slowly swallowed. The remainder of the two quarts of her daily stint
she sipped whenever hunger gnawed and she was tempted to return to her
old diet of what in America you call “three squares” a day.
Several of my friends have reduced their weight by the expedient of
taking a long walk, as long as their strength would permit, before
breakfast, but the nearly uncontrollable appetite for the deferred meal
created by this exercise is a discouraging element. Others have been
successful in reducing flesh by foregoing their breakfast altogether.
Many dieticians agree that breakfast is “the fattening meal.” And there
is reason to believe the stomach needs breakfast less than any other
meal, since there has been no special outlay of strength during the
night of rest as during the day of activity.
The fashionable woman used to think that she should rest immediately
after a meal. Now she walks slowly, or at least stands for twenty
minutes after each meal, being convinced that if she sits or lies
down after a meal her abdomen will become distended, one of the most
unsightly forms of superfluous flesh.
Massage and baths are an undoubted aid in the reduction of flesh.
Massage should not be made to take the place of exercise. It should
supplement it. It is estimated that thorough massage given by a
skillful operator is equivalent to a seven-mile walk. But if this be
true so far as the physical effort is concerned, there is no substitute
for the carbon destroying bath of oxygen.
No room can be so well ventilated as to approach the purity of the
outer air. The woman who is taking massage to reduce her flesh should
not rest afterward. The massage should be followed by a dip into a
bathtub of tepid water, a scrub and a salt rub, a cool spray and
dressing, calisthenics or a walk.
Do not allow your masseuse to use oil or cold cream. Talcum powder is
best for the woman who wants to be thin.
Reduction medicines I do not advise. Certainly I should never use one
of them internally without consulting a physician, and having the
compound analyzed. There are drastic remedies that reduce the flesh and
demoralize the digestive apparatus. Far better in this instance the ill
than the remedy and its consequent evils.
Some preparations of an absorbent nature I have known to be used with
good results. Most of these contain iodine. There are several soaps
used for the purpose of massage, all containing iodine. After receiving
my physician’s endorsement and having the soap analyzed by a scrupulous
chemist there would seem to be no danger attending their use.
This formula is safe, and if persistently used, should be effective
as an absorbent remedy. I have known corpulent beauties who took it
internally, but I should never be so daring:
Tincture of iodine, 30 minims; iodide of potassium, 60 grains;
hyposulphite soda, 20 grains; distilled water, 7 ounces; aniseed water,
170 minims.
I have before recommended Turkish baths for flesh reduction. That
advice I must qualify by explaining how they should be taken, for there
are thin women who take Turkish baths to fatten them, and with success.
As a reducing agent the Turkish bath should be taken in a more radical
way than for mere cleansing and tonic action. The bather should
remain in the room as long as possible, that is until she is warned
by faintness or a fluttering of the heart that she has been in the
abnormal temperature long enough. These warnings she must instantly
heed. The length of time is governed by her temperament and health. It
may be twenty minutes, but it should be from half to three-quarters
of an hour. After the scrub and massage that follow she should go
instantly to a couch and be wrapped in many blankets, so that the flow
of perspiration will continue. Thus while she is resting she should
perspire for another half hour. This makes a drainage at the pores for
between one and two hours and reduces materially the weight. But I
do not advise Turkish baths oftener than twice a week at most. Taken
oftener I believe them to be weakening.
A cool or cold plunge every morning is prescribed by some beauty
experts. Personally I am opposed to them. They are not cleansing. The
delicate person cannot withstand them. They are a tonic to the robust
constitution, that does not require them.
A gentle laxative is a great aid in reducing. Various salts, with
the consent of your physician and taken in a manner he advises,
would be helpful in diminishing flesh. But I insist that whatever
is done in this direction must have a physician’s approval. I will
not unqualifiedly recommend it. The tendency of salts is to render a
person who takes them anæmic. Should the person who wishes to reduce be
already anæmic the effect of the salts, in thinning the blood, might be
injurious.
To summarize my advice upon the matter of reducing flesh, let me say
that the simplest methods are the best.
Make oxygen your first aid. Spend at least two hours a day out of
doors. The more active the outdoor exercise the better, stopping this
side the point of exhaustion.
Reduce the amount of food one-half, and change the dietary from the fat
producing foods to bone and muscle makers.
And, in conclusion, a warning. As the muscles, divested of blanketing
flesh, seem to shrink, be sure that the skin follows them, instead of
hanging baggily about them, in ugly wrinkles or creases.
To contract the skin that surrounds the diminished muscles bathe it
frequently in cold water. Bathe with a sponge dipped in cold water, or
wrap the parts about with cold compresses.
If this method, which is called “freezing the muscles,” is not
successful this astringent cream applied every morning and evening
should be:
Glycerine, 5 ounces; mutton tallow, 1 pound; tincture of benzoin, 2
drams; spirits of camphor, 1 dram; powdered alum, ½ dram; orange flower
water, 2 ounces; Russian isinglass, 1 dram.
One day not long ago a charming young woman came to see me. Her face
indicated deep distress.
“You are looking charming,” I assured her.
“No, no, madam,” she returned. “I am looking wretched, dreadful. I am
positively ashamed of myself.”
“But why?” I asked.
“Don’t you see? I am over weight. I am twenty-seven. My height is five
feet three inches. I weigh one hundred and sixty-five pounds.”
“Your curves are a bit ample,” I admitted.
“You know very well, dear madam, that I am like a pillow of feathers.
I lived at a summer hotel where they had really good food, and behold
me. I can hardly believe that I gained thirty pounds in six weeks. What
shall I do?”
“First understand that you cannot lose the flesh much faster than you
gained it. You will need at least a month to lose the thirty pounds.”
“But I must lose them, madam. Think of appearing in the opera like
this? Think of dancing, not only with a man, but with thirty extra
pounds. What shall I do?”
I repeated the litany of reduction: “Exercise, diet, abstinence,
perspiration.”
“But how?”
“Exercise until you are tired, and then don’t rest but exercise some
more. Rest from one kind of exercise by trying another.”
“What exercise?” persisted my too plump friend.
“First a series of exercises that force you to breathe deeply. Begin
as soon as you rise in the morning, and, by the way, rise at least an
hour earlier than usual. You fatten as much by too much sleep as from
too much food. In your night robe, or if you prefer it, in a bathing
or gymnasium suit, go to the window, fling it wide open, and standing
with the arms raised above your head, palms outward, elbows straight,
inhale deeply and slowly, counting eight. Hold the air while you count
eight. This gives the air a chance to sweep through the air cells of
the lungs, bathing them with its freshness. Then expel the air slowly
while you count eight. Repeat this until a slight dizziness warns you
that you have done enough.
“Then begin the bending exercises. With fingers extended bend slowly
until the finger tips reach the floor. Then rise slowly, and raise
the arms above the head. Do not raise the shoulders, but slowly bring
the tips of the fingers together above the head. Then gradually bend
forward until the tips of the fingers reach the floor. Then back and up
again.
“This exercise is difficult, especially for the stout. But persist in
it and it will reduce the overfatness of the abdomen.
“You will be tired by this time, but you must not encourage the feeling
of drowsiness and torpor and disinclination for further effort that
creeps over you. Banish all thoughts of going back to bed. Instead
begin your rolling.
“There is no mystery about rolling. It is simply what the name
indicates. Down upon the floor you go and roll over and over swiftly,
not slowly as a porpoise rolls. The porpoise, you will observe, is not
a slender animal. Roll over as a puppy, tingling with the joy of life,
rolls in the dust when at play. Roll quickly. Make at least eighty
revolutions before stopping. Now you are very tired. The unaccustomed
perspiration appears upon your face and body in drops. That is good. To
reduce weight you must perspire. Most fat people have lost the art of
perspiring.
“But you have not finished your exercise. Don’t think of breakfast.
Don’t think of a nap after your strenuous half hour. Get a skipping
rope and go out on the roof, on the fire escape, or into a vacant
room and jump the rope twenty-five times. This the first morning. The
second morning make it fifty and continue increasing the number until a
flutter at your heart hints that you have taken enough of this exercise
for the present.
“Then try some new dance steps. If you have done these thoroughly you
will have spent an hour and a quarter at reduction. Go then to your
bathroom and take a shower, first warm, then cool, then gradually
becoming cold. With a big Turkish towel rub yourself thoroughly dry.
Come back in a week and tell me how much you weigh.”
“One hundred sixty-one,” she said. “But that is not enough.”
“It is not,” I answered. “We must do better. This week, after you have
finished your exercises indoors, you must dress at once and go for a
long walk or ride.”
“But breakfast?” she asked faintly.
“It would be better if you ate no breakfast,” I answered sternly. “Or,
if you take any, let it be a glassful or, if your stomach is clamorous,
two glassfuls of buttermilk. Drink them slowly, taking at least five
minutes for each glass.
“When you return from the walk or ride take another shower.”
“And rest?”
“There is no rest for the person who is reducing. It is an occupation
in itself. After your luncheon, which should be of lean meat or fish,
toast and coffee without cream or sugar and stewed or fresh fruit,
go out again. Go shopping or calling. If calling, decline tea and
sweetmeats that may be offered you. If shopping or calling don’t drive
to your destination. Walk. For dinner you should have the same as at
luncheon, with the addition, if you wish, of a small glass of white
wine. White wine, being sour, is one of the agents for reducing flesh
that all French dietitians prescribe. After dinner more exercise in the
open. Driving is better than staying indoors, but walking is better.
I have before pointed out that in walking you take in four times as
much fresh air in a given time as you do in driving. And fresh air in
the body is like a draught of air in a furnace, fanning a blaze that
consumes all refuse and slag. Go back now,” I said, “and call again
next week.”
Next week her step was lighter. Her eyes were brighter. She said: “You
are a hard taskmistress, but I have done as you advised. My weight is
now 154 pounds.”
“You have lost a pound a day,” I said. “That is enough. Some
authorities would say it is too much. Now we will vary the treatment a
little. I have told you about exercise and diet. Now as to abstinence.”
“It is dreadfully hard to do without sweets,” she sighed.
“Did you do without them?”
“Not wholly,” she admitted.
“If the hunger for sweets seizes you let fruit tablets dissolve in your
mouth and swallow them slowly. This will satisfy for a time the craving
for sweets that is as tormenting in its way as the craving for drink,
and as hard to cure. The fruit tablets are a make-believe candy, and
yet are so largely fruit and water that the sugar in them is hardly a
calculable quantity.”
“But I am hungry nearly all the time; hungry for other than sweets.
Hungry for substantials.”
“If you insist upon eating as much as you wish I can do nothing for
you. You must leave the table with your appetite unappeased.
“Drink a great deal of water. That refreshes the body, but helps to
destroy the appetite for food. Normally, you should drink ten glasses
a day. Increase the amount to twelve or fourteen. With your buttermilk
for breakfast, your lean meat, dry toast and coffee at luncheon and the
same with white wine at night, your stomach will be satisfied.
“But do your water drinking discreetly. Begin in the morning as soon as
you rise by sipping two glassfuls. Finish the day by the same quantity.
The other should be drunk between meals or, at most, one glass should
be drunk a day.
“Keep before your mind the word ‘Abstain.’ Remember that you must
abstain from sweets, from pastries, from milk, from cauliflower,
potatoes, lima beans, corn, all the vegetables and cereals that fatten.”
At the end of the third week she came back perceptibly lessened. “Eight
pounds less this week,” she said triumphantly. “My weight is now one
hundred and forty-six. Only eleven pounds of the thirty remain.”
“Do you perspire well?”
“Better than I did. But not freely.”
“Then the pores must be educated. Some pores must go to school to
learn their function. When all else fails a course of Turkish or
Russian baths will do this. Take them at home in a cabinet, or at
public baths, as you prefer. I prefer the Russian baths because they
are moist and they do not force the lungs to breathe hot air. The
cabinet baths permit an opening for the head so that while the body is
perspiring the lungs may be inhaling cool, pure air.
“Take one of these baths every morning. Keeping the feet in hot water
facilitates the perspiration. At the end of a week you will find that
the pores will have learned their office and perspiring will have
become easy. While you are taking the course of baths you may relax
somewhat from the exercise. Or you may take instead deep or kneading
massage, the sort in which your masseuse’s knuckles seem to reach the
bones.”
At the end of the week my patient wrote me: “I cannot call to-day, but
rejoice with me. I have lost eight pounds this week. Only three more to
spare. I am keeping tailors and dressmakers busy taking in my frocks.”
Three days later she appeared, looking radiant. It was as though a half
dozen blankets that hid her beauty had been removed. Her charms had
been hidden by too much flesh, as the flame of a lamp is obscured by a
soiled chimney.
“One thing I forget,” I said, anxiously scrutinizing her face for
sagging skin. “But you do not need the warning.”
“No, I had a facial massage every day to keep the skin of my face firm.”
“And there is no sign of a pendulous chin,” I said, admiringly.
“I kept the chin firm by freezing the muscles into hardness with cold
water compresses and applications of ice.”
Here is how another young friend of mine lost nineteen pounds in five
weeks without injury to her health.
Before she fairly realized that she was putting on flesh she found
herself with all the symptoms of overweight. Her face was full and
puffy. Her cheek muscles sagged, giving her face the jowl-like look
that suggests the lower animals, transforming beauty’s face into a
beastlike semblance, and that beast not the handsomest, nor most
poetic, of the order. As she surveyed her figure in the mirror,
particularly in the back, it looked broad and coarse. Moreover, she
was conscious of her weight. Her movements had become clumsy. When we
are at normal weight, that is, when we are only so heavy as nature
intended, and nature abhors overfleshed women, we are not oppressed by
our bodies. We feel so light and our minds are so capable of dominating
our bodies that we scarcely realize that we have any weight. That
birdlike lightness of body is a sure sign that we are at our best.
My friend, having a long social season before her, when she wished to
look her best, resolved to train down. But how? She adopted none of the
cure-alls prescribed by stout women we meet at Turkish baths. She did
what is the wisest course when we are able to adopt it, went straight
to her physician and asked his advice.
This was wise because her physician knew her constitution as she knew
her alphabet. He knew which way lay peril. She must not take the beef
and hot water cure, because she was predisposed to rheumatism, and
authorities claimed, and this physician believed, that in beef there
is at least seventeen per cent. of uric acid. The body is able to
eliminate only a limited amount of the acid and the introduction into
it of such excess over that amount would involve some remaining in the
system. This should be avoided in cases of what the physicians call
“uric acid diathesis.”
Also his patient was nervous, so he must not permit her that starvation
system of diet which reduced her nervous force. Not being an especially
vigorous woman, he was unwilling to run any risk of impairing her
vitality.
Under his guidance, then, she began this regimen:
For breakfast, two slices of thin, dry toast. If her breakfast
satisfied her cravings he insisted that the bread be dry. If not, she
spread it very thinly with butter. With this she ate one medium-boiled
or poached egg and drank one cup of coffee.
Being of those who say, and prove, if you watch them at the first meal
of the day, “My breakfast is my best meal,” her physician knew that
this light breakfast would at first be a hardship. He therefore urged
her to eat very slowly, masticating her food until it turned into a
thin liquid in her mouth. “If you do this,” he said, “one-half the food
you formerly ate will just as fully satisfy your hunger.” “And that,
which I didn’t at all believe at first I found to be quite true,” she
said.
The only luncheon permitted her was a slight one of fruit. “Try to
get on with one apple or orange,” he said. “If you are suffering from
hunger eat two. But masticate, masticate, masticate.”
At night she was allowed to eat anything she chose, except the three
fattening “ps”--potatoes, pudding or pie. But again she was charged to
take twice as much time as usual for the meal. And at neither of her
meals should she drink water. At breakfast and dinner one cup of black
coffee was permitted.
For all the days that followed, for five weeks, she had the same
breakfast and luncheon, but every other night she had no dinner save
a large bowl of bread and milk. The milk contained no cream, but was
skimmed.
Meanwhile she, who had always disliked exercise, discarded her carriage
and took two walks a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Her physician named no ground to be covered in these walks.
“Walk as long as you enjoy it, but not until you are tired,” he warned
her. Her first unaccustomed walks were only three or four short city
squares, but after two weeks, when nature had become accustomed to the
new regimen, she was able to walk four miles a day, two before and two
after noon.
If, as sometimes happened, she returned from her walk faint, she was
allowed to drink a cup of hot but very weak tea, and if nature seemed
to demand more sustenance, she drank two cups. But from these cream and
sugar were sternly prohibited.
The results I have told you. And my friend never looked so lovely and
she assures me she has never felt so well. There was no expensive
journey nor stay at the baths; no daily massage. The loss of those
nineteen pounds cost her only self-denial, the one fee for her
physician and the tailor’s charges for taking in all her gowns four
inches about the hips and two at the waist.
While ways to grow thin do not especially interest me, I cannot help
hearing continually of them. Wherever I go the conversation of the
women I meet tends to fat. All are interested because those who are fat
wish to be thin, and those who are thin fear they may become fat. All
womankind, it would seem, has organized into an army of fat fighters.
To the baths go women who weigh two hundred pounds, and when they
return from Carlsbad, from Marienbad and elsewhere I pass them in the
Bois without saluting them, because in those six weeks they have lost
fifty pounds and are thin beyond recognition. It is marvelous. One of
the great physicians who crossed the Atlantic recently to treat a New
York society leader for obesity, received $2,000 for his services for
two weeks. They will do much and pay greatly to reduce their flesh,
these rich, but what of us who are not wealthy?
We can choose and follow some of their methods once we have learned
them. This is one method which a friend of mine uses to keep her
weight thirty-five pounds below what it formerly was. It is simple,
being baths three times a week in hot salt water. Into an ordinary bath
tub she empties two pounds of table salt. She pours water into the tub
until it is two-thirds full, and remains in the tub for twenty minutes.
After this she rubs her body briskly down with alcohol and retires.
Like most methods of quick reduction this may be criticised as
temporarily weakening. Therefore while I am acquainting you with this
treatment for obesity I do not recommend it to one who must keep her
strength at its fullest. A vacation or a time when your tasks, whether
they be business or professional or social, are light, would be the
best time for this measure for reduction of weight.
From the harem of Constantinople, through an escaped inmate, comes the
news that when a member of it becomes so fat that she is a formless sea
of flesh, the overlord orders that she have bone-deep massage daily
with this lotion:
Iodide of potassium, 2 ounces; camphor water, 2 ounces; alcohol, 2
ounces.
If while this deep massage and the hardship for a woman of the harem of
eating no more of the delicious Turkish paste are continuing her face
grows haggard and lines appear in it, it is bathed six times a day with:
Witch hazel, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 ounce.
Specialists are always prepared to hear the complaint: “I don’t eat
much.” All their patients tell them this and all of them believe it
to be true, but in nearly every case it isn’t. A few admit that they
are enormous feeders, but say “It is impossible for me to control my
appetite.” A beauty specialist I know laughs at this.
“When you are hungry between the two meals I will permit you to drink
water,” he orders. “Hot water or cold as you like, but drink it very
slowly, and never take a glass of water unless there is the juice of
a lemon in it. If you keep the stomach filled with water you will be
less hungry. If you feel a ‘gnawing’ drink more water.”
This is the dietary permitted by an autocrat at one of the great
European baths:
No liquor; all fish, except trout and salmon; chicken; beef (in very
small and rare portions, preferably raw); eggs; nuts; all acid fruits
such as cranberries, cherries, peaches and blackberries; rhubarb;
beans; carrots; cabbage; cauliflower; asparagus; squash; tomatoes;
onions; lettuce; celery; hominy; brown or rye bread; Dutch cheese.
These and nothing more composed the food. No servant could be bribed
for a potato, and all turned round eyes of innocent wonder upon you if
you asked for a sweet cake.
Because the change to this diet was so radical the doctor did not
insist upon violent exercise, but he kept his reducing patients out of
doors and encouraged them, as did the Paris physician, to keep moving.
While you are reducing depend upon a tape measure rather than the
scales to determine your loss of weight. Measure your hips and waist
and upper arm. Fat is bulk making, but it takes a large amount of it to
weigh a pound. A woman, my neighbor at the baths I visited, had lost
three inches about the hips and two about the waist, yet had lost only
three-quarters of a pound in weight.
If I were ever encumbered by too much flesh I should first give the
rice treatment a thorough trial. It is simple and cheap and has the
merit of not reducing too rapidly, so that the facial muscles have time
to adjust themselves to the new conditions and the skin of the face
to also adjust itself, preventing the haggardness and aged look that
follow too rapid reduction.
The rice cure can be explained in a paragraph, a short one, even in a
line. It consists in an exclusive diet of rice and milk, or rice with a
little butter and salt to make it palatable. It is a leisurely, and for
that reason healthful, treatment. A young woman of my acquaintance rid
herself of two pounds a week by this diet until she had diminished her
weight by the desired ten pounds. I have no doubt, had she continued,
she could have reduced indefinitely by that scale. She ate three large
bowls of rice a day. Each bowl constituted one of her three daily
meals. The rice was covered with skim milk. Had she chosen, she could
have eaten it with a little butter and salt.
A fad in Ostend and at some of the German cures is to wrap the limbs
and other fatty portions in white muslin or linen cloths that have
been boiled in vinegar. They are wrapped around the fleshy portions
of the body as hot as the cloths can be endured. When they cool they
are replaced by others or they are dipped once more into the vinegar.
This treatment is continued for at least twenty minutes and some of the
faddists employ it three times a day. It has a certain value, for there
is no question about the absorptive power of the skin. But its foes are
sure that it makes the skin yellow.
In Germany is being attempted a method that would make for health and
healthy thinness in America. German physicians advise the establishment
in each town of fruit depots. If these depots or rooms were generally
established and a man or woman could drop in at one of them for
luncheon as easily as he or she now calls at a restaurant where
fattening potatoes, puddings, pastry and liquors are served there would
be a benefit to the general health.
Summer is the best season for reduction, for three reasons. First, one
of the greatest agents for destroying excess flesh is pure air, and one
may get all she wishes of it at this season. If circumstances permit
you to leave the cities, the country air will aid in diminishing your
girth.
A second reason why summer is the best season for reduction of weight
is that we need and crave less food in this season, and, besides, the
food is of a lighter nature and contains more acid than in winter.
One fashionable Parisienne betook herself to her château last month for
her annual rebuilding and for the first three weeks lived exclusively
on grapes and slept in an open air chamber on the roof of her country
home. She grew clear of skin and lissome as a girl.
A third reason for utilizing summer in your reduction treatment is that
it is the season which favors perspiration. And fat flows from our body
on the streams of perspiration.
The latest word in the matter of obesity cures is that fat being
composed chiefly of water must be squeezed as a sponge is to rid it of
the liquid with which it is saturated.
Whenever there is need a supply soon follows. A school of masseuses
have adopted this theory of fat and have gone to work heroically to
prove their theory. One of these, who has gone to your country from
Sweden, gives the new massage for three hours at one treatment. She
beats and pounds and squeezes the flesh until it is soft as putty.
The results are amazing. I know an actress who in order to play a
vampire woman must needs reduce thirty pounds. This she did last
summer, becoming slender and straight as a young pine tree, and with no
lessening of her vitality or beauty.
In London they are “jumping the fat down.” Once a day, or oftener, the
overweight clan jump up and down fifty times.
In Paris the so-called electric blanket has many advocates and friends.
The person who desires to reduce her flesh wraps this blanket about
her, attaches to its fastenings the electrical power from the lights in
her room, and presently she is dripping with perspiration. Completely
relaxed as in a Turkish bath, she lies in her own room, on her own
bed, and loses undesired ounces and pounds. After twenty minutes or
more she springs from her blanket, hurries to her bathroom and turns
on the cold spray or shower, or takes a plunge in a tub of cold water.
This, done twice a day, has been the secret of the vanishing flesh of
many beauties at Ostend, who had the gratification of remaining in
fashionable centers and enjoying life, instead of immuring themselves
at stupid baths.
These are effective new methods for general reduction. Often, however,
there is need only of reducing certain portions of the body that
are too redundant. Many women are annoyed, especially when they
wear evening dress, by an unbecoming roll of fat lying between the
shoulders. This has been removed by the simple means of patting it
briskly with first one hand, then another, afterwards by stroking
it, first with one hand, then the other, the strokes being firm and
downward ones. It is better, still, to dip the palms in cold water
before beginning this manipulation. “Ironing” the flesh roll with a
lump of ice is another method successful in several instances of which
I have personal knowledge.
If the chin has begun to multiply the ice ironing is useful, especially
if the ironing be followed at night by tying up the chin by a muslin or
rubber bandage that is fastened about the head.
Sometimes the excess of fat is in the face, giving the countenance
a gross look, robbing it of much of its apparent intelligence, and
muffling fine features in a blanket of superfluous flesh. Such a face
has rid itself of this incubus, and emerged, youthful, rosy and well
proportioned, because, as its owner whispered to me, she never retires
without first passing a small lump of ice over her face, always with
upward strokes. If the touch of the ice is unpleasant, or if there is
in your composition a tendency to neuralgia, wrap the ice in a thin
layer of absorbent cotton, or in a piece of gauze or cheesecloth.
Individual treatment for overweight can be treated according to
individual needs. Study your needs and adapt your knowledge to them.
Keep in mind these four principles of flesh reduction. All methods
depend upon increased perspiration, lessened quantity or different
quality of food, more vigorous exercise or that which reacts upon
certain portions of the body, or greater freedom from clogging
materials which are wastes of the body. Those bath powders which are
advertised as reducing agents usually contain one of the salts which
induce the latter results.
CHAPTER XVI
HOW TO GAIN FLESH
Every woman, while not desiring to be fat, wants to possess a figure
that is pleasantly rounded. Curves, for women at least, are the lines
of beauty. A man who is all straight lines may be handsome, but no
woman who is all angles may be beautiful.
The young women, and the older women, too, who ask me, “What shall I
do to become pleasingly plump?” are wise. For womanly lines, like a
womanly voice, are wholly desirable.
How shall the thin woman become plump? It is a harder problem than that
which I tried to solve last week. For a woman who is fat may become
comparatively thin by self-denial, but the thin woman who would become
plump must overcome many things, heredity, temperament, some of the
most salient traits of her character. The thin woman must make herself
over inside, so to speak, before she can make herself over outside.
To be pleasingly plump means that every angle is covered to an
attractive roundness without any of the grossness of the figure that is
too fat. As an example of such a figure, let me call your attention to
Mary Garden. No one would dare say she is fat. She is not. She never
will be, for she has the nervous temperament. But in all her figure
there is no angle. Yet its lines are long, the curves graceful, and the
ensemble is most individual.
For the thin woman who would become plump there must be a radical
change in her manner of living. First she must learn a lesson from
her fat sister. It is not to worry. Almost always the fat woman is
care free. She is amiable. She never worries and never nags. Diane
de Poiters, the great French beauty, had to struggle against the
encroachment of a sea of fat. The reason may be found in her answer
to the question: “Why are you so beautiful?” Her reply was: “I am
beautiful because I never worry.” The thin woman must stop worrying.
The thin woman is a spendthrift of vitality. She is never still when
there is a chance for activity. It was of such a woman that the
sardonic bachelor says: “She cuts up quilt pieces just for the fun of
sewing them together again.” By which the bachelor meant to convey that
she did needless work. The thin woman must learn to rest.
The woman who is too slender to please herself or others must look
to her diet. Those foods which her fat sister must eschew she must
habitually eat.
She, too, must have her daily baths and her massage, but they must be
radically different from those taken by the woman who would diminish
her flesh.
Since her greatest hope of increased flesh lies in food I will first
discuss that. Here is a list of those edibles which contain the starch
or sugar, or both, that are needful for the taking on of flesh:
Thick soups, as bisque, cream of celery, cream of corn, puree of peas
and puree of beans; fat beef, fat mutton, hot corn bread, hot biscuits,
wheat, corn and buckwheat cakes, plenty of butter, honey; salad
dressings in which there is more oil than vinegar; chocolate, pastries,
puddings, bonbons, bananas, peaches, prunes, beans, peas, cauliflower,
asparagus, potatoes, rice, gelatines.
She should drink cocoa or chocolate made with milk; red wines if wines
be drunk at all; tea or coffee, if drunk at all, must be taken with
cream and sugar. She should drink more hot water than cold.
Cold baths I do not recommend for any woman. Her organism is too
delicate, I think, to successfully resist the shock of a cold plunge or
shower, but if any woman can withstand it it is the stout woman. It has
been claimed to be a considerable aid in reduction of flesh. By that
token, if by no other, the thin woman should avoid them. Her baths must
be at least tepid. I should advise them as warm as she can comfortably
take them. For while hot baths are enervating a moderately warm bath is
soothing to tired nerves, and so tends to those easeful habits which
the thin woman needs to acquire. The fat woman should rise immediately
from her bath, dress and go about her affairs. But it is admissible,
even desirable, for the thin woman to lie down for a rest of twenty
minutes or longer after her bath. The repose that follows a warm bath
is one of the best aids to gaining flesh.
A Turkish bath once a week may be taken, but it should be taken
prudently or it will lessen the flesh. The thin woman should not
remain in the hot room for more than ten minutes. After the scrub
which follows she should not lie in blankets, as I have advised fat
women to do, to promote further perspiration. Instead she should go
to a slightly cooler room and there take massage while her pores are
gaping as open hungry mouths to receive it. Massage with olive oil is a
fattener. For each bath I recommend:
Olive oil, 1 gill; oil of bergamot, ½ teaspoonful.
After massage with the oil she should rest for a half hour before
dressing. To remove the odor and other unpleasant souvenirs of the oil
rub she should powder her body freely with talcum before dressing.
For those to whom olive oil is distasteful there is this massage for
the meager body, which is much used in France and Germany: Tannin, ½
gram; lanolin, 30 grams; oil of sweet almonds, 10 grams.
This, which I have before recommended for building the adipose tissues
of the neck, is excellent for the body, especially for the sunken
regions about the collarbones, for the thin layer of flesh over the
ribs and for enlarging the hips:
Cocoa butter, 100 grams; alcohol, 95 per cent., 20 grams; essence of
rosemary, 12 drops; essence of bergamot, 12 drops.
Some skins are irritated by cocoa butter. For these pure, fresh lard
could be substituted. A recipe somewhat difficult to fill this side of
Paris, but which has been invaluable to thin women who desired to be
plump, is this for massage cream:
Salep of Persia, 15 grams; powdered cocoa, 60 grams; glan doux d’Asie,
60 grams; potato starch, 45 grams; rice starch, 60 grams; thin gelatine
solution, 250 grams; vanilla, 5 centigrams.
Another simple, pleasant and efficacious massage cream is made from:
Olive oil, 2 ounces; pure starch, 1 ounce; lanolin, 1 ounce.
While I am aware that in America there is a prejudice against perfumes,
I cannot share in it. Since the days of the early Romans well chosen
perfumes have added elegance to a toilet. It is only their abuse which
is to be deplored. A dainty woman need not be told that she must
use the perfume sparingly, that there should be a hint, not a bald
statement, of them about her. But there is no question that certain
perfumes have also a tonic medicinal effect. Therefore for the thin
woman whose nerves require soothing I recommend this toilet water, used
by English and French women when tired. A half dozen drops in a bowl of
water is deliciously soothing, and leaves a pleasantly pervasive yet
elusive perfume in the room:
Jasmine water, 3 ounces; vanilla water, 1½ ounces; acacia water,
1½ ounces; tuberose water, ½ ounce; essence of ambergris, 5 drops;
tincture of benzoin, ½ dram.
The thin woman may use all of these things and yet note but little
improvement. For she has but little appetite as a rule, and it is hard
to fatten one who will not eat. She should go to a physician, tell him
of her loss of appetite, and ask for a prescription for a tonic which
shall be, as are most tonics, an appetizer. In lieu of that I borrow
from a famous French physician, who contributed much to the beauty of
women, this formula for an appetizer:
Tincture of nux vomica, 3 grams; tincture of rhubarb, 60 grams;
tincture of star anise, 3 grams.
The woman who would be plump must add to her daily allowance of sleep.
If she sleeps eight hours and is still thin she should sleep nine
hours, or even ten. And she should take a nap of a half hour to an hour
after her midday meal. She should exercise before instead of after
meals.
Briefly this is the regimen I should advise for thin women:
Begin the day with a light breakfast in bed. The breakfast may be a pot
of cocoa or chocolate made with milk, and sweetened with three lumps of
sugar in each cup, three slices buttered toast, two medium boiled eggs.
Rest for at least a half hour; better an hour. The time can be utilized
in looking after your correspondence on one of the convenient writing
pads, in bed, in reading the morning papers or in making your plans for
the day.
Then a tepid bath, as I have directed, followed by a slightly cooler
shower to prevent your catching cold.
Then a short walk or a drive.
Luncheon of roast beef or mutton with gravy, any green salad with
mayonnaise dressing, a cup of cocoa or glass of milk, bananas or
peaches or pastry.
Between luncheon and dinner sip two or three glasses of milk,
remembering that milk is food rather than drink, and giving five
minutes to each glass. Follow the luncheon by a nap. If you can’t sleep
at least rest.
For dinner eat any food that appeals to you that is of starchy or
sugary or fatty nature. Avoid pickles, oranges and all acids.
In this diet use saving common sense. Do not eat of rich foods so
freely that your digestion will be impaired and your complexion become
mottled. Drive away insomnia by drinking a glass of warmed milk, a cup
of cocoa or chocolate and eating a biscuit or two before retiring.
For the thin woman the rule against eating between meals applied to the
fat one does not hold. She may eat whenever hunger moves her, for hers
is a normal hunger, indicating need of more nutriment.
I think it is not well to try to guide the natural growth of a young
girl toward slenderness or plumpness. Nature should have its chance to
indicate rather strongly which way it intends her to travel, whether
the road of thinness or fat. When this has become apparent, which is
not until after sixteen or eighteen, it is quite time to supplement
nature.
But for those readers whose growth will not be interrupted by any
radical changes in manner of living, I would advise special attention
to diet. Give a great deal of intelligent attention to nourishing the
body. Keep in mind always the class of foods that form flesh.
Of the cereals corn, wheat and oats belong in this class. The bread
made from them has the same properties, especially if they are used in
their natural, unadulterated state. Corn bread, made from rough yellow
meal and spread plentifully with butter, is one of the best means of
adding to the weight of the body. Potatoes, if used in connection with
eggs, cheese and milk are important aids in that direction.
A French physician of unusual skill prepares to fatten his thin
patients by requiring them first to fast for a short time. Sometimes
he asks that this continue for three days, though in my opinion
forty-eight hours are quite enough. This is to clear the body of all
remnants of former manner of diet. This is followed in his system by
an exclusive milk diet of three more days, he permitting the patient
to drink as much as she likes, but insisting on at least two quarts a
day, drunk very slowly, ten minutes for the consumption of each glass,
almost literally eating, rather than drinking it.
Should the appetite rebel at the milk it may be varied by an occasional
glass of orange juice or of lemon juice and water, half and half.
The third step in this rejuvenating of the body before beginning to
take the flesh forming foods, is to eat nuts and fruit freely for a day
or two or longer, unless your appetite becomes too rebellious.
When you have begun with the flesh forming foods, which I have given
and which always include meats containing considerable fat, be careful
to chew them so thoroughly that all turn to liquid form in your mouth
before swallowing.
I knew a woman once, extremely thin, who always ate a half dozen dates
for dessert, after a full meal. To this she ascribed her rapid gain in
welcome flesh.
Exercise gently while building flesh, but do not exercise quickly nor
long at a time.
Drink water freely, and during meals one glass slowly drunk of cold
water will not interfere with, but rather aid, in the digestion. One of
the first measures taken by those who wish to reduce their flesh is the
opposite--to avoid drinking water at meals.
Rest often. Sleep as much as you can, taking a nap at midday if
possible. Thin persons are nearly all worriers. Fat persons, as a rule,
do not worry.
Massaging the body with olive oil or vaseline aids in flesh formation.
Drinking olive oil has the same result.
My prescription for the increase of flesh is twofold. I counsel peace
of mind and eating flesh-making foods.
Generally speaking, thin persons are of nervous temperament. They have
a positive genius for worry. Stop worrying and control your nerves.
This can be done through the practice of common sense and the exercise
of your will. Train yourself along this line and it will amaze you to
see what progress you have made in a few months. It is possible not to
let things and persons get on your nerves. Try it, and keep on trying,
until the avoidance becomes a habit.
You will be less nervous if you take more rest. Sleep; or if you can’t
sleep, remain in bed an extra hour or two, if possible, every night.
And if your circumstances permit, take a nap or a half-hour or more of
relaxation at noon. Rest after meals.
Aside from this nerve control and banishment of worry, the greatest aid
in flesh-making is in the greater quantity and different quality of
food.
Science has lately contributed a valuable item to the flesh-making
foods. The pine nut, known as pignolia, is one of the foods richest in
fatty matter and in fat-making ingredients. Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, the
great food expert and advocate of the pure food law, calls attention
to the fact that these small, sleek, white nuts are composed of nearly
60 per cent. of fat, and that the sugar and starch, also fat-making
ingredients, in them amount to 17 per cent. of their composition. They
have heat-making properties equaling those of butter, containing nearly
four times as much nourishment as lean beef. This discovery I repeat,
hoping that those persons to whom the idea of eating pork or fatty beef
will be obnoxious will find an excellent substitute in this.
Butter is a fattening agent. Spread bread thickly with this and eat
foods cooked in it, if you would grow flesh. But because butter and cod
liver oil are believed to interfere in some cases with digestion, I
would advise the free use of cream and milk instead.
As a rule the person who is too thin is anæmic, and those foods which
rebuild the system will tend to round the body. For such persons thick
soups are desirable. Thick broths are strengthening and rebuilding.
Vermicelli and macaroni, added to thick soups, tends to fatten. In
Germany I came on an anæmic young woman taking the cure at one of the
baths.
“What is that you are eating?” I inquired, looking dubiously at a thick
sandwich she ate with evident relish.
“It is a chopped raw beef sandwich mixed with chocolate,” she said. “It
is delicious. May I order you one?”
I declined, for it happens that I dislike both raw meats and
chocolates. But I asked her about her regimen, and found that part of
her prescribed daily diet was sandwiches made of chopped or scraped
meat prepared like the meat for a Hamburger steak, and mixed with beef
or mutton broth, butter or cod liver oil, or, as a special reward
of merit she was granted the variety she most liked, raw beef with
chocolate.
Raw oysters were also permitted, but there was almost no lemon juice
sprinkled upon them and vinegar was not allowed upon the table. Eggs
she was allowed without limit, and she was urged to take them beaten
up in milk from which the cream had not been removed. All cereals were
admissable, especially barley, hominy, tapioca and cracked wheat.
It is commonly supposed that thin people are thin for natural
constitutional reasons, and that it is extremely difficult, if not
altogether impossible, to increase weight. It is true that many people
hold a certain weight year after year, neither gaining nor losing more
than a pound or two. It is also true that many efforts to increase
weight accomplish nothing. But thin people need not be discouraged or
settle themselves into the belief that it is impossible to gain weight.
An eminent physician tells me he has known people of middle age who
have never varied more than a few pounds in weight for twenty years, to
add thirty-five pounds in one summer. But this was accomplished, not by
any haphazard luck, but by a most careful, persistent and intelligent
system of nourishment.
Most people are accustomed to eat about the same average amount of
food every day, and they are guided in the amount they eat by their
appetite. The result is that, with about the same daily habits of life
and about the same daily appetite, and with about the same consumption
of nourishment day after day, the bodily weight continues at a fixed
amount. If one is working extra hard, the appetite may be a little
stronger, and the additional weight which might be gained is consumed
by the extra labor which is being performed. During a summer vacation
it often happens that there is a gain of weight of five or eight or
perhaps ten pounds, but this is lost again as soon as the old habits of
life are resumed after the vacation is over.
In formulating a system for increasing weight it is necessary to
consider all of the many factors which may be made to contribute to
the gain. Of course it must be understood at the very outstart that it
is necessary to increase the amount of food we are eating if we are
to increase weight. It is not difficult to understand that a person’s
weight, which is maintained at an even level year after year on a given
quantity of food, is not likely to increase unless the quantity of food
or the quality of the food is increased. But it does not necessarily
follow that weight will increase simply by increasing the amount of
food consumed. Many other factors enter into the problem.
It is probably almost universally true that we eat many things every
day which are of little or no value. Our stomachs are often filled
with more or less worthless food instead of things of great food value.
The most important single factor in gaining weight is the kind of
nourishment that is taken.
Bread, meat, cereals, thin soups, desserts, crackers, pastry and most
vegetables are of very little value in increasing weight.
Thick pea or bean soup, baked beans, Boston brown bread, rice, Welsh
rarebit, cheese, raw eggs, chocolate, milk and cream are the great
producers of weight.
It is, of course, generally well known that rapid and considerable
gains in weight may be made by drinking large quantities of milk. The
flesh gained by abnormal consumption of milk is likely to disappear as
rapidly as it was acquired; and it is the opinion of many of the best
physicians that too much milk puts a dangerous strain upon the kidneys.
Flesh gained through a milk diet is of doubtful value, but flesh
gained by eating the highly nourishing foods I have recommended is of
permanent value.
If a person is eating all his appetite demands, it may be asked how any
one is to eat any more. One way of creating a larger appetite is to
move your meals further apart.
If, for any reason, you are not able to get dinner until an hour or
more after your usual dinner time, you feel a considerably keener
appetite and eat considerably more. If you will apply this to all the
hours for your meals you will find that you are eating a considerably
larger bulk of food each day. Get up earlier in the morning and have
a longer interval between your breakfast and midday meal, and you
will eat probably ten or fifteen per cent. more at noon. Put off your
evening meal an hour later, if possible, and you will find that you eat
a considerably heavier evening meal than you had been eating.
The older you grow the slower are your digestive processes. It takes
fully an hour longer for a person of forty-five to digest the same meal
eaten by a person of twenty.
Everybody knows how pate de foie gras, which is the fat and diseased
liver of a goose, is produced. In Strasburg, where most of the pate de
foie gras comes from, the unfortunate goose is taken into a dark cellar
and one foot is nailed to the floor. The goose is then fed all he will
eat, and when he has finished his meal more food is poked down his
throat with a stick. The goose is, in this way, stuffed with food day
after day, and is not allowed to have fresh air or exercise. The result
is that his liver becomes degenerate, fat and enlarged; and this is the
way pate de foie gras is produced.
The same sort of thing works in the same way with the human anatomy,
and if you are to stuff yourself with extra food and acquire permanent
and valuable flesh, you must thoroughly oxygenate your blood by fresh
air and a reasonable amount of moderate exercise. Sleep with your
window open at night and take a walk morning and evening. Do not run,
hurry or take violent exercise of any kind.
The chief factor in gaining weight is to come to your meals with more
appetite than ever before and eat more than ever before. Eat things
of the highest nutritive value. If you are beginning your dinner with
thick, rich pea soup, try to eat two or even three helpings of it.
Whatever else you eat help yourself to double the usual amount and try
to eat it all. And when you are all through and think you cannot eat
any more, then eat a liberal helping of cheese, and after that drink a
glass or two of milk.
If such a meal taxes your digestion you may need help. The chief
digestive agent of the stomach is hydrochloric acid, and you may add
power to your digestive machinery by taking a little. You may at the
same time stimulate the other gastric secretions with a little nux
vomica. Here is a prescription which will probably help you to take
care of your extra quantity of food:
Diluted hydrochloric acid, 3 drams; tincture nux vomica, 2 drams;
peppermint water and distilled water, each 2 ounces.
Take teaspoonful in wineglassful of water 3 times a day after meals.
Now, this is not all. You may still take a little more nourishment
before you go to bed. Try drinking two glasses of milk--always sip milk
slowly, taking five minutes for each glassful. Better yet, break and
beat two raw eggs into the milk before you drink it. If you can get
sweet cream, drink cream every day. Half a glass of cream is a rather
rich drink, but it can be made easy to digest by diluting it with
seltzer. Get a syphon of cold seltzer and squirt it into the half glass
of cream, and it makes a delicious, nourishing and digestible drink.
Malt and cod liver oil are admirable fat producers. There are on the
market one or two honest preparations of malt and cod liver oil which
are not unpleasant to take. A tablespoonful in a glass of milk makes a
valuable drink.
You should arrange to weigh yourself every day. If possible get a
bathroom scale and always weigh in the morning as soon as you get out
of bed. Whatever you weigh at night you will weigh from one and a half
to two pounds less in the morning. If not convenient to weigh without
your clothes on, then be sure you weigh always with the same clothes.
CHAPTER XVII
EXERCISES THAT HELP MAKE YOU BEAUTIFUL
There are exercises that reconstruct, build over, and there are
exercises that destroy, chiefly by excess. I am going to tell you of
the first sort. The second may be dismissed as violent exercises.
Violence is always a destroyer of beauty. Excessive exercise with heavy
dumbbells, whose weight exceeds the strength of the person wielding
them, I mention as one of the worst of these destroyers.
I have before said, and I am glad to have an opportunity to repeat,
that I disapprove of heavy exercise for women. Extreme physical effort
taxes the strength and leaves its marks upon the countenance, writing
the heavy, disfiguring characters of fatigue. It overdevelops the
muscles, robbing the figure of its soft, delicate outline, making it
bumpy, unseemly and masculine.
Exercise for women should have three aims. First, securing as much
fresh air as is needed for health. Second, as much motion and
adjustment of the internal organs as are needed for health. Third, for
the correction of such habits as are threatening to the health and
disfiguring to the beauty. A good eclectic system of exercises serves
all these purposes.
A simple exercise that I have long used when I noticed a tendency of
the shoulders to sag forward is to place my arms behind me, bend them
at the elbows and thrust between the back and the elbows my brother’s
cane. When he rebelled or when he and his precious cane were absent,
I used my own umbrella or sunshade. The temporary support drew the
shoulders far back and expanded the lungs so greatly that it became my
favorite exercise. In this attitude I walk about the room many times,
or, standing before the open window, tightly close my lips and breathe
deeply. This I continue for fifteen minutes, unless my arms grow very
weary, in which case I cease for the time, beginning again in a few
minutes when I have rested. In all exercises I stop short of the point
of fatigue.
For a sagging abdomen, slow, regular bending exercises are best. Stand
with the arms raised above the head and the palms forward. Keep the
elbows straight. With a slow, sweeping motion bend forward until the
tips of the fingers reach the floor in front of you. This is difficult,
especially for the stout and those with muscles stiffened from lack of
use.
When you have mastered this exercise, by practise, thrust the hands
clasped at the finger points as far back between the knees as you can.
In this way a semicircle is described at one sweeping motion, and the
abdominal muscles are strengthened at the same time and the abdominal
organs stimulated.
For inactive, heavy back muscles the rotary trunk motion is best. Bend
the body forward from the waist line, and swing the upper part of the
body slowly around as though the waist were a pivot. Move the trunk
slowly to the right as far as it will go, then to the left as far as
possible. Sway slowly from the extreme right to left and back again,
being careful not to wrench the body. These last two exercises are
invaluable for setting sluggish intestines at work.
Hundreds of queries are sent me putting in various ways the one
essential question: “What shall I do for a muddy complexion?” Let me
answer all those questions now and briefly. Set your sluggish liver
to work. The exercises I have just described will aid in that most
necessary work. So will walks long enough for sufficient exercise, yet
not long enough to exhaust you.
If all these, together with much water-drinking, fail to correct the
liver-marked complexion, this will be assuredly helpful: Standing
perfectly erect, raise the right arm as high as you can, stretching the
left arm downward at the same time. Reverse this motion, and alternate
the two. This air-sawing, done rapidly, will bestir the laziest liver.
For chronic indigestion I recommend walking, varied by rope-jumping.
After a brisk walk, return to your room and, resting briefly, jump
the rope from twenty to fifty times. Your strength must determine the
number. It is better to begin with ten times and increase the number to
fifty, or even seventy-five, as you become accustomed to the unusual
exercise.
A favorite exercise of mine is the simple, easy one of sitting
straight. Sitting straight develops the habit of poise. I sit every
day before a mirror, and at sufficient distance from it so that I can
see my reflection at full length. I note whether my chest is high or
drooping. If high, I know that my figure is at normal. If drooping, I
at once seek the cane or umbrella of which I have spoken and take the
shoulder and chest raising exercise I first described, and which I call
my “uplifting” exercise.
This I vary by clasping my hands behind and letting the head rest in
them as a cup, while I inhale and exhale profoundly, moving the head
slowly in its socket of clasped hands from one side to the other.
Swinging about on my revolving dressing stool, I note closely and
critically my profile from brow to toe. If my chin tends to sag, seems
by the slightest tendency to sag, I lift it as high as I can and,
closing my teeth tightly, draw the backs of my hands alternately across
it. I repeat this exercise fifty times, until the chin tingles and I
know that the renewed circulation is doing its work of restoring the
firmness of the muscles. My chin, I may explain, seldom displays the
pendulous tendency, for I sleep with a very low pillow or no pillow at
all. The high pillow I regard as one of the greatest enemies of beauty,
for it causes curving shoulders and heavy chin.
Deep breathing is in itself a superb tonic, and certain exercises aid
greatly in forming that habit and developing the power to breathe from
the very extreme of the lungs, creating, so to speak, a continual
draught in the lungs. Climbing is one of these. The well-known value
of mountain-climbing is due to the fact that it necessitates deep
breathing. If mountain-climbing is not open to you, there must be hills
within your reach. And there are always staircases. This exercise,
being somewhat taxing, should be moderately and gradually taken.
Climbing develops the calves and thighs.
A horse is a splendid colleague in the work of upbuilding. A gallop
sends the “reconstructive” fresh air, the true carpenter of the body,
rushing through the body, doing his work quickly and well.
Young women who complain of dark circles under the eyes admit, by
describing that symptom, depressed circulation. All of these exercises
that develop the power and habit of deep breathing correct lowered
circulation and impoverished blood and cure their unlovely symptoms.
From India, where the gospel of deep breathing as a spiritual as well
as physical aid was born, comes a method of deep breathing that is
wonderfully quieting to rebellious nerves. Close the eyes, and with the
forefinger pressed closely against the left nostril, completely closing
it, inhale and expel the air solely through the right nostril. Next,
closing the right nostril by placing the forefinger upon it, breathe
deeply through the left. Reverse these operations, and continue this
alternate breathing for several minutes.
For clearing clogged lungs this, also derived from India, is useful:
Inhale naturally and deeply, but expel the air slowly and thoroughly
from between the lips, letting it escape with a whistling sound.
Remember, however, to inhale through the nostrils alone, expelling only
with the lips, for while germs cannot be drawn into the system through
the nostrils, the fine hairs which line the nose being nature’s sieve,
they swarm from without into the open mouth at the slightest chance.
That chance is afforded by the intake of air. This outrush, of course,
bars their entrance.
It is really one of the simplest things in the world to have healthy
lungs. Sit erect, stand erect, walk erect. And if you go through life
sitting correctly, standing correctly and walking correctly, you will
breathe correctly, and, breathing correctly, you will have healthy
lungs.
And in order to have a good pair of lungs, a working machine that will
serve you well all your life, begin at once--the younger you are,
of course, the better--to build up the muscles between the shoulder
blades, the muscles at the top of the shoulders and the muscles at the
back of the neck.
Fresh air you must have, of course--plenty of it. But of what avail the
purest oxygen if there are districts in that wonderful region inside
your ribs where a breath of fresh air can never reach. And those are
the very spots where pulmonary germs, like Jeshurun in the Bible, wax
fat and kick. When one has little plague spots like these inside of
his anatomy, fresh air and exercise, the usual prescriptions for sick
lungs, are of no great value unless erect sitting, standing and walking
are systematic and continuous habits. Then only are fresh air and dry
sunshine of avail to affect radically the germs of tuberculosis.
Begin right off now. Straighten up. Whether you have well lungs or sick
lungs, start exercising. The results obtained by even the simplest
gymnastics are often magical, not only as a gain in health but as a
distinct asset of physical beauty. One of your shoulders may hang a
little lower than the other; that will work much harm to a depressed
lung. Look to it always that your shoulders are well up in the air and
well back. Lift up and throw back your shoulders so that your shoulder
blades will lie flat on the back of your ribs, with the tops of the
shoulders themselves pointing directly upward. Make this a habit.
I myself exercise but little. The reason is apparent. I am of slight
physique, requiring rather a fostering of the vital spark than a lavish
expenditure of it, in the direction of muscle making.
Light gymnastics after the bath in the morning, and a drive in the
afternoon quite suffice for me. Since I never grow fat there is no need
of training down. Therefore the exercise I take is quite enough for my
needs.
But for American women, with their tendency to grow fat, this, I know,
is not enough. While I believe there should be only enough exercise to
properly tone the body, yet some require much more for this purpose
than others, and there is not enough toning, when the body grows fat.
There is no one form of exercise so generally tonic to the system, I
think, as walking. If a woman be of the bilious temperament, with an
inclination to grow sallow and heavy-eyed, she needs longer walks than
the woman of sanguine temperament, whose blood leaps through her veins
and seems to seek escape by way of the mounting blushes in her cheeks.
A woman who needs walking, and she and her physician should be the
best judges of whether she does, may begin by walking five city blocks
and end by walking five or six miles. She should increase the distance
gradually, for one long walk may be of brief benefit, but regular long
walks are of inestimable value. It is never well to begin suddenly
violent, unaccustomed exercise.
The chief value of walking is that it forces deep breathing, and deep
breathing causes a cleansing of the intestines, as when a blast of cold
air is introduced into a furnace it burns up all the refuse that while
the fire was low clung to the sides and back of the grate. Here is a
fact that should be kept hanging on a prominent peg in the memory. In
ordinary instances, when a person rests he breathes four hundred and
eighty cubic inches of air a minute. This is much less than is needed
for cleansing the body. That is the reason why I oppose too much sleep.
During the sleeping hours the amount of air we breathe is much reduced.
That is the reason why many persons look at their worst when they rise
in the morning. Lack of the amount of oxygen they take into the body
when they are moving about, leaves their cheeks pale, their muscles
sagging, and their eyes dim. Note how much handsomer you are an hour
afterward than immediately upon rising.
On the other hand, while walking at the rate of four miles an hour,
which is not the maximum rate, you will inhale five times as much air,
that is 2,400 cubic inches, in the same time. Have you a room or suite
of rooms, containing four windows? Have you opened one, and, finding
that the air was not being freshened fast enough, have you opened the
other three and noticed the instant improvement? That then must be the
best argument for walking as against driving.
If you form the daily walk habit see that it becomes a daily habit.
Don’t stay indoors, because it is too hot, or because it is raining.
One should not take her daily walk in midsummer while the sun is
highest. Rise earlier and take the walk in the dewy part of the day
before breakfast.
If it is raining dress for the walk in the coquettish little rubber
boots that are now fashionable, and the short serge or flannel walking
skirt, and the little Tam o’Shanter or turban. Thus garbed, you don’t
care how wet you become. Leave your umbrella behind and let the rain
pour upon your face. It will be the most grateful bath you ever had
in your life. The rain bath for the face is delicious. Having had one
you will lose no opportunity to take another. You will see in your
glowing cheeks their first resemblance to the rose complexion of the
Englishwoman, the finest complexion in the world.
The walk is cheaper and its effects a thousand times more lasting than
any cosmetic. It throws off the enveloped cloak of lassitude that
hides beauty. No woman is so attractive when she is listless as when
she is thoroughly and happily alive. The walk awakens the sleeping or
submerged self. It makes life under any circumstances seem worth while.
And a woman, to keep her beauty, must always think life worth while.
I have seen a woman start on her walk pale, dull eyed, with the
drooping lips that give the appearance of greater age, and have seen
her return from that walk an hour later, her sallowness replaced by a
clear pink skin, her eyes youthfully bright, her lips curling upward,
the sign of content, her step springy. By the magic of the walk she
seemed at least five years younger. Most of the famous pedestrians live
to an old age. In a small town in America lives a man of seventy-five
who recently took a two hundred mile walk in three days, stopping only
for short rests of a few hours. He returned home, having rid himself of
a bilious attack.
Another seventy-year-old youth walked off the rheumatism in a ramble
from San Francisco to New York.
Therein lies one of the greatest values of the walk. It eliminates
lingering, self-made poisons from the system.
An excess of uric acid is just now the fashionable affliction. No one
suffers from it who is an habitual walker. Rheumatism and gout are
caused by the settling of deposits about the joints. Those deposits
of poisonous matter are not permitted to form if there is a thorough
elimination by means of walking and much water drinking.
Indigestion in its various forms can be corrected, especially in
the earlier stages, by walking, in connection with careful diet.
Indigestion is a physical failing, especially peculiar to women.
Walking, by bringing into play unused muscles and by making deep
breathing necessary, as a walk always does, relieves this condition.
Whatever clears the internal organs clears the complexion. Whatever
naturally clears the internal organs brightens the eyes. Whatever
promotes deep breathing lays in a new stock of vigor, as we fill our
cellars with coal in the winter.
Riding is good exercise for women, if not taken in excess. Its drawback
is that the side saddle forces one hip and shoulder higher than the
other. If a woman rides she should by all means ride astride, so
obviating this difficulty.
While I take my own morning exercise after the bath, with no aid
whatever, dumbbells are valuable to those who “cannot become interested
in freehand exercise.” I should advise beginning with the smallest
dumbbells made, those weighing one to half a pound.
Wrapped in a lightweight woolen bathrobe, and wearing tights or
knickerbockers, hose and sandals or slippers, let her stand before the
open window while she manipulates the dumbbells. With shoulders back
and chest thrown out and head erect, let her curl the dumbbells twenty
times, meanwhile breathing slowly and deeply in time with the exercise.
Start with the dumbbells at the shoulders and push them high over the
head, counting and breathing deeply twenty times.
[Illustration: MADAME CAVALIERI IN HER MUSIC ROOM]
Rest for five minutes, the dumbbells standing on the floor in front of
you. Bending your knees very little, but keeping your arms straight,
rise to an erect position, with the dumbbells resting at your waist.
Repeat this exercise, but raising the bells as high and as far behind
your neck as possible.
Now start with the bells held by the arms in a horizontal position.
Raise the bells until they are high above the head, then lower to the
first position, keeping the elbows straight.
When this exercise has become easy, turn back the face until you are
gazing at the ceiling. Breathe deeply. This is one of the best known
exercises for chest expansion. The others develop the back, arms,
chest, shoulders and waist.
This is valuable to correct a torpid liver. Stand erect. Raise the
right arm, reaching as far as you can with it, at the same time pushing
downward with the left hand. Reverse this movement, pushing upward with
the left hand and downward with the right hand. Alternate until you are
nearly breathless.
For a flat chest this exercise without apparatus is helpful. Shrug the
shoulders as high and as fast as possible, ceasing only when you become
dizzy. This, if the shoulders are even. If they are uneven, practice
raising the defective one alone until in the course of weeks or months
they are straightened, or carry a high cane on that side.
For the girl who has not learned to breathe correctly--that is, deeply,
it is well to stand before the open window, and with her hands raised,
the palms outward, inhale deeply, counting ten, hold, counting ten,
exhale, counting ten.
Or this: Clasp the hands behind the head, the palms supporting it, and
with the chest thrust forward, inhale, count and exhale as advised. If
this at first causes giddiness count but four and gradually, as the
body becomes accustomed to the new exercises, increase the counts to
ten, and even to twenty-five.
For a stretching of all the muscles the best exercise I know is to
clench the fists and, raising the arms, with elbows unbent, above the
head, stretch the body to the greatest possible height.
Another to give suppleness to the body is to rise on the tiptoes, then
lower the body until the weight rests upon the soles, then up and
down again fifty times. I have known persons so infatuated with this
exercise that they repeated it two hundred, and even five hundred times
a day.
One warning: Never carry exercise beyond the point of slight fatigue.
Never let it reach the point of exhaustion, for exhaustion, like
illness, is a synonym for ugliness.
Women fancy that a weak back is the heritage of their sex. They fancy
that aches and pains in that region are inevitable. In this they are
mistaken. The back may be rebuilded and strengthened as can other weak
spots. Discreet exercises are the best aid in that desirable direction.
For children who are growing round shouldered, shoulder braces are,
for a time, beneficial, for they train the muscles to erectness. When
this training has been accomplished the braces should be removed and
the child required to practice the carriage the brace has taught him.
But for a grown person I never advise braces except as a last resort
in a desperate case, and particularly in cases of lung affections, to
require the person to inhale fresh air.
We often receive the advice, “Rest your back to stop its aching.” This
is sound advice in cases of extreme fatigue, but generally the best way
to rest the back is to strengthen it, and the way to strengthen it is
by well directed, but not violent, exercises.
Every muscle in the body is there for some use. Everyone should have
enough exercise to keep it healthy. The muscles of the back are weak
because they are so seldom used.
The best exercises for development of these neglected muscles are those
which involve stooping. Spoiled, pampered beauties test themselves by
stooping, and if they can touch the floor with their finger tips,
without bending the knees, they pronounce themselves fit. Women less
spoiled and pampered have far less anxiety about keeping fit. Their
everyday work requires enough stooping to keep the muscles of the back
flexible and the muscles of the abdomen firm, and of normal size.
Lifting moderate weights from the floor is a good exercise for
strengthening the back. If the back be very weak it is well to begin
with an empty bucket. As exercises strengthen it gradually fill the
pail. A basket with a handle may serve the same purpose. Stoop slowly,
and slowly lift the weight. Keep the leg muscles tense and make the
muscles of the arms tense. Reach slowly forward and lift the weight
with both hands. Lift it on a level with the waist line. Then lower it
as slowly to the floor.
Next to stooping, twisting the muscles of the back is a good exercise
for strengthening it. But let this twisting be slowly and gently done,
or this will be one of the instances in which the remedy is worse than
the disease. Violent exercise will only make the muscles weaker and
cause a more severe ache, and possibly a severe injury, by wrenching
them.
This is the best method for the twisting. Lift the arms slowly above
the head, with the elbows unbent. Then slowly turn the body to the
right, resting its weight on the left leg. Swing the body around,
keeping the arms above the head but shifting the weight to the right
leg. This is a most valuable exercise, for it contorts the muscles,
causes a supply of blood to flow through them and by the unusual action
they gain strength.
The same exercise as the foregoing can be advantageously done with the
arms stretched out horizontally before you, and swinging them in a
large half circle, being careful to shift the weight from one leg to
the other and keeping tense the muscles of the legs on which the weight
rests.
As a rule round shoulders are the sign of weakened muscles. Or the
appearance of round shoulders may be given by a too great accumulation
of fat across the shoulders.
A good exercise to correct this is a simple squaring of the shoulders,
drawing in at the same time lungs full of air. Push back your arms so
that the forearms are on a level with the waist and the elbows are
pushed as far back as possible. By a gentle sawing motion move the
elbows forward and back. This causes a rush of blood to the muscles
surrounding the shoulders, and nourishes the muscles which you are
exercising and banishes the fat cells.
To banish fat from the back draw the arms back as I have described.
Thrust between the back and elbows a stout cane or a broomstick.
Manipulate the cane by means of the elbows so that the muscles are not
only strengthened but the cane is rolled over the flesh. The effect is
to break the fat cells.
This is sometimes more easily done if you hold the cane in a diagonal
position.
Useful to the same end is the exercise of sitting erect in a chair and
exaggeratedly shrugging the shoulders, first one, then the other, then
both together.
Work with light dumbbells will also in time reduce the fat of the back,
but I counsel the use of light clubs and these in moderation. Standing
erect, the feet resting flatly on the floor and the knees unbending,
raise the dumbbells slowly above the head without bending the elbows.
As slowly lower them until the arms hang loosely at the sides.
If you notice that one shoulder is higher than the other, give heed
to your hips. The hip on the other side is probably thrust up and
the shoulder on that side sinks, the shoulder on the opposite side
rising to balance it. So if one shoulder is high, correct your way of
standing. Stand with the weight evenly divided and rest on the balls of
your feet. Your shoulders will drop naturally into place. Keep them in
place.
Have you ever thought of the broomstick as an aid to beauty? Jesting?
Not at all. I wish to convince you that that everyday tool for keeping
your home clean is a means of making yourself handsomer. Indeed, yes.
Sweeping itself is an admirable exercise. It gives a variety of
activity by causing several of the least used muscles to stretch and
contract. Sweep vigorously and thoroughly and you will feel the rush
of blood to the muscles of your forearm, to the muscles surrounding
your shoulder blades and to those at the small of the back. And, more
valuable than any of these, it causes you to bend the body at the
waist, thus strengthening the muscles which are weak in nearly all
women, those of the abdomen, muscles which, allowed to become weak
and flaccid, cause that part of the body to sag, giving an unlovely
prominence with the ugly bulge at the hips which caused a visiting
artist from Europe to sneer:
“Ah, the great American figure is not, as I thought, the Almighty
dollar. No, it is the unexercised forms of the women.”
The American woman has learned to develop and keep in control the upper
half of her figure. Fine chests, with a graceful line from the shoulder
to the bust, have grown common among American women. Many of them have
mastered the not difficult art of deep breathing, so expanded the
chest, developed the lung power and perfected what may be termed their
upper halves.
But the glaring defect remains--the clumsy, conspicuous lower half
of the body, which can only be made pliable and symmetrical with the
rest of the body by exercises, among which note this simple one I have
named, sweeping. Any household exercise that causes you to bend at the
waist to the floor will keep the hips and abdomen in control, and in
time diminish their size.
For this reason, if not for that of neatness, never lose an
opportunity, if your figure has the defect I mention, to stoop to pick
up a bit of paper or lint, or a scrap of cloth, from the floor.
Stoop from the waist. Don’t resort to that trick of the indolent or the
awkward, falling upon the knees when you pick up anything. Stooping is
a graceful posture. Learn it.
If the defect in your figure is the other sort, the broomstick is
still your friend. But use it in a different way. If you have a weak,
narrow chest, if you are round shouldered, you should apply yourself
to development in a different direction and your sweeping should not
be the main object, but an incident, of your broom handle exercise.
And if you are of this habit be sure to protect your not robust lungs
from the dust raised, to some extent, by sweeping, even though the
broom be swathed in a damp cloth, by keeping your lips firmly closed.
Dust is nearly always disease laden. While the dry disease germs might
continue their way through the air without causing breeding of disease,
the darkness and moisture and the weakness of your lungs, to which they
find their way through the open mouth, will stir them into new life and
you will be the victim. Never, in any circumstances, inhale through the
mouth. Occasionally to rid the body of an excess of carbonic acid gas
you may safely exhale through the mouth to still further purify the
body. Never, never, take in air through the mouth. Don’t allow the nose
to become lazy. To inhale air is its duty. Force it to perform it. And
aid it by keeping the nostrils free from clogging substances.
The broom stick will serve its best purpose for you by being shortened,
cut to a length of two or two and a half feet, according to the “reach”
of your arms. Grasping the stick firmly, with a hand at either end,
hold it high above the head and draw the air in deeply, filling the
lungs to their capacity with full draughts of air. When you have filled
every cell of the lungs with the fresh air hold the stick firmly above
the head, count silently at least five. This done, drop your arms
slowly, your hands still clenching the stick, in front of you, below
the waist. While doing this expel the air gently until you feel that
the lungs are almost empty of air.
It is not enough to say to most persons: “Shallow breathing is a bad
habit. Correct it.” The active human mind is an interrogation point and
demands the courtesy and satisfaction of an answer.
Well, then, the results of shallow breathing are these: Sensitiveness
to all the conditions that cause colds, and a disposition to allow
colds to deepen into consumption or widen into pneumonia. Shallow
breathing makes the liver lazy, and soon the body is bile flooded, the
eyes becoming dull and the complexion yellow and lifeless. Clogged
stomach and intestines are the marks of the shallow breather, for the
body engine has not enough oxygen draught to burn up the fuel that has
been thrown into it as food.
It is only the deep breather who enjoys life to its full and shows her
enjoyment of it.
If you are not already an out-of-door woman become one at the earliest
opportunity. Make a business of learning at least one of the outdoor
sports.
Shall it be golf? Then you will have chosen well, for golf develops
the muscles which are not strong in women, those of the back. By
encouraging deep breathing it develops her chest. By causing her to
bend considerably from the waist it strengthens her abdominal muscles.
Because it causes her to walk a great deal it strengthens weak ankles
and develops the muscles of the lower leg. These points, remembered
and practiced, will make you a better golf player and will develop your
health and strength in a corresponding ratio. Select your clubs with
careful view to their length, and this will depend upon your own height
and the length of your arms. To choose a club that is too long is as
foolish and injurious as it is, if you are short, to sit upon a chair
so high that your feet dangle.
Learn a good position for your strokes with wooden clubs at the very
beginning. You should be erect. One leg should be straight under the
body. Its heel should be on the ground, the toe a little pointed in.
Slightly below the hips and not more than four inches from the body
should be the level of the grip.
Because freedom of the wrists is so very important better practice
when not on the links with a cane or closed umbrella. Place the hands
together and hold them quite still in front of the hips, depending for
the motion of the stick entirely upon the wrists. Remember that the
golf stick swings on a pivot formed by the hands and wrists.
One of the benefits of golf playing to a woman is that it teaches
concentration. The eye must be kept upon the ball, not before it is
struck or while it is leaving the sward, but after it has left the
ground.
If you take up lawn tennis play in moderation, especially at the
beginning. I like tennis for women because it induces a fine flow of
perspiration that will carry the clogging poisons out of the system.
It stimulates the circulation and forces deep breathing. It has the
further value of distributing the exercise rather generally throughout
the muscles of the body. Many women play tennis, but few play it well.
A reason is that they are careless in learning the first principles of
the game. They are liable to grasp the racket loosely, and this spoils
their play. Relax your grasp and the racket will turn in the hand while
you make your stroke. Always hold it by the extreme end, letting the
leather binding on the handle rest against the palm.
For your preliminary practice before you play a game that is watched
by critical friends practice strokes alone. Bat the ball against the
kitchen door or the barn door or the neighbor’s fence.
You will have spent your vacation well if during it you learn to swim.
Train yourself to the confidence and fearlessness that are necessary
to master swimming. Make yourself realize that you need not fear deep
water. It is no more dangerous to have two feet of water over your head
than as many inches. This is especially true of salt water, for the
deepest water has the greatest power to hold a body on its surface.
CHAPTER XVIII
POSTPONING THE DREAD SIGNS OF OLD AGE
Every woman is haunted by a specter, the dread ghost of old age. At
sixteen girls begin to dread it. At thirty-six women set traps for it.
At sixty they ward it off as best they may. I will tell you to-day what
are the marks of old age and how to remove them.
Women search their faces in the mirror for the first faint lines that
they fear may develop into wrinkles. The importance of these lines they
greatly exaggerate. For example, there are even on a baby’s neck two
parallel lines known to experts as “lines of beauty.” Others have named
them “the collar of Venus.” Women foolishly try to remove them, while
the truth is that if a woman does not have them she lacks a recognized
sign of beauty, and writes herself down to all beholders as so fat that
her flesh has swallowed up her Venus’s collar.
The infallible first sign of age is the sagging cheek muscles. These
are more serious and more difficult to treat than wrinkles. When, at
the merciless inspection of her face, which every wise woman gives
herself in the morning, a woman detects signs of these sagging muscles,
she must at once get to work upon them. The sagging muscles indicate
that they have grown too weak to remain in place, and they must be
assisted, strengthened. The way to strengthen them is to cause freer
circulation in those parts that are affected. And the way to stimulate
circulation is to massage the surfaces where circulation is desired.
But one must be very careful about the massage. Bad, that is,
unintelligent massage, is worse than none.
Study the drooping cheek muscles and you will notice that they are apt
to sag from the cheek over the edge of the lower jawbone, and try to
melt in an ungraceful way into the neck. This is not to be permitted.
The jawbone should keep its thin, fine edge to the end of life. The
nearer it is like a razor edge in sharpness the nearer you are to
keeping the facial line of youth. Some babes are born moon-faced and
moon-faced remain. But it is true, nevertheless, in the large majority
of cases, that if the lower edge of the jaw is of knife-like sharpness
the woman who possesses it is young. If it be muffled by flesh the
woman is old or is growing old.
Since the flesh is inclined to melt down into the chin, so forming the
double or triple chin, it is necessary to massage that surplus flesh.
Strengthen the muscles of the true or normal chin thus:
With a pure massage cream give one stroke to the muscles of the chin
with the right hand, then with the left, and so alternate. Pass the
hands from side to side, one under the other. When you have made twenty
such strokes give your attention to the cheek muscles proper. With the
tips of the first, second and third fingers rub slowly and gently, with
a rotary motion upward and backward along the line of the jaw, and
upward to the hair line. Repeat this operation again and again until
the cheek muscles and the fingers are weary. When they have rested
begin again, this time with the softer flesh above the jaw. Use the
first three fingers again and let the motion be backward and upward
again, but the pressure should be much lighter, for these muscles have
not the bony support of the lower ones, and it is always hazardous to
work other than skillfully on such muscles. For instance, the flesh
just beneath the eye should never be touched.
Twice a day is often enough for ordinary cases. But in extreme cases
ten minutes for massage four times a day is not too often.
Also let the woman whose cheek muscles are beginning to sag and who
by the same token is acquiring a double chin, remember to keep up her
head. Ordinarily a woman may turn to the flower for lessons in beauty.
In this instance she must look to the horse. How much handsomer is the
horse that carries his head high, and how much younger he looks!
Keep your head up while you are walking, while you are talking, even
while you are resting. Did you ever see a beauty, even when in repose,
allow her chin to sink upon her breast? Not while she is conscious. No,
no. When she is exhausted from a long walk or a dance she rests the
back of her head against the back of a lounging chair, but her chin is
always up, always. And this not only while she is awake, but while she
is asleep. Do not sleep upon a pillow if you can possibly rest without
it. Or, if you must have a pillow, let it be very small. And try to lie
on your back, with your chin up. That is the best position for health
and beauty.
And now about another particular sign-post of age. There is a saying
which persons always accompany by pointing to the delicate lines in
front of and extending below the lower portion of a woman’s ear: “That
is where a woman first shows her age.” In part that is true. There
is one extenuating fact. Some ears are set much closer to the head
than others. Those that are set well back and in draw the skin with a
drum-like tightness at the base of the ear. Lines never form about ears
so set. But if they grow well away from the head the skin about the ear
is loose and the lines are sure to come between thirty and forty. I
have seen them come about the ears of girls of nineteen. They too can
be removed by massage. Use the third finger of each hand and massage
with both hands at once, rubbing slowly, with gentle rotary motion
upward.
I have known some women to pin back the ears. So they call it; but it
consists merely in passing a band of white muslin around beneath the
nose and sloping upward about the upper lobes of the ear, thus pinning,
or pinioning them. This done for eight hours of every twenty-four, when
the person is asleep, should do a great deal toward smoothing away the
betraying little lines.
Another sign of age appears about the ears. There, as a rule, the hair
first begins to grow gray. It would be well to cut rather than pull
out these first gray hairs, for the hair pulled out usually means a
mutilation and irritation of the scalp in that part of the head. But if
they persist in growing I would recommend resignation--or dyeing. I do
not advocate hair dyes. The only substance I know that I believe is not
injurious is henna, which the Egyptians, who had wonderful hair, used.
But henna gives the hair a reddish cast. If my hair were growing gray
and thin about the ears and temples I would massage those parts often
with lanolin.
Dull eyes and dark circles under the eyes are believed to be one sign
of departing youth and vigor. Quite as often they are signs of impaired
health, of anæmia.
If you are anæmic, you should go to a reliable physician and get a
prescription for some good rebuilder. If this is not possible, give
yourself the good home treatment of plenty of sleep, of more than the
usual outdoor exercise, and of a diet of eggs, beets, spinach and
string beans, all those things which contain much iron.
For the woman who is beginning to “show her age” I prescribe much rest,
but never rest after a meal. She should rest before meals, say a siesta
of an hour and a half before luncheon and dinner, but not immediately
afterward. Rest after a meal induces flesh.
A sign of age is a dragging gait. The woman who wants to remain young
should repair the waste by more rest. When she is in the privacy of her
room she can completely relax. But for her in public there should be
no relaxation. Let her remember the tendency to this dragging and in
public be as truly on parade as a soldier at guard drill.
Also in the older woman we note bent shoulders. They should be
straightened. Best of all by massage. A long, full stroke over the
shoulders with the palms of the hands, meeting at a point between the
shoulder blades. If massage did not cure I should try the shoulder and
back braces sold at pharmacists’.
But massage with pure cold cream, tested and analyzed by a chemist, is
the best friend of the older as well as the younger woman who wishes to
be beautiful. This is excellent for oily skins:
One ounce tincture of benzoin; two drams tincture of musk; four drams
tincture of ambergris; five ounces rectified spirits; one and one-half
pints orange flower water.
This I recommend especially for delicate skins easily roughened by the
wind:
Three ounces almond oil; five drams white wax; five drams of
spermaceti; one dram oil of bitter almonds; three ounces elder flower
water; one ounce witch hazel.
This, a simpler cream, is wholesome and efficacious:
Four ounces almond oil; four ounces rosewater; one ounce spermaceti;
one ounce white wax.
This is an excellent preparation also for an oily skin:
Six ounces orange flower water, triple extract; one ounce deodorized
alcohol; one ounce blanched bitter almonds; one dram white wax; one
dram spermaceti; one dram oil of benne; twelve drops oil of bergamot;
six drops oil of cloves; six drops oil of bigarade; one-quarter ounce
borax.
This is an excellent massage cream, having cleansing properties:
Three ounces oil of sweet almonds; two drams balsam of tolu; ten drams
oil of bitter almonds; two drams benzoin; two drops essence of lemon;
two drops essence of cajeput.
An exquisite cream, much used by those who are fastidious, is this:
Four ounces oil of sweet almonds; six drams white wax; six drams
spermaceti; two drams borax; one ounce glycerine; five drops oil of
neroli; fifteen drops oil of bigarade (extracted from orange skin);
fifteen drops oil of petit grain.
Some women of the old school prefer a liquid preparation to a cream.
One of these was the beautiful Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. Her
complexion was once the toast of Europe, and this when she had reached
a very advanced age. I have used this modification of her favorite
lotion for the face:
One-half ounce oil of rosemary; two drams oil of lavender; thirty
grains oil of petit grain; three drams tincture of tolu; one-half pint
orange flower water; five ounces rectified spirits.
Let us consider first the cause of wrinkles. The causes, rather, should
I say, for the sources of wrinkles are five. They are: Age, worry,
weariness, the bad habit of making faces, and the shrinking of the
flesh away from the skin.
We cannot arrest age, the process of growing old, but we can conceal
for a long time the fact of age. I believe it is quite possible for
a woman to say, “From this moment I shall not appear to grow older,”
and to achieve that end. I have known women who have seemed to stop
short the revolutions in the wheels of time for twenty years. Others I
have known who by a new regimen, or by changing their mental attitude
toward life, accustoming themselves to that most wonderful of all
rejuvenators, taking a more cheerful view, have seemed to grow five or
ten years younger.
Age is not an inevitable creator of wrinkles. It merely deepens the
tracks made by our thoughts, wearing them deeper and deeper with the
years as the wheels of a wagon cut deeper and deeper into the clay of a
country road. It is to be seen then that prevention is a large part of
the treatment of wrinkles. To cure wrinkles first look to it that you
do not acquire them.
Worry is another foe of the childlike smoothness of skin that is one
of the most desirable states of beauty. The outward and visible signs
of inward worry appear chiefly in two areas, in the diagonal lines
extending from the nostrils to the lips, and in the forehead where they
create what a precocious child, studying his mother’s face, called
“gutters for the tears.” These lines are interesting as indicators
of character. The woman with deep lines about her lips has greater
determination and passion. She has a more intense emotional nature. The
woman with the strongly marked horizontal lines in the forehead is more
intellectual. Her anxieties are mental, while those of the woman with
the parentheses are temperamental. To the woman with the ever growing
deeper tracery on her forehead I should say, “Don’t fret.” The woman
with the fast deepening parentheses I advise, “Don’t care.” Consider
these bits of advice. The distinction is illuminative.
The accustomed eye sees readily the characters written by fatigue. They
are rather creases than wrinkles, deep folds in the skin, as though the
covering of the muscles had grown weary and limp, and was resting from
its task of smoothly fitting over the muscles. They are perhaps the
most disfiguring of the wrinkles and the hardest to remove.
[Illustration: KITTY GORDON Her arms, neck and shoulders furnish an
ideal which every woman should try to attain.]
The bad habit of making faces--I shrink appalled from my task of
preventing this, or of counseling how to remove its traces. Some women,
especially American women, have yielded to the ugly habit thinking that
the lines that follow it are the price one must pay for her vivacity.
But they are mistaken, hopelessly, fatally mistaken. One of the most
vivacious faces I have known is that of a beautiful French woman. Her
face is like a mirror, but the eyes and mouth are the only reflectors.
She does not draw the mouth down at one corner or the other while she
talks. She does not raise her eyebrows until they threaten to become
lost in her hair, puckering the skin at the corners of the eyes as
though there were a drawing string beneath them. She does not prove her
concentration upon a topic of conversation by creating deep horizontal
lines in the forehead above and between the eyes. She does not laugh so
violently that the flesh breaks up into ripples and eddies about the
eyes. She makes her glowing eyes and her smiling lips express all her
thought and emotion. So did all the French beauties of old, which was
the reason that Ninon L’Enclos and Mme. Recamier, in their extreme age,
had lovers and no wrinkles.
The shrinking away of the muscles from the skin is a serious menace
to beauty. Its causes are several. Perhaps a woman has reduced her
flesh more suddenly than wisely. Perhaps the shrinkage has been caused
by anæmia. The condition demands nourishment of the skin and of the
muscles beneath the skin. But this is merely a local treatment. More
than anything else it requires a rebuilding and rejuvenation of the
entire system.
Knowing the causes we must avoid them. We must resolve to conceal if we
cannot stop the ageing process. We must not, dare not, worry. We must
never pass a certain point of fatigue, that point at which we are too
tired to rest or sleep. Such a weariness is destructive. We must not
make faces while we talk. Whatever our emotions we must try to keep our
features serene as those of a mask. Leave to the mouth and eyes the
task of expression. We must by nourishing both skin and muscles prevent
their divorcing each other.
But granted that the wrinkles have appeared what shall we do to remove
them? We must first remove the cause which has produced them. If two
ugly parallel lines are discernible between the eyebrows we must
correct that habit of scowling, whose footprints are ugliness. And
we must avoid eye-strain. Often the lines in their beginning can be
removed by giving up the habit of reading except by daylight, and then
of not reading long continuously.
A young woman who, after much travel, noticed a light but ominous
tracery of delicate lines on her face, said: “Heavens! I must take the
rest cure, and buy cold cream by the pound!” She was right. Those first
menacing wrinkles showed that she had not preserved the balance of
vitality which assures perfect health. She had given out her strength
faster than she renewed it. The outgo exceeded the inflow, which is
merely over exertion, differently phrased. She went to bed and remained
there for three days. In her darkened room sleep, the great ironer
out of lines, aided by the generous and frequent applications of cold
cream, removed her wrinkles. When she came forth from her rest cure
her skin was smooth and as delicately flushed with pink as that of a
healthy babe.
The cold cream which she had bought “by the pound” was one of the best
to be obtained in the market or to be frugally made at home:
Spermaceti, ½ ounce; white wax, ½ ounce; oil of sweet almonds, 2
ounces; lanolin, 1 ounce; cocoanut oil, 1 ounce; tincture of benzoin,
12 drops; orange flower water, 1 ounce.
She might have used, as effectively, this which has an astringent
quality, while the former is essentially a skin food:
Almond milk, 1½ ounces; rose water, 6 ounces; alum, 60 grains.
This relic of the customs of old France is another aid in the removal
of crow’s-feet or other paths of age:
Honey, 3 ounces; isinglass, 1½ ounces; pure vinegar, preferably that
made from white wine, 1 pint; shredded red sandal wood, ½ dram.
A deliciously refreshing pomade classed with the wrinkle removers is
composed of:
White wax, 30 grams; honey, 15 grams; juice of lily bulbs, 60 grams;
rose water, 12 grams.
This is a liquid preparation which the beauties of the Austrian court
named in their gratitude “The Water of Eternal Youth”:
Pulverized sweet almonds, 48 grains; pulverized gum arabic, 32 grains;
pulverized benzoin, 32 grains; pulverized olibanum incense, 32 grains;
alcohol, 8 ounces; cloves finely ground, 16 grains.
The face should be washed with this as often as convenient, and the
preparation can be applied by wetting freely bandages of cheese cloth
or bolting cloth or old silk or muslin, tied about the chin or forehead.
Of course these must be applied by careful and skillful massage, the
lines about the lips removed by a rotary motion of the second and third
fingers of each hand, rubbing upward toward the nose. The lines about
the eyes should be massaged in the same way, away from the corners of
the eyes and toward the hair line. The lines between the brows should
be ironed away by a pressure of the fingers between the brows and
sweeping away above the eyebrows to the point where the eyebrows end.
So for the horizontal lines of the brow the rotary motion of the first
three fingers upward toward the hair. Afterward all this surface should
be gone over carefully with the light, tapping motion which I have
before described as being like the patter of rain.
The woman who has reduced her flesh rapidly may find the skin about
the cheeks sagging into deep folds when she bends her head. These can
be corrected by three methods, all of which I recommend to be used for
that condition. First she must cultivate as a habit that poise of the
head which is infinitely useful in removing a double chin. She must
keep the chin and head tilted upward, the most graceful and becoming
poise of the head for all women. She should massage the muscles with
the first three fingers, following the muscles backward toward the
lines of the ears. For the wee wrinkles that form in front of the ears
massage with the second finger, in rotary motion, gently back toward
the ear.
For obstinate wrinkles on the forehead adhesive plaster may be cut into
strips and pasted across the wrinkled surface after the skin has been
drawn taut into place by the thumb and forefinger.
A home remedy is a compress of old linen or muslin dipped into a
mixture of the white of an egg and a gill of alcohol. Press the loose
skin back into place as I have directed and apply the compress.
Dryness of the skin will cause wrinkles. To understand this study two
rose leaves, one moist and full veined and nourished, the other drying
and forming fine lines. The dry skin wrinkles sooner and deeper than
the oily skin. Wrinkles are chiefly formed by the skin ceasing to
fit well over the muscles which it protects. This may be because the
muscles shrink or because the skin loses its firmness, or both.
Try to avoid wrinkles by keeping your face placid. The nervous
person has more wrinkles and forms them earlier than the one of more
self-controlled nature. Don’t half close your eyes when you laugh. That
habit causes wrinkles. Don’t let your mouth droop when you are angry or
troubled. That carves deep lines about your lips, making the dreaded
parentheses. Don’t wrinkle your brow when you talk or listen, to prove
your veracity or interest. It is a habit that carves transverse lines
on the brow.
When they begin to appear take more rest. Plenty of sleep is the
greatest ironer out of wrinkles. Correct the bad habits that have
caused them. Live simply. Nothing brings wrinkles sooner than
dissipation and late hours.
When small, fine lines begin to appear, putting cold cream well into
the affected area should help to drive them away. Ironing that portion
of the face with small lumps of ice covered with cotton or gauze is a
good remedy if you persist in it.
A method in general use in the beauty parlors of Paris, and that has
been introduced recently in this country, is to spray the wrinkle area
with cool or cold water. If you have not a wrinkle spray, a large
perfume atomizer will serve the same end.
When your skin seems loose and inclined to form into folds use one of
the following remedies:
Dip a bit of absorbent cotton into glycerine and pat it well into the
wrinkle bed. Or apply cologne water in the same way. In a short time
you can decide which is the better adapted to your skin. Glycerine,
while a food and stimulant to some skins, is an irritant to others.
A nightly bath of the face in buttermilk sometimes tightens up the
loosened skin.
This is a method much in use in Paris and Rome. Hundreds of years old,
traced even to the time of Cleopatra, it is still effective, it is
claimed, in keeping the countenance smooth and youthful. Heat a shovel
red hot in the fire. Throw upon it when so heated a handful of powdered
myrrh. Bend the face over it to receive the fumes, such fumes as can
penetrate the napkin that has been spread over the face. Do this two
or three times at the same treatment. Heating the shovel once more,
pour white wine over it and, still through the moistened napkin which
protects the face from the heat of the fire, receive the fumes in the
face. A fortnight of two such treatments given daily is the recipe a
woman whose face is smooth as a girl’s, though this famous Parisienne
is now sixty, gave me for my American readers.
A simpler remedy is to boil a small handful of pearl barley in half a
pint of water until it is thoroughly cooked. Add a half dozen drops
of mecca balsam. Place in a stone bottle and shake thoroughly before
using. Bathe the face in this once a day.
These astringent lotions may also be applied with benefit:
Water, 1 quart; pearl barley, 2 handfuls. Boil until the barley grains
are soft. Strain the liquor and add 50 drops of tincture of benzoin.
Wash the face, if possible, a dozen times a day with this:
Oil of rosemary, ½ ounce; oil of lavender, 2 drams; tincture of tolu, 4
drams; rosewater, 1 pint; rectified spirits of wine, 1½ pints; oil of
petit grain, 30 drops.
Believe me, if the spirit remains young, the flesh will age but
slowly. Contrive to keep interested in persons and conditions and
circumstances. Don’t let yourself be bored. Flee from bores or drive
them from you.
When you are uninterested, your face grows heavy and opaque. It loses
its reflective power, that mirror-like quality which is its chief
charm. One of the wisest and most enchanting women I ever knew--truly a
woman irresistible--told me she would never allow any one to see her in
any but her sunniest mood.
“Meeting people is making pictures of one’s self,” she said. “Memory
pictures that remain long, perhaps forever, in their minds. It is
difficult, sometimes impossible, to remove that memory picture. They
may see us in other moods and phases, but the ugly picture persists. If
I am in an unbecoming mood, I hide until it is past, as I would hide
did I suffer from an infectious disease.”
That is true philosophy of charm. Be interested, be cheerful, be at
your best when you are in public. If you cannot be these, hide from the
sight of men and women until the eclipse of your charming self has
passed. If you are a business and professional woman and cannot do so,
at least hide the mood beneath an impassive face and behind the screen
of a silent tongue.
Two extreme evidences of the approach of age are certain conditions
of the head and feet. Don’t let the lower part of your face grow
heavy. That adds to the appearance of age. “Jowl-like” cheeks and a
loose-hanging chin add years to apparent age. Prevent that defect, or,
if it has appeared, correct it by great care.
Be vigilant as a worthy policeman. Be on the alert. Say to yourself,
“Am I holding my head high? Am I giving the muscles of my chin exercise
to keep them firm, or am I allowing the flesh to accumulate and form a
bag about it?”
As many times a day as you can, and at least every morning and evening,
give the neck and chin their stretching exercises. Raise the chin and
let the head fall back upon the shoulders. Let it rest as far back as
possible, and with the tips of the fingers press gently upward the
muscles at the sides of the neck. Persuade those muscles. Train them.
In time they will respond to the education you are giving them and grow
firmer.
If, at the same time, you iron the falling muscles of the chin and neck
with a piece of ice the process of rebuilding the lower part of the
face will be quicker. But I have found very effective retiring with a
piece of soft cloth, saturated in witch hazel, pressed about my neck.
Witch hazel is an astringent and will draw the flaccid skin tighter.
No matter how tired you are, don’t allow yourself to look tired.
The tired lines and slipping downward muscles add greatly to your
appearance of age. Control them. It can be done by an exercise of the
will. Smile. Most women look better when smiling, and all, who have
well kept teeth, look younger.
I said you must look to your feet. That is true. If you have worn shoes
that give you a silly, mincing gait, buy larger ones and acquire a
free, natural, springing walk. Don’t drag your feet about as though
they and your body had a weight you could scarcely bear. Lift your feet
and walk with the fine spring and swing of youth. This, too, is a habit
that can be formed even at an advanced age. Perhaps you have had the
slow, heavy step of age from your childhood. Then it is high time to
change it--if you would be young.
Study the faces about you and you will see that some of them are firm
muscled, full and of even contour. In others you see that the muscles
are sagging, slipping from place. The face is growing heavier about the
chin and there is a drawn, strained look of the muscles about the eyes
and temples. These are the fallen faces.
If you see that the muscles of your face are beginning to slip downward
lose no time in counteracting this tendency to make the visage look
older and heavier. Had I my choice between wrinkles and the regrettable
fallen face I should choose the wrinkles as less ageing in appearance
and more likely to be remedied.
First, reform your habits of sleeping. The posture in which we sleep
determines into what lines the face and body fall for eight or nine
hours of each twenty-four--a third or more of our time. If correct
habits are formed for that time there is an admirable start on the road
to better looks.
Notice how your head rests as you fall asleep. Perhaps it is bent far
forward. In that case the facial muscles are relaxed and their tendency
is to slip downward, tugging their weight, especially that of the large
chin and cheek muscles, drawing them down throughout the night. All
muscles relax while we are asleep. That is the reason why, on rising
in the morning, the face looks heavy and “pudgy.” The muscles do not
recover their tone until the habits of the day reassert themselves.
With this knowledge you should be willing to make special effort and
endure some inconvenience to prevent this slipping of the facial
muscles at night. Toss away your pillow, or, if you are exceedingly
uncomfortable without one, if the blood rushes to the head and causes
you to be sleepless, use a small, flat pillow, or better still, slip
such a pillow beneath the head of the mattress so that your body will
rest at a slight incline, and the hair and scalp will be spared the
heating of the pillow. Lie upon your back. In this posture your chin
will be thrust upward and the muscles will be at tension. If you sleep
thus the facial muscles will not sag during the night hours.
Study your habits during the day and correct such habits as cause a
falling of the facial muscles. Perhaps you bend your head unnecessarily
low over your work. If so avoid this. At any rate, give the chin
muscles the opposite exercise by bending the head backward upon the
shoulders many times a day.
Perhaps you have formed the habit picturesquely described as “talking
into your chest.” This is an unbecoming mannerism of many women.
Shyness or self-consciousness or listlessness may be the cause in some
instances. In others it is sheer bodily laziness. Don’t let your chin
sink upon your chest when you talk, nor at any other time. It makes a
very unpleasant impression upon the hearer. It gives him the idea that
you are secretive or deceitful. Lift your head when you talk, and look
into the face of the person you are addressing. He or she will admire
you more. Besides it is another means of preventing the slipping of the
facial muscles, of keeping your face from falling.
We go back to nature for inspiration for beauty. Some of the most
graceful of the modern dancers are self-taught and nature-taught,
taking for models of grace the swaying of the tree boughs and the
lilt of flowers in a wind. So we can go back to nature for models in
the poise of the head. Take for an example, not some tired dray horse
who lets his discouraged muscles sink beneath his forelegs, but the
inquisitive bird, with head uplifted and upturned eyes seeking to solve
the mystery of the trees.
Coax the muscles of the chin and neck into obedience. Beginning at the
point where the muscles of the neck meet those of the shoulders, press
firmly with the fingers of both hands, moving the hands upward to the
muscles of the lower jaw and continuing the pressure on the muscles
behind the ears.
Is your neck beginning to look old? Is the skin growing flabby? Are the
muscles sagging? Is the skin looking yellow? Is it no longer a source
of pride and pleasure to wear a V-shaped or low cut gown?
Do not despair, for the ageing neck is not an infallible sign of
growing old. It is only one of them. And you have my assurance that
you can make it look youthful again. For proof of this let me point
you to the great singing teachers, yes, and the great singers who are
their pupils. Almost every one of them--indeed, I can think of no
exception--has a round, white, youthful-looking throat. One of the most
beautiful necks I ever saw, white, strong, girlish, was that of the
celebrated vocal teacher, Mme. Marchesi, when she was seventy.
But while this is true, it is also true that you should begin giving
the neck special attention before you are thirty. It were better if you
began when you were twenty-five.
First, look to its careful feeding. Give it at least one good meal a
day by rubbing cold cream liberally into the front of the neck at night
before retiring.
Look very carefully to the poise of the head. If the head be held
proudly, the chin up, the muscles of the neck will also be held firm.
But if you permit the head to droop the neck muscles share the sagging.
Never lie with the head high. One small pillow is enough for anyone,
except the insomniac. If you can dispense with the small, flat pillow
and lie with the head and feet on a level, so much the better for the
neck.
The neck thus trained, and with the additional training of deep
breathing, learned by vocal lessons, should never grow old. I advise
every woman to take vocal culture for herself, even though she have no
liking for music, simply for the sake of the beauty of her neck. The
most beautiful necks in the world are those of singers.
But if these preventive measures have been neglected and the neck is
losing its roundness and its firm aspect, have recourse to that great
body builder, massage. There is special massage for the neck, and it
must be intelligently given.
First strengthen the chin muscles by pressing firmly upon them with the
backs of the hands. Turn the hands, with the backs upward, and letting
the finger tips meet beneath the middle of the chin. Press with all
your strength on the muscles of the chin, working backward and upward
behind the ears to the hair line.
Second. With the tips of the fingers quite meeting at the point of the
collar bone in front, draw the hands with long, slow strokes upward to
a point beneath the ears. This is a good muscle building movement.
Third. Slap the neck smartly with the palms.
Fourth. “Lift” the tendons at the side of the neck that are inclined
to grow more prominent and ropey each year. This lifting consists in
seizing the tendons in a firm grasp and seeming to raise them to meet
the head. This is painful, and may even cause a slight headache at
first, but these are only Nature’s protests against the unaccustomed.
Even Nature is an old fogey about innovations.
Fifth. Grasp the large muscles at the back of the neck and connecting
the shoulders, and “lift” these also. Raise them as though it were your
purpose to place them in the curve of the neck. This should be followed
by a vigorous kneading of the muscles.
The aim of all these massage movements is to promote circulation in
the neck. The yellowish, withered-looking skin denotes that the blood
flows weakly in that part of the body. The flabby muscles indicate that
the muscles have not been well exercised. A good developing exercise
for the neck is to let the head lie back as far as possible on the
shoulders, then roll slowly from one shoulder to the other.
The hands should be immersed in nourishing cold cream before “feeding”
the throat muscles. This is a formula for a nutritious cream:
Almond oil, 1½ ounces; lanolin, ½ ounce; spermaceti, ½ ounce; witch
hazel, ½ ounce; tincture of benzoin, ½ dram.
Ninon de L’Enclos, one of the greatest beauties of French history, had
a beautiful neck, and to her is accredited the use of this neck food:
Rosewater, 8 ounces; almond oil, 8 ounces; tincture of benzoin, ¼
ounce; attar of rose, 5 drops.
This will be quite as efficacious and much less expensive without the
attar of rose.
The following nourishes and whitens the skin of the neck:
Honey, 1 tablespoonful; lemon juice, 1 teaspoonful; whites of two eggs;
enough bran or almond meal to make a fine paste.
This wash is also a good neck bleach, particularly useful in removing
the dark stains or rings caused by wearing the prevalent gilt and
silver trimmings about the throat:
Hydrochloric acid, ¼ ounce; water, 5 ounces.
Avoid high, tight collars. Wear soft white silk and muslin linings next
the throat for colored collars. If it is necessary to wear costumes
with high collars on the street, change them at once for collarless
gowns when you are at home. If you wear chains or dog collars about the
neck let them be loose.
A famous theatrical manager whose duty it had been to select thousands
of beauties for the choruses of his productions, and who was a
celebrated connoisseur of feminine beauty said that a neck to be
beautiful must look as though it “belonged” to the body, that is, to
use theatrical parlance, it must “be in the picture.” A long neck on
a short woman is absurd, and a short neck on a tall woman makes her
look like a freak of nature. If a girl is slender her neck should be
slim, but she should take measures to prevent its being “scrawny.” If
a neck is full and round, to correspond with the body of the owner, it
is as nature designed it to be. A full, well rounded neck is not only
beautiful in itself, but it is a sign of abundant vitality. The same
theatrical manager I have before quoted said he cared not how thin a
neck was if it matched the body and was well “covered.” He meant if
the outlines of the bones and sinews were well hidden by a delicate
covering of flesh. Usually if the neck is very thin the entire body is
also, and measures should be taken to upbuild the constitution. Eating
nourishing food, breathing deeply and giving the body plenty of rest,
should fill out the hollows in the neck as well as the body.
This process can be hastened by patting into it nightly an emollient
made of equal parts of almond oil and vaseline. Also the neck muscles
can be strengthened by placing upon the head now and then a moderate
weight, as a book, and walking slowly about the room, balancing the
book by so steadying the head that the book will not fall. If the neck
be disproportionately fat gentle pinching between the thumb and first
three fingers should reduce its bulk.
CHAPTER XIX
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR CHILDREN TO BE BEAUTIFUL
It is possible to train a child to beauty and this training consists
of two means. One is to teach the little one habits of personal
daintiness. The other is to impress upon him or her while very young,
the principles of health.
A third is to correct any defects by early attention to them on your
own part if you are parent, guardian or teacher.
For instance there is the child whose beauty may be marred by
outstanding ears. The ears can be pressed back against the head by a
compress made at home and worn at night. A bandage easily made in the
house consists of a long, folded strip of strong muslin, twisted first
around the head beneath the chin, then around the neck, then over the
crown of the head, the ends of the strips of muslin being drawn rather
tightly over the ears and fastened to one of the lengthwise strips by
safety pins.
If you find the child often breathing with difficulty he probably
suffers from that growth at the back of the nostrils called adenoids.
Take him to a physician and have them removed, so preventing a long
train of disasters, mental and physical, whose signs are that strained,
drooping countenance we know as an adenoid face. Don’t let any
charlatan try to convince you that they can be cured in any other way.
The single way to remove adenoids is by a surgical operation.
Look to the fact that the child’s teeth have a good start. A little
watchfulness will cause the first set to be drawn in good time for the
second to come in straight and strong. Then teach the little one to
take pride in their whiteness. Furnish a pure, fresh powder or paste,
or let her use a powder for one cleansing and a paste for the next,
and so on, alternating. Teach her to brush the teeth up and down, not
across, and to brush them inside as well as out, and along the crowns.
Help her to form the habit of always rinsing her mouth with warm water,
or with warm salt water, if there be an acid tendency of the mouth,
after each meal. Teach her that the mouth must always be rinsed with
water into which a pinch of borax or of bicarbonate of soda has been
dropped, after eating either fruits, which are acid, or candy, which
soon resolves itself into acids.
Teach her that it is as necessary to be pure of mouth as of speech.
Train her to be proud of clean nails and to be ashamed of gray or
black rimmed ones. Teach her early to trim her nails and to keep them
spotless, and keep the cuticle pressed back from them. Teach them that
soiled hands are a disgrace to a little girl and offensive in a little
boy.
Appealing to the pardonable vanity that is in little children, teach
all that much of the expression of the face depends upon the arch and
smoothness of the eyebrows, and show them how to train them by twice
daily brushings.
Teach her to watch the dainty movements of her pet canary and her
favorite kitten and emulate their table manners. Birds handle their
food delicately, and kittens seldom fill their mouths overfull. The
little girl will want to be as fine as her pets, and unconsciously will
develop pretty table manners.
Teach him not to be afraid of fresh air. Teach him the contrary by
telling him the story of “The Black Hole of Calcutta” and of the
beautiful boy who was gilded to head a procession and who died after
his brief glory because his pores had been closed by the gaudy stuff
with which he was bedecked. Bogie stories are permissible if they
frighten children into care of their health by leaving their windows
open two or three inches at night and by wearing their clothes loose.
Don’t let the children in your charge study to the point of eyestrain.
Teach them to use the ears to save the eyes. Let them learn by
listening. It was prophesied by a writer on health that in time the
phonograph that now grinds out rag time airs to the lessening of the
standard of popular taste will have records which tell the classic
short stories of biography, fiction and history. Don’t allow a child to
overstudy. Better a well-developed, rosy-cheeked little one who knows
no Latin nor higher mathematics than a squinty, anæmic who knows both,
but who doesn’t know the way in the woods to the woodchuck’s hole nor
how to defend himself in a schoolboy fight.
Teach them to love the life in the open. If you live all year in the
crowded city, the roofs, at least, are available to you. And in some
part of your home, even though small, you can put up a crude gymnasium.
For instance, a horizontal bar, with a mattress drawn under it for
precaution, will give the little ones great fun, besides being a
developing agent.
Break the children’s unpleasant facial habits in the forming. Show a
little girl how ugly and old she looks by flashing a mirror before her
eyes while she is frowning. Show her that the frown of concentration
is as ugly as the frown of anger and train her to solve a problem with
smooth brows. If she twists her mouth unpleasantly when she talks, tell
her of it, and if that doesn’t cure her, call the mirror to your aid.
CHAPTER XX
ADVICE TO BLONDES AND BRUNETTES
Six subjects are of special consideration to the blonde. She must
remember that her type has the most delicate of complexions. To
accentuate her blondness she should keep her hair as light as possible.
She should eat such food as will enrich her golden coloring. She should
avoid whatever tends to the accumulation of fat. She should guard
against the faded appearance that comes early to most blondes. She
should dress to emphasize her golden coloring.
While it is true that woman’s hair is her crowning glory, a blonde’s
hair is her aureole, her halo of beauty.
Half the time and attention she gives to her toilet should be given to
her hair. The blonde’s hair, as a rule, has a golden tint. This tint is
the keynote of her beauty, and should be enhanced in every possible way.
She may wash her hair as often as she likes with no fear of its fading.
The lighter it becomes the better. For her there need be no fear of
using carefully those aids in cleansing the hair, ammonia, borax or
washing soda. Each of these, if used often, tends to make the hair
several shades lighter--but in too large quantities it will make the
hair brittle.
Because it does not matter how light her hair becomes, the blonde may
wash her hair oftener than the brunette does. A shampoo in borax water
once or twice a week soon lightens the hair. One tablespoonful of borax
in a gallon of water is sufficient.
Two shampoos a week in water in which ammonia has been sprinkled soon
brings about a lightening of the hair. One gallon of water and half a
wineglass of ammonia is a good proportion.
Two shampoos a week in a gallon of warm water with a heaping
tablespoonful of washing soda in it is the speediest agent I know for
lightening the hair, excepting peroxide, which some blondes who do not
wish to actually bleach their hair use in small proportions in the
shampoo. One tablespoonful of peroxide of hydrogen in a gallon of water
is the usual proportion.
Every one expects light hair to be fluffy. Fluffiness is the
accompaniment of goldenness in hair, and the observer of beauty is
always disappointed if he sees fair hair smooth. Smoothness seems to
belong rather to dark hair. The blonde should so comb and brush her
hair that each hair is distinct and separate from the others. This
gives an aureole-like effect to her face, and wonderfully softens her
features.
The blonde knows that fair hair is expected to be fluffy. If it isn’t
she can make it so by drawing it into a loose mass after a shampoo and
tying it with a ribbon, letting it dry thus. If the hair is long it can
be tied again by another ribbon close to the ends, making it curve or
wave.
The blonde’s skin being finer and more delicate has a greater tendency
to wrinkle. Wrinkles come early to her because her skin is so delicate.
It is like rice paper, forming fine surface wrinkles as well as deeper
ones. For this reason her motto should be “Oil, oil, oil.”
The blonde’s complexion is comparable to that of a rose. It has a
superb bloom, but fades early. The withered rose petal is one of the
most pathetic sights in nature. It is a danger signal to the blonde,
saying sadly to her, “Guard well your complexion!”
The blonde should remember that the dry skin is the forerunner of
wrinkles, and literally keep her skin well oiled. Occasionally a
blonde, if stout, is troubled by a greasy skin. This old cosmetic has
corrected that fault:
Sulphate of zinc, 2 grains; compound tincture of lavender, 8 minims;
distilled water, 1 ounce.
This cream is of the soft sort that is especially adapted to a blonde’s
delicate complexion:
Oil of sweet almonds, ½ ounce; olive oil, ½ ounce; oil of poppies, ½
ounce; white wax, ½ ounce; spermaceti, ½ ounce. First melt the white
wax over a slow fire, pour in the other ingredients, and stir briskly
until they cool and reach a cream-like consistency.
For a skin that is chronically dry, I recommend the use of almond meal
instead of soap. It is not only cleansing, but injects into the pores
the needed oil. I also advise frequent use of this:
Almond oil, 2 ounces; extract of Italian pink, 12 drops.
Many blondes when they are young are afflicted with unbecoming flushing
of the skin. Sunburn and wind roughening are an affliction to the
owners of such complexions. For these the compounds containing a
generous amount of honey are healing and soothing. The following I have
always heard recommended as efficacious by many blonde friends:
Honey, 1 ounce; almond oil, 1 ounce; white wax, 1 ounce; spermaceti, 1
ounce.
Now and then a complexion rebels against glycerine. This is more liable
to be true of blondes, although I recall at this moment six at least
who use the following to tone down the redness when their skin has been
irritated:
Camphor water, 1 pint; glycerine, ½ ounce; powdered borax, ¼ ounce.
As her skin is more delicate, so the facial massage should be lighter
than that given the brunette. It should indeed be the new massage,
the patting, the raindrop sort of treatment, instead of the severe
treatment of the old régime.
Always with a view to keeping and enhancing the golden tints in hair
and skin, the blonde should be careful to eat such food as will feed
the pigment that produces the wheat-like hair and apple blossom skin.
I have before spoken of Mme. de Crequy, the French beauty, who was in
many respects a model to the other beauties of the court of France. Her
biographers said that Mme. de Crequy had the loveliest complexion ever
granted to woman. They said in the next line that she ate every day
thirty oranges and almost nothing else.
The orange is the best friend of the complexion among the fruits. It
clears the complexion marvelously, but it has besides the property
of holding much of the golden shade in solution. A blonde whom I
know tried the experiment of eating a half dozen oranges a day and
increasing the number to a dozen daily for three months. In that time
the change in her coloring was marvelously for the better. Her hair,
which had been a shade too pale, took on the rich yellow of cornsilk.
When she had quite convinced herself of the fact that oranges are the
food of beauty, and especially of blonde beauty, she was advised also
to eat many carrots. This she did in connection with the oranges for
six months. She ate carrots sliced and stewed in cream. She ate them in
soup. She ate them mashed and seasoned slightly with salt and pepper.
She even ate them baked. This she began doing in the early summer. By
the same time the next year her hair had deepened three shades and was
far richer. And her complexion was fresher, fairer and it harmonized
more perfectly with the golden lights in her hair.
The blonde, as a rule, must fight the tendency to accumulate flesh.
The man who first wrote “fair, fat and forty” was observant. He had
registered the conclusion that the woman who is fair is at forty more
than likely to be fat. And so she is. Recognizing this tendency of the
placid nature, which is usually an accompaniment of fair face and hair,
the blonde should begin to combat it at twenty. Better at eighteen.
She can prevent her waist and hips growing larger by deep massage. The
Japanese women never grow fat. Ask them why and they show you how they
pinch their hips to crush the tissues and keep the hips flat.
Your funny American dance, the cakewalk, is a great hip-reducer. That
backward motion, with the face turned upward and the feet lifted
prancingly, draws the tendons, solidifies the muscles and makes the
limbs compact.
To reduce the hips, with hands on hips bend forward, swaying the upper
body in a half-circle on a horizontal plane.
Stand erect and try to make the elbows meet in the back. This is
an excellent exercise to remove the superfluous fat or to prevent
superfluous fat forming upon the back.
To make the waist small and pliant stretch the arms high above the head
and bend them forward, describing a quarter circle.
To reduce the abdomen, bend forward until the palms touch the floor.
To avoid growing stoutness lie upon the back and raise the body slowly
to a sitting posture without bending the knees.
These exercises alone, begun early and persisted in, will keep back the
tide of fat that comes with the years to most blondes.
She should guard, I have said, against the early fading that is the
blighting tendency of her type. It is nature’s compensation, a revenge
nature seems to work at the behest of the jealous brunettes, that the
blonde who was so exquisite in youth should early lose the delicacy
of her skin and the brilliancy of her hair. But some blondes have
prevented this early fading, and what some blondes have done other
blondes may do. The cure in this instance is the preventive. The
delicate skin that has been well fed will not grow dry and wrinkled
early. The blonde who has made carrots and oranges her chief articles
of diet for many years, supplying the iron needed to replenish the rich
gold of her hair, will not early lose the luster of that hair.
The blonde’s critics say that she should wear gown, hat, shoes and
gloves to match, but that she should wear only one color. Perhaps this
is untrue, but I have noticed that many of them are disposed to heap
color upon color upon their costumes. Violet and green and mauve and
black I have seen in one combination. The blonde who wore it looked
cheap and common, and the glory of her hair was dulled by it. Had she
worn any one of the colors alone, been a symphony in violet, in mauve,
in green or in gold, she would have been ravishing. And the splendor of
her hair would have been a glory in burnished gold. But she diffused
her color effects by her strange costume. Blondes should always dress
for their hair.
A rude bachelor said that “blonde” had come to be a term of contempt
because there were so few natural ones. Scientists, too, say that her
type is decadent and will in the course of a few hundred centuries
disappear. But the blonde can enjoy herself for many generations before
that happens. And she may remember that the blonde races have been the
world rulers for many years.
The history of the evolution of the blonde shows that her origin was in
the north, but that she emigrated to the south and ruled the brunette
natives. Science gravely informs us that the blonde flourishes in the
moistest climates. This great racial fact may be applied to individual
cases. Certainly the blonde who wants to cherish her golden hair and
fair skin should not turn inland, but to the seashore.
If you are a brunette your glory is your eyes, your menace is your
liver, your besetting fault is a lack of cheerfulness.
As to your eyes first. Their color is in itself a guarantee of beauty.
There is no shade of brown eyes that is not beautiful, beginning with
the golden brown eyes, which the novelists delight to describe as tawny
but which I have named tiger color, through the red brown shades--that
to some imaginative ones suggest cruelty, to myself the brownish red
shades of claret--to the so-called “black” eyes, which are indeed not
black, for there are no genuinely black eyes. Place a bit of black
velvet beside the darkest eyes you ever saw and note how brown the eyes
look beside them.
They run the gamut of beauty. Brown eyes, the shade of the tobacco
leaf, Fierenzuola, the Florentine authority on beauty, said are the
loveliest eyes in the world. Certainly they are the eyes of sentiment,
and sentiment is accepted even in America, though it has not here the
importance in individual and national life that it has in Europe.
I have read somewhere that brown eyes ask for love and get it. The eyes
of the brunette should shine starlike out of a creamy white face as
stars peep through the breaks in a cloud.
The eyes being her glory, the wise brunette takes the best possible
care of them. To care well for them she should care well for their
surroundings. Eyes are of diminished loveliness indeed if the eyelashes
and eyebrows be ill kept. The eyelashes should be thick and soft as
silk. They should be long and their loveliness is still greater if they
happen to be curly. To keep them in best condition there should be no
eyestrain. Reading by a bad light, reading on a moving vehicle, reading
in bed, looking at too great distances, or looking too continuously at
too bright objects in the sun-light--as at an unshaded lake at high
noon or a bit of glass in a high light, continuing at any task after
the muscles of the eyes ache, cause eyestrain, and eyestrain causes
inflammation of the eye itself, of the linings of the eyelids and of
the rims of the eyelids.
Whatever inflames the lining of the eyes inflames the edges of the
lids, and from inflamed eyelids the eyelashes fall with alarming
swiftness.
Trimming the ends of the eyelashes once in six weeks I find makes them
grow longer and thicker. I always have this done by a young person,
because a young person’s hand is firmer, and there must be no trembling
of the hand that works in the region of the sensitive eye. Use one of
the tiny brushes made for eyebrows and eyelashes. Use it every morning
and evening. Brush the eyelashes lightly with a downward stroke to make
them long, upward to make them curly. Both serve the chief purpose in
the culture of eyelashes, which is to keep them clean. You are most
careful to keep your velvet gown free from dust. Be careful also of
your eyelashes, which are more vitally important to your beauty.
For bathing the eyes to relieve them of inflammation and so to
strengthen the eyelashes use this preparation:
Distilled water, 1 pint; cornflowers, 30 grams. Crush the cornflowers
in a mortar. Steep them in the water for a day--that is, for
twenty-four hours. Strain the liquor through a piece of fine cloth,
such as cheesecloth. Heat in a porcelain pan over a moderate fire. Cool
and tightly cork. Bathe the eyes night and morning from an eyecup or
with an eyedropper.
Spanish women whose eyelashes have faded often apply this mixture to
make them darker:
Water, 300 grams; sulphate of iron, 10 grams; gall nuts, 50 grams.
Boil the nuts in the water for a half hour. Strain through cheesecloth
or muslin. Add the sulphate of iron. Boil again until the quantity of
the liquor is reduced one third. Apply at the root of the eyelashes,
being careful not to let any of the mixture touch the eye. The best
means of applying it is with a sable pencil. This formula may also be
used for the eyebrows.
Brush the eyebrows night and morning, training them to a high arch. The
expression of the face is more piquant if the eyebrows be high.
The brunette, even more than the blonde, should develop by every proper
means the brilliancy of her eyes, for while the brunette’s chief glory
is her eyes, that of the blonde is her hair.
She should, besides taking all the rest she needs--even more than
she needs so that she will be sure to have enough--use many cooling
lotions. The boracic acid water which I have recommended for the blonde
I forbid to the brunette, because it often leaves a sediment which
clings to the eyelashes and shows white as hoar frost on the black
lashes of the brunette. But for her there is the refreshing eyebath of
cool, weak tea, or of this, applied fairly warm:
Rose water, 1 gill; witch hazel, 1 gill.
If the eyes ache persistently, retire to a dark room, lie down and
place upon the eyes some cool tea leaves, secured there by the useful
eye bandage or bandalette to which I have referred in a previous
chapter.
If crow’s-feet appear prematurely about her eyes she should apply
lanolin, patting it in thoroughly. Lanolin is the base of most of the
skin foods and has no equal, to my present knowledge, as a builder of
flesh tissues.
The blonde’s complexion fades early because her skin is extraordinarily
thin and fine. The brunette’s, as a rule, is the reverse. A fine almond
meal is a good substitute for soap for the blonde’s complexion.
The brunette, because her skin is thicker, and has a tendency to an
oily appearance, could to her benefit use once a day a toilet soap made
as follows:
White castile soap, 300 grams; spermaceti, 20 grams; oxgall, 10 grams;
honey, 20 grams; essence of rosemary, 10 grams; essential oil of
oranges, 15 grams; oil of lemon, 20 grams; alcohol, 15 grams; attar of
roses, 2 drops.
Melt the spermaceti and the shaven soap in a bain marie. Add the other
ingredients one by one, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Pour
into molds.
If the brunette finds that the pure, cold creams contain so much oil
and lanolin that they encourage the natural oil in her skin, she can
feed her skin with slighter nourishment, as for instance some of the
cucumber lotions that have from time to time appeared in the articles
I have written. This can be prepared at home. Wash and wipe carefully
six large cucumbers; leave the rind on and cut the cucumber into inch
square cubes. Fill one saucepan with water, and into a small one place
twelve ounces of almond oil. Drop the pieces of cucumber into the oil
and heat until they reach the boiling point. When it has reached that
point put it at the back of the stove and let it simmer for three or
four hours. Strain through cheesecloth, crushing out of the cucumbers
as much juice as possible. Stir in while it cools four ounces of
benzoin. Keep the liquid in a jar in a cool place.
I had not thought there was a brunette who did not know that when she
dabs powder on her face in the evening she should choose not white but
Rachel, the brunette shade which has a tint of yellow in it. But I have
seen brunettes go forth to conquest with their face so white as to make
them seem ghastly and repulsive.
Some of my blonde friends in Paris were washing their hair every other
week in light ale. They thought this was a tonic for the scalp, and
that it made the hair light. My brunette friends, on the contrary, use
diluted claret:
Claret, 1 pint; water, 1 pint.
They believe that this helps to keep their hair dark. Prof. Jocquet,
my hair specialist in Paris--and by the way there is none better
anywhere--cleansed my scalp last summer in lemon juice.
Juice of two lemons; almond oil, 5 drops.
It is Prof. Jocquet’s interesting theory that oil applied directly to
the scalp causes the pores to open and disgorge the hairs.
The brunette should look, for a model for her hair, to the luster of
black satin. It seems to be the scheme of nature that the brunette
should have straight, shiny hair, as it is that the blonde should have
crisp, curling hair. Often individuals stray from this plan, but there
is no doubt that the plan exists.
I have said that the menace to her brunette beauty is the liver. I
repeat it. In the brunette there is always, as an accompaniment of dark
pigment, a torpidly inclined liver. That lazy liver, if permitted, will
make her complexion muddy, her eyes dull, her movements sluggish. She
must stir up this languid organ, make it perform its functions. As the
blonde must fear an excess of fat, so the brunette has reason to fear
an excess of bile. She should eat such juicy, acid fruit, as cherries,
strawberries and grapes, and in the water she drinks it is well to add
the juice of half a lemon to every glass of water.
The brunette should regard the lemon as her friend. It is a tonic for
her stomach and her scalp. Half a lemon rubbed well upon the scalp
cleanses it.
Her temperamental tendency is toward “the blues.” A blonde is more
sanguine than a brunette. The brunette will correct her brown view of
life by the same exercise and diet that goads the liver into activity.
CHAPTER XXI
SURE AIDS TO BEAUTY
To give all the beauty recipes I have tested and can personally
recommend would require three or four volumes as large as this. There
are many helpful ones which I have been unable to find room for in the
chapters where they rightly belong. So I am going to group here in this
last chapter a number of “Sure Aids to Beauty” which I feel confident
every sensible woman will be glad to know.
Among the recipes and bits of advice which I can least afford to miss
the opportunity of passing on to other women are many which have to do
with the hair. The woman who wants to wear her hair parted, but finds
this manner unbecoming because the roots of the hair are darker than
the ends, will welcome this treatment:
Shampoo at least once a week. Use the juice of two lemons in a quart of
water for the shampoo. Occasionally substitute for the lemon juice a
tablespoonful of ammonia. Rub this well into the roots when washing the
hair.
The best way to make dead brown hair rich and glossy is to upbuild
one’s general health. The hair and teeth are fairly safe barometers of
the vitality. Abundant, glossy hair is usually the index of perfect
health. Take the tonics of plenty of fresh air, of exercise out of
doors, of simple, nourishing food, and your hair will share your vigor.
Much brushing should make it more lustrous. To darken it some brunettes
wash it in this:
Claret, 1 quart; sulphate of iron, ⅛ ounce.
No one could ask for a more satisfactory shampoo than the following:
Water, one cupful; one egg; tincture of green soap, 1 teaspoonful;
cologne, 1 teaspoonful. Mix thoroughly and rub well into the scalp.
A simple and harmless hair dye that has been vouched for by honest folk
is the water in which potato parings have been boiled. Walnut stain,
prepared in the same way, is uninjurious. Experiment until you have
secured the right shade. But I would advise stimulating the hair by
massaging the scalp every day and by vigorous brushing.
To get rid of dandruff without making your hair either oily or dry,
first give the scalp frequent shampoos. Every other day, or even daily,
is not too often, for a week or two, if the case be an obstinate one.
After shampooing and on other nights rub carefully into the scalp a
tablespoonful or more of the following:
Bay rum, 2½ ounces; olive oil, ½ ounce; tincture of cantharides, ½
ounce.
Sometimes after a serious illness like typhoid fever one’s scalp
becomes very dry. For such a condition massage well into the roots
every morning and evening the following:
Oil of sweet almonds, 45 grams; essence of rosemary, 45 grams; oil of
mace, 2 grams.
Brown hair that is becoming streaked with gray may be darkened with
henna water. One handful of henna to a quart of water is the right
proportion. Boil down until there is only a pint of liquid.
The best method of shampooing the hair is, in my opinion, to rub two or
three handfuls, or as much as is needed, through the hair and upon the
scalp. Draw the long ends of the hair together to the top of the scalp
and lather well about the neck. Massage the hair well with the soap.
Then pour upon the head pitcher after pitcher of warm water, or play
upon it with the bath spray. Gradually reduce the temperature of the
water until it is cool, though never cold. Cold water causes a shock to
the scalp that is detrimental to the nerves.
I have told of the simplest shampoo I know. For brunettes who wish to
preserve the glossy duskiness of their hair, this is beneficial:
Rum or red wine, 1 wineglassful; yolk of one egg.
There is no arbitrary usage in the matter of singeing the ends of the
hair. When the ends are split singe them. There is no need at any
other time. But I have noticed that the need is liable to occur in my
hair about once in two months. The singeing should always precede the
shampoo, for the odor of burnt hair is not a desirable fragrance.
One word more concerning the hair. Be scrupulous about your brushes. If
necessary dip them into a bowlful of lather made of white castile soap
every day after the morning brushing. A half dozen drops of ammonia in
the water will help to cleanse them. Rinse them thoroughly, so that no
particle of the soap remains.
I have said that the scalp must be kept cool. Brushing helps to
preserve this condition. I have known girls, who came home tired after
a day at business, to wrap a few bits of ice in a towel and place it
upon the flushed and burning scalp, feverish from a day of intense
mental activity. This soon cools the scalp, relieves the congestion in
the head and sends the blood dashing back toward other centers. Massage
also relieves the congestion.
Avoid a dry scalp as much as you do a hot one. Indeed, the dryness
is the effect of the heat. This can be corrected by massage. Lotions
containing oil are many. If the triweekly massage fails to release the
oil from the sebaceous glands there may be a few applications of this:
Castor oil, 2 ounces; alcohol (95 per cent.), 1½ pints; oil of
bergamot, 10 drops.
If you insist on using a dye to hide the approaching gray hairs, I
recommend the time-honored walnut stain, made as follows:
Walnut bark, 1 ounce; alum, ½ ounce; water, 1 pint. Boil the bark in
the water for an hour. Add the alum to “set” the color. Apply the
liquid with a sponge or bit of cotton. Wrap an old veil about the head
or wear a night cap after the application, on retiring, else the stain
will perform its functions on the bed linen as well as your hair.
I would much rather recommend your massaging the scalp vigorously and
using one of these applications to retard the appearance of gray hair,
for I believe in tonics, but not in hair dyes:
Bay rum, 2 ounces; sulphur, ½, ounce. Wash the hair and the roots in
the liquid. Sulphur is a well known agent in retarding grayness of hair.
Brown hair that is fading into gray is freshened by this wash:
Claret, 3 ounces; sulphate of iron, ½ dram. Let the iron dissolve
thoroughly in the wine. Wash the hair as frequently as necessary in it.
Persian women who want black hair apply a paste of henna to the hair,
leaving it on a half hour or more. They then wash this off and apply a
paste of indigo, leaving it on at least three times as long. When this
is washed off they oil the hair, usually with perfumed olive oil. A
simpler method is to mix three parts of indigo with one part of henna,
adding enough water to make a paste. The longer it is on the hair the
darker it grows.
Camphorated chalk is cleansing for the teeth and tonic for the gums,
but I do not advise using it too often. Once a day, and that at night,
is often enough to use tooth powder, for there are few powders that do
not more or less wear the surface of the enamel, as constant grinding
wears away what is much harder than teeth, a stone. Powders are
objectionable in one respect. If strong, they cause the lips to pucker
and dry unbecomingly. Instead of using powder so often, rinse the mouth
often with strong salt water, especially after a meal, and brush the
teeth with a brush dipped into salt water, or with water in which a
pinch of bicarbonate of soda has been dissolved.
When the teeth are in fairly good condition this simple powder is
sufficient:
Precipitated chalk, 5 ounces; powdered orris root, 3 ounces; camphor
gum, 1 ounce.
This is a tonic to teeth and gums:
Magnesia, 2 ounces; powdered orris root, 1 ounce; bicarbonate of soda,
½ ounce; ground cloves, 5 drams; green anise seed powder, 5 drams;
powdered charcoal, 4 drams.
This is one of the strongest of tooth powders and should be used only
occasionally and in extreme cases:
Precipitate of chalk, 3 ounces; crushed cuttle fish bone, 3 ounces;
powdered orris root, 2 ounces; myrrh, 2 ounces; burnt hartshorn, 2
ounces.
This is a remedy for receding gums, and for those that are sensitive
and addicted to bleeding:
Sugar of milk, 3 ounces; tannic acid, 3 drams; red lake, 1 dram; oil of
anise seed, 8 drops; oil of mint, 8 drops; oil of neroli, 5 drops.
Salt water, strong and warm, is an excellent mouth bath. So is
bicarbonate of soda in a one part to three solution. This is the famous
Eau de Botot:
Alcohol, 1¾ quarts; anise seed, 100 grams; ground cinnamon, 35 grams;
ground cloves, 32 grams; essence of mint, 20 grams; cochineal, 10
grams; quinquina, 10 grams.
This is a mouth wash easily prepared at home:
Water (filtered if possible), 1 quart; alcohol, 1 pint; salicylic acid,
7½ drams; oil of peppermint, 15 grains; orange flower water, 15 grains.
This myrrh lotion is one of the best for the mouth:
Orange flower water, 5 ounces; tincture of myrrh, 3 grams; pulverized
gum arabic, 2½ drams; pulverized gum mastic, 2 drams; balsam of Peru, ½
dram.
A red spot on the white of the eye is a sign of inflammation and that
indicates some strain of the eye. First remove the strain. Give the
eyes all the rest possible. Sleep more than usual. Give up sewing and
reading for a time. Take a midday nap if you can. If not close the eyes
as often as circumstances will permit for a few seconds at a time. Keep
them closed while on a train. Study how to get the best light you can
on your task. Avoid the direct light upon the eye. Bathe the eyes with
an eyecup in a mixture of boric acid, 1 ounce; rose water, 6 ounces.
Keep cool bandages as cold tea leaves or finely cracked ice on the
eyes. Rest, rest, rest, the eyes. If a few weeks of this care does not
clear the spot from the eye consult an oculist for the trouble may be a
deepseated one.
You cannot change the color of your eyes, but you can accentuate their
color by taking especial care of your eyebrows and eyelashes, so that
they will grow longer and thicker and lend their shadows to the eyes.
Brush them every night and morning with an eyebrow brush to keep them
free from dust. The brush may be dipped into lanolin at night. There
will be plenty of time for the lanolin to be absorbed by the skin
during the night.
Since I advise against hair dyes I can not conscientiously advocate
dyeing the eyebrows and eyelashes. To massage lanolin into the eyebrows
and touch the edges of the eyelids with the same may in time cause the
growth of new hair. As it comes in it may be a trifle darker. That is
the only experiment I advise.
Eyebrows that look uneven and “scraggly” should be treated every night
with an eyebrow brush dipped in this mixture:
Olive oil, 1 ounce; tincture of cantharides, ½ dram; oil of nutmeg, ¼
ounce; oil of rosemary, ¼ ounce.
If by any accident the lids have become granular, as may have chanced
to be the result of excessive golf, or excessive automobiling, the
wholesome girl does not permit the disorder to grow. She knows that
rest is to some extent corrective of the evil. If this does not quickly
remove it I advise seeing a physician at once. I cannot conscientiously
recommend any lotion for a disorder so serious and disfiguring. A
physician’s advice is necessary.
For heavy, flabby, soft eyelids, which will wrinkle early into a
prematurely aged appearance, the wholesome girl seeks first the extra
sleep and rest that are the greatest tissue repairers. To gently assist
nature in the work of rejuvenation she may resort to this ointment:
Fresh lard, 150 grains; sulphate of potash of aluminum, 25 grains;
tannin, 10 grains; borax, 20 grains.
If her eyes be inflamed and extra amount of rest does not banish the
unlovely condition she may supplement the rest with this applied--from
three to five drops--by an eye-dropper:
Distilled water, 50 grams; quince seed mucilage, 5 grams; water of
cherry laurel, 3 grams; borax, ½ gram. This is recommended to be used
with three times the quantity of water by the famous Dr. Vaucaire.
Another French remedy is this compound:
Distilled water, 1 pint; sulphate of zinc, 10 centigrams; orris root
powder, 1 gram.
If on awakening in the morning the wholesome girl, who is also an
intelligent girl, finds that her eyelashes are encrusted by secretions
from the eyes, she will first soften those encrustations by rosewater,
if that be available. If not, by warm, strong salt water, or by equal
parts of witch hazel and water. There are many ointments recommended
for such purposes. This is by Dr. Vaucaire, an acknowledged authority
on the care of beauty. It should be applied after the lids and
lashes have been washed in warm water. Never attempt to remove the
encrustations while dry or the lashes will come with them:
Oxide of zinc, 10 centigrams; oil of sweet almonds, 100 centigrams;
subacetate of lead, 10 centigrams; vaseline, 10 grams; tincture of
benzoin, 12 drops.
While Dr. Vaucaire prescribed this ointment he preferred to administer
it himself, and he advised the greatest caution about the application
of it lest some part of it get into the eyes. In this, as in other
formulæ of this nature, I urge my readers to have the compounds
prepared by the best pharmacists.
The eyebrows may be made thicker by massaging them every night with
finger tips that have been dipped into lanolin. It promotes their
growth to brush them daily with an eyebrow brush. This removes the
dust that collects about and chokes the roots of the hair. The growth
of eyelashes is stimulated by brushing them daily with an eyebrow
brush dipped into lanolin. Keep the eyes cool and clean by washing
them morning and evening in an eye-cup filled with a mild solution of
boracic acid, a teaspoonful of the pulverized boracic acid to a pint of
water. Pour the boiling water over the acid and strain it.
To make the eyelashes grow dip a soft brush or cloth into lanolin and
touch the edges of the lids with it. Repeat this every night before
retiring.
I am opposed to face steaming, except as a last resort, when the pores
are deeply clogged with dust. The evils of face steaming are two. It
causes the skin to relax, stretch and become flabby and eventually to
form wrinkles. And it so relaxes the pores that some of them refuse to
draw together again, leaving unsightly holes in the face. Apply with a
piece of medicated gauze the following:
Camphor water, ½ pint; glycerine, ¼ ounce; borax, ⅛ ounce.
For a face that is beginning to look heavy I advise exercise out of
doors and abstinence from rich foods. A chin band of rubber or of
strong muslin worn at night will help to support the muscles, also
prevent one of the habits which produce sagging cheek muscles. Form
the habit of holding your head high, with chin a little uptilted. The
application of cloths wet in cold water makes the muscles firmer. Many
pat the face with ice. Others pass the ice over it with long upward
strokes from chin to forehead. The ice should be wrapped in cotton or
in a piece of muslin.
A red nose is caused usually by excessive use of alcohol or by some
form of indigestion or imperfect circulation. Loosening your clothing
wherever it is tight, whether it be in collars, garters, belts, gloves
or shoes. Eat plain foods, little meat and many vegetables and salads
and much fruit. Drink water very freely.
You can often improve the shape of an ugly nose by gently pulling it,
beginning at the bridge, between the eyes, and pressing the cushions of
the thumb and first finger against the sides of the nose and drawing
them slowly, gently, but with firm pressure, to the tip. Dip a soft
complexion brush into green soap, which you probably know is a liquid,
and scrub the parts affected by blackheads. The more obstinate of
them may have to be pressed gently out with the fingers or a comedone
extractor. Afterward apply cold cream to heal the skin irritated by the
treatment.
For an oily nose try dusting it with this powder:
Bicarbonate of soda, 2 ounces; pulverized orris root, 1 ounce;
pulverized spermaceti, 1 dram. Mix thoroughly and keep in a dry place.
A sparing diet chiefly of fruit and liquids and copious water drinking
should soon clear the complexion. Alternate applications of hot and
cold cloths to the skin help to clear it. A pinch of iodide of lime
in a glass of water, in daily doses, for a week, will aid in the body
cleansing which is necessary to banish the tendency to boils. A few
Turkish baths will aid the work.
For blackheads I sometimes recommend scrubbing the affected parts with
green soap, using a complexion brush. When they have been softened,
pressing out the blackheads with the side of a needle that has been
sterilized by passing it through a flame or through boiling water, is
the best and simplest means. After pressing out the blackheads place
cold cream on the affected parts to heal the irritation.
I have known double chins to be removed by bandaging them persistently
in cloths wet in witchhazel, which is an astringent. Also press the
muscles upward from the side of the face, using all the strength you
can coax into your hands.
Cocoa butter in itself does not cause the growth of hair, but friction
of rubbing any cream into the skin may cause the growth of hair if one
is inclined to such growth.
Lemon juice should remove tan. It is too strong to use undiluted on the
face. Use an equal quantity of water or of rose water with it.
This is a good lotion for decreasing the size of open pores, also for
checking the greasiness of the face:
Rose water, 3 ounces; elder flower water, 1 ounce; tincture of benzoin,
¼ ounce; tannic acid, 5 grains.
All save oily faces are improved by the use of cold cream. But I know
no reason for using a cloth in applying it. The cloth wastes the cream,
and using it will probably cause the face to wrinkle. Pat the cold
cream into the face with your palms or the cushions of your fingers.
There is no unfailing remedy for superfluous hair on the face, for
even electrolysis sometimes fails. Try various remedies until the
hair is killed. Tweezers often remove the hair permanently. Try them
first, pulling each hair out gently, being sure first to sterilize the
tweezers by passing them through a flame or dipping them into boiling
water. After removing the hairs bathe the skin with witchhazel or pat
into it a soothing cold cream. Washing the skin repeatedly with equal
parts of peroxide of hydrogen and water weakens the hairs, as well as
bleaches them, so that they will be far less conspicuous than if dark.
I advise no woman to undertake increasing the size of the bust without
first consulting her physician. If he thinks it wise apply with muslin
cloths to the breast this lotion:
Lanolin, 50 grams; vaseline, 50 grams; tincture of benzoin, 20 drops;
iodide of potassium, 3 grams.
Here is an excellent remedy for an oily skin, especially on the nose,
where such a condition often enlarges the pores. It is a drying lotion
which tends to draw the pores together and is made like this:
Rose water, 6 ounces; elderflower water, 2 ounces; tincture of benzoin,
½ ounce; tannic acid, 10 grains.
Only extreme measures will relieve an aggravated case of blackheads
or acne. With a flesh brush dipped into a lather made of warm water
and white castile soap, rub the afflicted part of the face vigorously.
If the ugly black specks have not then become loosened it will be
necessary to steam them. Fill a bowl with hot water, press the face
into the bowl, just avoiding touching the face with the water, and
cover the head and bowl with a large thick towel, so that the steam
will not escape. This should be done for from ten to twenty minutes.
When this bath is finished the acne will be so loosened that it will
be possible to press the blackheads out bit by bit, using a sterilized
needle. Afterward massage the part of the face treated with pure cold
cream.
A famous French skin specialist recommends for acne:
Salicylic acid, 50 grams; pure lard, 50 grams.
Women who fear to apply to their faces anything which might grow hair
may safely use the following cold cream:
Almond oil, 2 ounces; rose water, 4 ounces; spermaceti, ½ ounce; white
wax, ¼ ounce; tincture of benzoin, 2½ drams; elderflower water, 10
drops.
Cocoanut oil is a good substitute for the more expensive cold creams.
It both cleanses and feeds the skin. But be sure the oil you buy is
absolutely pure.
Unsightly, bristle-like hairs on the chin can often be removed by
massaging the skin around them with cold cream or with olive oil.
Then sterilize a pair of tweezers by holding them in boiling water or
dipping them into peroxide of hydrogen, and pull out the hairs one by
one with short, sharp jerks. Bathe the skin from which they have been
removed with peroxide or some healing lotion and anoint it with cold
cream to relieve the irritation.
If the flesh about your nails breaks and tears it is because you have
permitted it to get too hard. Press it back from the nails after
washing the hands. Meanwhile, rub cold cream into the skin at the base
of the nails before retiring; or soak them in a bowl of olive oil daily
until they become soft.
For a scalp wash for summer I know nothing better nor more grateful
than this:
Steep a pound of rosemary twigs in boiling water. Let them remain in
the water for twelve hours. Strain the liquor and add to it half an
ounce of Jamaica rum.
This, my favorite hair tonic, has the approval of experts in this
country and in Europe:
Sulphate of quinine, 30 grains; tincture of cantharides, 1 ounce;
glycerine, 1 ounce; powdered borax, 15 grains; alcohol, 2 pints; water,
2 pints. Dissolve the quinine in alcohol and the borax in water. Add
the other ingredients. Allow the mixture to stand for one week. Then
filter through paper.
In summer when too ardent attention from the sun makes your skin coarse
try wearing at night a face mask coated with this honey paste:
Ground barley, 3 ounces; honey, 1 ounce; white of one egg. Wash off in
the morning with tepid rose water.
Disfiguring blotches sometimes appear on the forehead without any
apparent cause. I have known them to be removed by applying the
following mixture with a tiny camel’s hair brush:
Glycerine, ½ ounce; rosemary water, 1¼ ounce; carbolic acid, 10 drops.
For a bust that is not firm, this preparation is sold in France:
Oil of sweet almonds, 100 grams; white wax, 50 grams; tincture of
benzoin, 25 grains; rosewater, 25 grams; pulverized tannin, 15 grams.
For enlarging an undeveloped or atrophied bust, Dr. Vaucaire recommends
a flesh-making diet. He forbids the application of any pastes or
lotions to the meager breasts, but prescribes this internal remedy:
Liquid extract of galega (goat’s rue), 10 grams; laco phosphate of
lime, 10 grams; tincture of fennel, 10 grams; simple syrup, 400 grams.
He advises two soupspoonfuls in water before each meal.
The drinking of malt extracts is recommended by some specialists.
Personally, I advise all exercises that develop the chest for this
purpose. One of the best is called “ceiling gazing.” With the head
bent as far back as possible, stare steadily at the ceiling, breathing
deeply while counting for each inhalation ten, for each holding of the
air in the lungs ten, and for each exhalation ten.
Bathing the face with a mild solution of borax and water will help dry
any superfluous oil. Relief for this unpleasant condition will also be
found in this lotion:
Sulphate of zinc, 2 grains; distilled water, 1 ounce; compound tincture
of lavender, 8 minims.
This or the lotion which follows should be applied after bathing the
face, and two or three times a day as convenient:
Camphor water, 1 pint; pure glycerine, ½ ounce; borax, ¼ ounce.
Either cologne, alcohol, glycerine and water or tincture of benzoin is
a good astringent for aiding in the reduction of a double chin. Or you
might try for the same trouble the following:
Vaseline, 100 grams; lanolin, 100 grams; iodide of potassium, 6 grams;
tincture of benzoin, 1 ounce.
I advise feeding arms that are too thin with olive oil or cocoa butter.
Both of these are fattening agents. Patience and thorough daily
applications of one of these will greatly improve the thin arms. But
the patient should try exercise also. Holding the arms straight out at
the sides and moving them round and round in a circle is a good arm
developer.
Any of the following creams are excellent for massage purposes:
Oil of sweet almonds, 500 grams; spermaceti, 500 grams; white wax, 100
grams; rosewater, 50 grams.
This is especially good for the neck, hands and arms which are to be
uncovered that night:
Glycerine, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 ounce; oxide of zinc, 1 ounce.
The old-fashioned Nadine cream has a strong claim upon many beauties of
many nations. It is made this way:
Lanolin, 4 ounces; cocoa butter, 4 ounces; glycerine, 4 ounces;
elderflower water, 3 ounces; rosewater, 5 ounces.
This, valuable for its whitening as well as softening effect, is of
English origin:
Milk of white almonds, 3 ounces; strained honey, 2 ounces; cold cream,
4 ounces; orange flower water, 5 ounces.
From England, too, comes this recipe, which has been adopted in
slightly modified form by France:
Essence of cucumber, 2 ounces; juice of cucumbers, 2 ounces;
spermaceti, 1 ounce; white wax, 1 ounce; olive oil, 1 ounce; almond
oil, 1 ounce.
This is a well-known and valuable massage cream:
Expressed oil of almonds, 9 fluid ounces; rose water, 3 fluid ounces;
fine sodium borate, 33 grains; spermaceti, 1 ounce avoirdupois, 400
grains; white wax, 1 ounce avoirdupois, 370 grains.
For making the limbs plump enough to correspond with a well developed
body two methods are practicable. One is to rub olive oil into the
skin every night before retiring. Or, if you prefer, a cold cream.
Developing exercises that will enlarge the muscles are, for the arms,
twirling them in large circles at the sides and holding them straight
from the shoulders. For enlarging the muscles of the legs a similar
exercise from the hips, swinging the leg in large, free circles, is
valuable.
I am often asked if powder injures the skin. Pure rice powder can do no
harm if removed at night with cold cream. Washing the face with water
does not so effectually remove powder. Take the powder off with cold
cream, which mixes better with it. Then cleanse the face with warm
water and almond meal or oatmeal, or if you prefer it, with soap.
Paris physicians, also those of the Russian court, have withdrawn their
objections to perfumes, and luxurious women are using them more than
ever. They are more discreet and discriminating than formerly, relying
more upon perfumes used after the bath, when they can be well absorbed
into the skin, and causing them to remain longer than by a hit-or-miss
application of them upon the hair or clothing. This, borrowed from
England, is a delightful tonic applied to the skin after the bath:
Rosemary, 6 ounces; orange peel ground into fine powder, ½ ounce;
thyme, ½ ounce; rosewater, 1 pint; spirit of wine, 1 quart.
Bath bags filled with equal parts of orris root powder and almond
meal and bran are tossed into the baths instead of soap, and are more
refreshing and quite as whitening.
An anæmic friend finds her tepid bath much more refreshing by adding to
it a wine glass of this:
Eau de cologne, 1 ounce; spirits of camphor, ½ ounce; tincture of
benzoin, ¼ ounce.
This is a new compound for the bath which I have used for my
refreshment when fatigued from travel:
Bromide of potassium, 1 gram; carbonate of calcium, 1 gram; carbonate
of soda, 300 grams; sulphate of soda, 5 grams; sulphate of iron, 3
grams; sulphate of aluminum, 1 gram; perfume to taste, either oil
of lavender, oil of thyme, oil of rosemary, 1 gram; tincture of
stavisacre, 50 grams.
An anæmic condition is not always the cause of the lips having a blue,
parched appearance. Sometimes the cold weather will make them look so.
Anoint them morning and night and before going out of doors with this
solution:
Honey, 1 ounce; eau de cologne, ½ ounce.
Or with this salve:
Olive oil, 1 ounce; white wax, 1 ounce; spermaceti, 1 dram.
A good salve for freshening chapped lips is:
Spermaceti, ½ ounce; oil of sweet almonds, 1 ounce; white wax, ¼ ounce;
cochineal, 1 drop; oil of roses, 6 drops.
Good for the same purpose is this:
Olive oil, 5 drams; white wax, 5 drams; alkanet chips, ½ dram.
Habits that mar beauty are as the little foxes that destroy the vines.
They are many and small and mischievous. I mention some of them
warningly for careless beauties, as signposts point the way on country
roads:
Don’t eat too much.
Don’t chew the lips.
Don’t bite the nails.
Don’t sit on your foot.
Don’t eat many sweets.
Don’t read in a dim light.
Don’t bathe in a cold room.
Don’t neglect a daily outing.
Don’t read or write facing a light.
Don’t sleep in ill-ventilated rooms.
Don’t read when the eyes are tired.
Don’t read or write on a moving train.
Don’t open the eyes upon a bright light.
Don’t stand with the shoulders forward.
Don’t stand with the abdomen thrust out.
Don’t let your hands or feet remain cold.
Don’t make faces when you talk or listen.
Don’t drink much wine. The less the better.
Don’t neglect to bathe your feet every night.
Don’t sit on the last three bones of your spine.
Don’t be afraid to yawn or stretch when alone.
Don’t thrust the hips far backward as you walk.
Don’t sit with one shoulder higher than the other.
Don’t stand with one hip higher than the other.
Don’t fail to sleep as many hours as you require.
Don’t wear too light weight clothing in winter.
Don’t sleep in a room crowded with draperies and rugs.
Don’t forget to visit your dentist once every three months.
Don’t let the chin bury itself in the neck. Keep it high.
Don’t wear tight shoes or tight gloves or tight corsets.
Don’t brush or comb the hair roughly. The scalp is tender.
Don’t go into the outer air directly after washing the face.
Don’t be afraid of rain or snow. They are tonics and beautifiers.
Don’t be discontented. Discontent engraves ugly lines in the face.
Don’t fall asleep with the features drawn in anger, worry or fatigue.
Don’t forget that the warm bath is a sedative; the cool bath a
stimulant.
Don’t use every new cosmetic you see advertised or hear recommended.
Don’t wear clothing so heavy that its weight drags upon the vital
organs.
Don’t dwell upon unpleasant things. Dismiss them if you value your
beauty.
Don’t allow the skin to grow dry. A dry skin is the parent of many
wrinkles.
Don’t rest upon large pillows. They cause round shoulders and double
chins.
Don’t lie down for rest with your nerves and muscles tied in small,
hard knots.
Don’t forget that the reclining posture is a storehouse of strength and
beauty.
Don’t let the muscles grow flabby. Firm muscles give the appearance of
youth.
Don’t lead a too regular life. A varied programme is better than an
unvarying one.
Don’t keep your rooms either too hot or cold, but at an even, moderate
temperature.
Don’t be afraid to work, and to work hard. It is only worry mingled
with work that kills.
Don’t allow yourself to become ill. Every illness subtracts from
vitality and adds to apparent age.
Don’t think that when you have brushed your hair your duty to your head
is done. The scalp must be massaged.
Don’t wriggle the feet or fingers or hunch the shoulders. Find other
and less ugly outlets for your nervous energy.
Don’t moisten the lips with the tongue to make them red. It will only
cause them to roughen and chap.
Don’t forget that the eye bath, the nasal douche and the mouth bath
are part of the daily ceremonial of cleanliness.
Don’t forget for one moment that health is the basis of beauty. And
build your beauty upon that only sure foundation.
Don’t neglect the protection for your skin when you go out or the care
for it when you come in from out of doors.
Don’t think that to keep the teeth beautiful they must be continually
brushed. After the daily brushing remember the mouth bath.
Don’t think you are ever too tired for the night toilet. The face must
always be washed and cold creamed at night if you value your complexion.
Don’t, especially if you are slenderly built, permit the shoulders and
chest to sink. If you are too tired to hold them up take a nap, or at
least recline for a time.
CHAPTER XXII
THE BEAUTY’S PERSONALITY AND HER CLOTHES
Have you ever seen a jeweler at work making a gem as fine and handsome
as he can or as the nature of the jewel will permit? That is what you
must do for yourself. Polish your personality.
The jeweler makes the jewel shine with all its possible luster. That is
what every woman should do for the gem which is herself. The jeweler
holds the gem to the light to see what is its best angle and sets it
so that that angle is prominent. So should a woman do with her best
feature.
Study yourself in silhouette. Place yourself before a mirror so that
you can see yourself as one would see you who hurriedly brushed past
you in the street. See yourself sidewise. If you see that you have a
good profile and that the lines of your figure are graceful, keep your
side to the world, so to speak. Remember that this is your best line
and live up to it. Dress your hair so it will enhance the profile,
making it cameo like. If you discover a style of dressing your hair
that is becoming to you, and that makes that profile stand out in finer
relief, never mind whether it is the fashion of to-day or of ten years
ago. Its beauty will be its excuse and will make it the fashion for
you. So in your gowning. If your figure has a better silhouette when
draped in full gathered and shirred effects follow them. If, as is
liable to be true if you have a full figure, flat folds and tucks and
bands are more becoming, make abundant use of them.
Learn dressmaking yourself, if your means are limited, and learn to
apply your own principles of dressing. Make yourself individual. It
costs but little to dress well if you can make your own clothes. If
you find that your front view is better, face the world, as it were,
instead of turning your side to it.
I have heard of some women, “Her hair grows prettily.” When I have
scrutinized their faces I have found that what was meant by the phrase
was that it grew in odd, attractive little ripples or scallops about
the face. Yet I have seen the same women brushing their hair flat and
pressing it back in a hard, straight line from their faces. These human
jewelers were neglecting one of the best angles of their personality.
I have seen women whose rich, thick hair was their greatest charm draw
back the hair from their faces and twist it up in a hard little knot. I
wanted to cry out against this thoughtlessness.
I once overheard a pair talking while in the first stages of
love-making on board a transatlantic steamer. The man said, “You have
beautiful eyes, but you don’t know how to use them.” The next day as
I saw her while on a deck promenade I saw that he was right. She half
covered them with heavy, lazy looking lids. When she looked at any one
with them she looked with a slow, steady regard and without a smile in
them. If I had had eyes like that I should have been most industrious
with them. I would have opened them very wide, very often every day. It
would have illuminated conversation, and promoted mutual understanding.
And I would have taught them the pleasant trick of smiling.
I know a woman of whom it has often been said: “She is handsome when
she smiles, but she hardly ever smiles,” and this should have been
enough of a tip, as you say in America. Yet it wasn’t. Whenever I saw
her her lips drooped. Her cheeks muscles relaxed. If anything startled
her out of herself she smiled, quickly, roguishly, with a flash of
intelligence and good humor that was entrancing. Her smile transformed
her from a plain, dejected looking woman to a radiant, attractive one
ten years younger in appearance than she had looked a second before. If
she had polished her personality she would be always living up to that
smile.
I know another woman, more intelligent, though younger. She has lovely,
red-gold hair. At a time when it was fashionable to wear hats that come
low upon the face, completely hiding the hair, I said to her: “And do
you hide your beautiful hair beneath the foolish fashions?”
“No,” she answered. “Somehow, I always manage to show some of it.
Perhaps I draw it back from the forehead a little more than the
fashion requires. Or, I may tilt it a little more to the side than is
necessary. But I always show my hair.” Polishing her personality, you
see.
If a woman has a beautiful mouth she should be at more pains than
another to massage the lips to keep them full and moist. She should
massage the gums to keep them strong and red. And of her teeth she
should take infinite care. Such a woman should smile and smile again,
for fine teeth and a fresh, sweet mouth are always attractive.
If she has a classic chin and a fine throat she should keep the chin
well up to reveal the line from chin to chest.
If her hands are pretty she should wear her sleeves short enough to
display them. If her hands are shapely and tapering she should wear her
sleeves still shorter.
If the lines of her throat and shoulder are good she should form the
Dutch collar and low necked habit. If her figure is good she should
emphasize that within the limits of modesty.
In short make radiant your personality. Discover your best points and
keep, preserve and accent them. To use your plain Americanism: “Keep
your best foot forward.”
Fashions change, but taste endures. Fashions come and go, but
becomingness is a fixed quantity.
The woman who is wise in her own beauty will make this her creed. She
will determine after much observation of herself what is becoming to
her and what is not, never to cross the danger line between.
She will not aggressively defy fashion. She will adopt its becoming
modes, and adapt its unbecoming ones to the point only of becomingness.
But she will resolutely determine that she will wear nothing that will
detract from her beauty.
In the matter of dress, I have the courage of my convictions. I will
not wear that which I believe to be unbecoming to me. Sometimes I
may fancy I look well in what another may not admire as a part of
Cavalieri. In that I may be mistaken. But I never consciously wear what
makes me look less well than I would otherwise.
For instance, you will observe from my photographs that I almost never
change the style of wearing my hair. Long ago I found that flat waves
drawn low upon my brow and cheeks were becoming to me. In itself the
style is a trying one, but it happens to be becoming to my type of
face. The Italian women are almost the only nation that can wear it to
advantage. It seems to belong to the large, soft eyes, straight nose
and delicate chin of the race. And so through the succeeding years I
have worn them, and because I looked well in them have worn them in
the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening, have worn them to
early musicales, to luncheons, to teas, for drives and the opera. I
have varied the style only when the times or character I was playing in
opera demanded that they be changed.
It is my opinion that the woman who discovers the style of hair
dressing that is adapted to her individual style and with some
possible slight modifications, which are concessions to the mode,
preserves that general style until the chiselling of the years has so
changed her face that she requires a different coiffure, is the clever
woman. Such a woman is Alexandra of England. The court hair dresser,
a great artist in his way, gave weeks to studying the coiffure that
should best frame the facial charms of the Princess of Wales.
He determined upon the present style. Queen Alexandra dressed her hair
in the same style for thirty years. It is admirable for her long,
patrician features, setting off their mingled delicacy and strength,
and her fine English coloring. In time she will doubtless change the
style to one softer and looser, calculated to lessen the effect of
aging features. But that time, happily, is far off for her gracious
Majesty. In general, it is true that preserving the same outlines of a
coiffure for most of a lifetime makes a woman seem younger.
In general, too, these rules may be followed in choosing the coiffure
that shall be yours. Do not accentuate that which nature has already
accentuated too much.
If nature has given you a round, chubby face counteract this too
decided tendency by building the hair high. Give the coiffure the
effect of a pyramid. The one high point at the top of the head will
materially lengthen the face and lessen the roundness which tends to
insipidity. The high coiffure will thus give distinction to a face that
had lacked it.
If the forehead is too low comb the hair loosely back from it. This
will add to the alertness and intelligence of the expression. If, on
the other hand, nature has given you the knobby, by which I mean what
you call the intellectual, forehead, the brow which is full and high
and broad, with projecting bumps, modify nature’s extreme by training
the hair to fall in loose tendrils upon it. Also comb the rest of the
hair, but loosely, from about it. Never tightly, for that will give the
drawn, frightened look which nature has already carelessly bestowed.
If your face be broad, the high coiffure increases its apparent length.
If yours be a slender countenance, then affect the low coiffure, for
its tendency is toward breadth.
If the face be broad, do not build the hair out loosely about the ears.
Instead comb it upward above the ears.
If the face be slender, its apparent breadth is added to by the
“fluffing” out of the hair about the ears.
If the face is angular, its hardness is reduced by a soft arrangement
of the hair.
In arrangement of the hair remember that balance is the law of beauty,
as it is of wisdom. For instance, balance the heavy jaw by drawing the
hair in a loose mass well forward above the brow. Balance the snub nose
by a loose coiffure with no jutting protuberance at the back to suggest
that it is the corresponding pole of the nose.
As to color of the hair, it is my judgment that we would better leave
it as nature painted it. Nature is the greatest colorist. She matches
complexion, eyes and eyebrows perfectly with the hair. Transform your
hair, and you will be at the trouble of transforming your entire person.
We are not to blame for our hair, but we are to blame for our hats.
They must look as though they belonged to us as our faces, our eyes,
our teeth belong to us.
I always trim my own hats. First I began to trim them because I had
not the money to buy them or to pay for trimming them. Now I trim them
because no one can do so to suit me.
I prefer simple hats, for the sufficient reason that they are more
becoming to me. But an overtrimmed hat is inartistic. It is ugly. It
is vulgar. The hat should serve its function of being a becoming frame
for the face. The head should not be a mere pedestal or milliner’s
dummy for a monstrous hat. Women answer criticisms of the terrible
travesties now worn, “But they are the fashion.” Yes, but who made them
the fashion? You and you and you. A fashion can be killed at its birth,
in the shops of Paris, if women will but determinedly say: “No, no, no.
I do not like it. I shall not wear it. Show me others.”
Remember the law of balance. A woman with a tapering chin should wear a
hat built to a corresponding peak at the top. The effect of these two
peaks should be to form an agreeable oval.
The round-faced woman’s safety of becomingness lies in the hat in
which angles predominate. It should have stiff ribbon bows and sharp
aigrettes, or pointed wings and dagger-like ornaments. This woman will
always be improved, too, by wearing V effects in coats and wraps and
gowns.
The hornlike effects should be avoided by the woman with sharp
features. Her task of lending a semblance of softness and roundness
to her face is made easier by a hat with a soft brim trimmed with a
fall of lace or a shirring of silk or velvet. Also the sharp-featured
woman should never wear a sailor hat. Neither should any woman over
twenty-five.
Here are some rules about dressing, so fundamental that I would
hesitate to give them were it not that every day I drive down Fifth
Avenue I see them flagrantly transgressed.
For instance, I see the short, stout woman wearing a short, stout coat.
The long, thin woman wears a long, thin coat. That is, each woman,
forgetting the law of balance, has chosen that which accentuates what
nature has already overaccentuated. The short coat should have been
worn by the tall woman. It would have made her seem shorter. The long
coat should have been worn by the short woman to disguise her brevity.
I see short women wearing horizontal trimming, when they should have
had lengthwise trimming, pointed trimming or no trimming at all.
I see a tall, slender woman wearing a long cape, when she could have
divided her superabundant height in two by wearing a short one.
I see a short woman wearing a flounce about her already absurdly short
skirt. By some perversity the short woman tries to emulate the barrel
and the tall woman the telegraph pole.
The woman with a crane-like neck bares its funny length to a grinning
world, and the woman with a mere line where a neck should be muffles
that up with ruches that make her look like a frightened setting hen.
If only they would have ever before them the thought, “What is becoming
to me?” and put far behind them the other question, “What is the
fashion?” then would women dress artistically, not ridiculously.
I do not preach that which I am not willing to practice. It happens
that I do not like white. To me it is a dead, trying color. Therefore
I never wear it. I am told this is to be a white season. I answer,
“It will not be for me.” And I continue to wear blue or black on the
street, and pale shades of rose or blue or green or yellow at night.
And merely because it happens to be “a white season” people do not
forget to look at La Cavalieri in rose or yellow or blue or green.
Let me recall to you the most beautiful of American women, Maxine
Elliott. One winter the coat covering the hips, forming a second
thickness of cloth upon them, was fashionable. Did Miss Elliott wear
it? Not at all. I saw her wearing a very pronounced cutaway coat, one
in which the frock part of the coat was cut at the very middle of her
hips, so taking from instead of adding to the width of her figure. And
the Maxine Elliott hats! Have you noticed how like they are, no matter
what the fashion?
Always beautiful, because of elegant, yet simple lines, but more
particularly beautiful because they are becoming to their wearer. They
are very little trimmed; usually with large, flat bows or low curving
feathers. Almost always they are black, or black with a touch of white,
but always they look as though they were designed for or by Miss
Elliott, as I doubt not they are.
The lank woman must shun the V-shaped corsage as His Satanic Majesty is
said to avoid the bowl of Holy Water. The broad corsage, draped with
full flounces of lace or tulle, will be most becoming.
In the same degree the stout woman must avoid the corsage with round
effects. She should seek the pointed effects to counteract her
redundancy of curves.
I will not go further into details on this subject. The intelligent
woman to whom this law of balance in dress has been presented will work
out successfully her own problems.
It applies as well to colors as to form. The high-colored woman needs
pale tinted colors to reduce her own exuberance of color, while the
neutral tinted woman, she with light gray or blue eyes and ash-brown
hair, requires in her youth at least brilliant shades.
When buying your wardrobe I beg of you to think less of the fashion
plates displayed by your tailor and dressmaker than of your own style.
Everyone has a style of her own, and that is good style for her. One
authority on woman’s dress even goes so far as to urge women to know
themselves so well as to decide whether in their composition mind or
soul or body dominates. “For,” according to this lecturer on womanly
beauty, “each of these three parts of your composition is represented
by a color. If you are a woman of intense spirituality you should wear
much yellow, for that represents the soul. Should you lean more to
the material side of life you are best represented by red. If you are
one of the growing army of the intellectuals, this authority advises
wearing much of the mental color, which is blue.”
It occurs to me to inquire whether that is the reason why women of
strong mentality are often referred to as “blue stockings.” I do not
wholly agree with this woman lecturer.
If, for instance, you are a red woman, why not wear considerable
yellow? It will give you a more soulful aspect, and, if our manners
react upon our characters, why should not colors? Wearing the soul
color may develop latent soul qualities. Or the red woman, by wearing
much blue, might, to use a term of the stage, “convey an illusion” of
greater mentality than she has, and perhaps stir that part of her self
to greater activity.
It is an interesting theory, but may, perhaps, be pursued to the point
of attenuation. One quality I like so greatly in you Americans is
that you are practical, and theories so tenuous as this I have quoted
move you to laughter. I recall that when one of your authors wrote of
the color of individual auras and talked of a “pink personality,” she
greatly interested the humorists. I leave with you this theory to smile
at or to adopt as you like.
But in what I shall say next I am most gravely serious. That is that
in selecting your wardrobe I would have you think far more about your
individuality than about the passing fashion. I do not know what will
be the next caprice in furs. I do not care. Being tall and slight I
shall choose long-haired furs, as the silver fox, because, to use an
Americanism, I can “carry them well.” But if you who read this are
short, and especially if you are short and stout, wear short-skinned
furs, as mink and seal and sable, if you can afford them, for
long-haired furs will render you out of drawing, absurdly costumed.
While choosing your hats and wraps, your gowns and gloves, be for once
self-centered. Self-centeredness is excusable when one is shopping. It
is in the direction of economy, for if we think steadily of ourselves
we will not purchase a fur coat in which our sister looks adorable but
ourself ridiculous, and we will not order a gown that will prove so
unbecoming that we will give it away after once or twice wearing it.
Keep in mind, after your own individuality, certain art principles
that apply to dress. This is a good one as to color. “Dress up to your
eyes, your hair or your complexion.” Permit me to explain. If a girl
has brown eyes she may not always wear brown gowns. But she can be
exceedingly careful to wear no tint that will make her creamy skin look
sallow. For her creamy shades are becoming, because they harmonize with
her complexion.
If a girl has red hair she will be wise if she wears shades, regardless
of the tint of the moment, that will throw the hair into relief--as
blue, or green, or black. If a woman has Irish eyes--that fascinating
mixture of blue and gray, that holds in its depths much of infant
innocence yet much of worldly wisdom, deep eyes that fascinate because
they are inscrutable--she will look her best in gowns that match her
eyes, the same indeterminate blue and gray.
Think of yourself steadily and not tenderly in the selection of stuffs.
If you are thin and active, soft materials, as chiffons, crêpe de
chines, light weight silks, will be becoming. If you are of heavier
habit, heavier silks and broadcloths are more expressive and so more
becoming.
The dividing line between the skirt and bodice is ugly. If you cannot
have a one part dress, then hide the dividing line by a girdle. If you
are stout, let the girdle be of the same shade and material as the
gown. If not slender, you may safely wear a girdle of different shade
than your gown.
Artists know the beauty of the straight line, and for a few seasons
coutourieres have groped their way toward it. Parallel lines running
lengthwise are the lines of beauty in dress because they consistently
follow those of the figure. For this reason a gown whose pronounced
lines are from the shoulder, the drapery curving slightly at the waist,
give grace and beauty to the figure. Trimmings that run around the
figure always lack beauty, and if of contrasting material they have a
ludicrous effect. The high girdle gives an appearance of greater length
to the limbs. The girdle, if not of the same color and material, should
not be of too glaringly the opposite.
Remember that stiff effects are always inartistic, so avoid the
appearance of being trussed up, as a fowl in the oven or soldier on
parade. For this reason shun tight sleeves, tight gloves, or skirts,
so heavy or narrow that they make your gait an awkward one. I am glad
that fashion permits the wearing of loose gloves. They give ease to the
hands and are far more graceful than the tight ones that gave the hand
the appearance of being stuffed into it.
When selecting your hat, a bit of brilliant color may be introduced;
but let it not be directly above the face, for it will give to the face
the illusion of being pale, whether it is or not.
CHAPTER XXIII
ODDS AND ENDS OF BEAUTY CULTURE
Three months recently in Russia and six months in Paris taught me some
new fads in the cultivation of beauty. While you Americans are so
clever, as well as beautiful, you may not have heard of some of these.
I will, therefore, call the roll of those devices for the improvement
of beauty which are finding present favor in Europe, some of which seem
to me to have considerable scientific value.
But I ought to say that I have not myself personally used or tested all
of these rather heroic new methods. Not all medical men are agreed on
all things, especially on new things, and I advise my readers to ask
the advice of their doctors on some of these matters.
There is, for instance, what is known as the vaccination cure for
pimples. Pimples I have called “spots on the sun of beauty.” Spots,
whether on a frock or a face, are disfiguring, and it is desirable
to remove them as soon as possible. Inoculation by a special form of
vaccine is the latest method adopted by the medical profession. It has
been in many cases very successful. The only objection is that it is
still comparatively expensive.
The new theory is that pimples are caused by the presence of malefic
germs. A culture is made of these germs in beef broth. The fluid is
then rendered sterile by heating it to the boiling point. A small
vialful of this broth contains hundreds of millions of the germs. While
the germs themselves are dead, the peculiar poison generated by them
remains. The treatment is given by a hypodermic injection. This poison
is destructive to the living organisms, and in a few weeks’ treatment
obstinate cases of pimples have been completely cured by the welcome
new process.
For obstinate cases of acne some advanced physicians are utilizing
the X-ray. Blackheads are always disfiguring. Certain physicians have
adopted the principle that these micro-organisms lodge in the follicles
from which spring the small hairs that form a down on the cheeks.
These micro-organisms spread fast and cause inflammation. The X-ray is
summoned to check the spread of the inflammation. This they do without
danger to the skin. After three or four treatments the face looks as
though it were badly sunburned. This appearance remains, it seems to
the patient, discouragingly long, but the results are most gratifying
in every case I have studied. The acne has been permanently removed and
the complexion left beautifully clear.
A third scientific treatment of great aid to beauty is the removal of
scars by an injection, locally, of a healing serum, beneath the skin.
Its function is to loosen the structure, relax the drawn tissues and
smooth the surface that had been, to use an Americanism, “puckered.”
There is in this last remedy the element of risk that always obtains
when a foreign substance is injected into the circulation.
Because of this element the method has not the entire endorsement of
the medical profession.
A method that has great vogue just now is the new or modified massage
called patting. This is accepted by those who have always been
consistent enemies of massage as it is generally given. Their theory is
that massage, as many have known it, merely moves the wrinkles from one
part of the face to another. Patting, they declare, does not drag the
skin, but builds up the muscles and promotes the circulation. The name
is a well-fitting one. Patting is done very lightly with the tips of
the fingers.
The nose clamp is a new and amusing device adopted by beauties and
would-be beauties to prevent the spreading of the nostrils and to give
the nose, that would otherwise be too round, a delicate point. I have
called on my friends in the morning and have been received in their
bedrooms. They looked very charming in their night robes of delicate
batiste, embroidered and further ornamented with pink and blue bows,
not pink and blue bows on different gowns, but combined in the same
gown. Their hair carefully parted from the point of the forehead to
the back of the neck, and braided in two loose braids, either hangs
becomingly over their shoulders, one braid tied with a blue bow, the
other with a pink, to match the ribbon garniture of the night robe,
or is twisted loosely around the head. Their complexions looked fresh
and cool from their bath of cold cream, but they all looked odd, and I
shrieked with laughter at them because they wore nose clamps. One who
disliked the touch of the cold metal substituted the homely domestic
article, the clothespin. Both the clamp and the clothespin are well
protected by a lining of white silk or velvet. Absurd as these things
look, I was assured by all who wore them that they served admirably
their purpose.
Ice has come to be one of the first aids of beauty. It is used after
massage of the face and neck to harden the muscles. I find women using
it to drive away wrinkles and this seems to me scientific, for while
the shock of the first application will drive the blood from the
surface, it causes it to rebound, bringing a fine flush to the skin and
feeding the neglected and shrunken tissues.
Whatever renews the tissues eradicates wrinkles.
Many physicians are endorsing sulphur facial baths to cure acne. This
lotion is applied several times a day, they told me, with good results:
Rose water, 4 ounces; precipitate of sulphur, 1 dram; tincture of
camphor, 1 dram.
Women are beginning to realize that sagging muscles, rather than a
superabundance of flesh, are the cause of the double chin. They are
preventing, as far as possible, the falling cheek muscles and the
pendulousness of the chin muscles by hardening them with lumps of ice
held in the hand and pressed against those muscles as long as the
pressure can be endured; also by wearing chin bandages.
First the fancy, then the fad, then the flitting. This is the history
of most announced discoveries of the means to heighten beauty. They
have their little hour of discipleship; their impulsive following;
their period of vanishing. Yet beneath nearly all the beauty fads there
is a more or less well applied principle of science.
For instance, there is the rubber chin band. The band to control the
usurping flesh of the double chin was first of muslin. Then it was
improved by the use of elastic. Now it has evolved to its best state,
that of strong yet light rubber, made with a throat latch resembling
the lower part of a horse’s halter. Attached by a clasp on either side
are straps that fasten at the top of the head. The original idea of
compressing the flesh so that it would form in a smaller and becoming
mold was sound, but the later idea of using rubber appeals still more
to common knowledge. The wearing of rubber next to the skin causes
perspiration.
Therefore, the rubber band will not only hold the flesh of the
pendulous chin in place, but by causing free perspiration it will
gradually reduce its size. The rubber band, worn at night, and
frequently during the day, for a half hour or more at a time, is the
best cure for the double chin the new year has offered us.
The aged hand has been a source of much mortification and anxiety to
the woman who has left her thirties and her forties behind her. Yet
electricity, that prime aid in the rejuvenation of beauty, has come to
her aid, and now the woman who has a good many years to her credit, but
who does not care to admit that balance, goes to the beauty parlors,
settles back comfortably in a reclining chair, and renews the youth of
her hands by electrical treatment.
The operator traces over the hand again and again, round and round,
focussing most on the base of the back near the wrist a small
electrical machine attached to a light battery. The skin of Madame’s
hands begins to tingle. The blood rushes in a flood to the surface.
In a few days she notices that the ugly furrows, trenches dug by the
cruel spade of time, are being filled up. After a little longer time
they are entirely filled and present an even surface. The hand has been
plumpened.
The work of rejuvenation has been done. With occasional renewals of
this treatment, combined with much nightly feeding of the hands with a
plumpening oil or cold cream, they will keep their renewed youthfulness.
Either of the following creams I recommend for that purpose:
Spermaceti, 6 ounces; white wax, 2 ounces; oil of almonds, 16 ounces;
glycerine, 4 ounces; rosewater, 4 ounces; borax, 1 ounce; oil of rose,
20 minims; extract of jasmine, 1 ounce.
This whitens as well as plumpens the hands:
Alcohol, 3 ounces; glycerine, 2 ounces; cologne, 2 drams; boric acid, 4
grains; quince seed, 1½ drams; carbolic acid, 10 grains; glycerine of
starch, 2 ounces; oil of lavender, 20 drops; distilled water, 2 pints.
A soothing and whitening, as well as feeding, cream is this:
Cucumber essence, 1 pint; cucumber juice, 2 ounces; oil of almonds, 1
pint; olive oil, 1 ounce; white wax, 1 ounce; spermaceti, 1 ounce.
Transcriber's Notes:
Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Perceived typographical errors have been changed.Project Gutenberg
My secrets of beauty : $b Including more than 1,000 valuable recipes for preparations used and recommended by Mme. Cavalieri herself
Cavalieri, Lina
Chimera46
College