SECRETS OF BEAUTY.

DIRECTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE HAIR, EYE-LASHES AND BROWS. [BT DIANE DE -IOP.NY.] (American Paper.) The value of a beautiful head of hair is prehistoric, Nations have differed in their standards of the beauty of every feature on the face— bhey have agreed always apparently as Sb Paul says : "If a woman have long hair it is a glory to her." The Biblical praise of the hair of Absalom, the son of David, makes it appear to have been considered equally beautiful when unusually long and luxurious in either sex. BaldneßS, unleas the hair roots are absolutely dead, can be cured, and a new growth of hair will usually repay the time and patience required in producing it. The hair roots are like those of a tree, capable of coaxing back to life and strength bo long as there is anything to work upon. Of course, once really dead, it iv useless. When the hair falls out after a long ilneas, or from grief, care, anxiety, or from too profound study, the beat course is the heroic one— cut it off and cast it from you literally. Then wash the head with warm water and soap every other day, rinsing and drying thoroughly, and applying twice each day the following hair tonic :— Glycerine (Price's), one ounce ; Eau de Cologne (Btrongest), one-quarter pint; liquor of ammonia (880-882), one fluid drachm ; oil of origanum, oil of rosemary, of each one-half fluid drachm; tincture of cantharides, one fluid ounce. Briskly agitate them together for eight or ten minutes, then add of camphor- julep (strongest), one-half pint. Electricity, properly applied, will often do wonders towards restoring vitality to the hair. In the case of a young girl who had lost her hair in spots* after an attack of typhoid fever, I advised cropping and electricity applied through a good-sized sponge, three times a week, in conjunction with the above wash. The treatment resulted within three mouths in a beautiful head of- new hair. The hair should be kept short for at least a year under the above or similar circumst3ncea. Properly apeaking, one Bhould not grow gray until long after middle age. In this country, however, it is almosi the exesptional man or woman who passes the thirty-fifth year without the discovery of a silvery hair or two among the brown or gold. The gray hairs usually appear first about the tample- indeed, the word temple is derived from the Latin tempus, because it is there time first stamps its ravages. Gray hair at this age certainly seems premature; its progress maybe arrested; but in my opinion, which is founded on yeara of study and experience, nothing haa ever been so far invented which will restore the hair already silvered. Gray hair can only be changed in colour by a dye or stain. Some of these dyes are effective and many are relatively harmless. They should be sold as stains or dyes, not as restoratives, regenerators, &c. I do not advise the use of dyes— but to those who differ from me in my views, I give the benefit of several formulas which are considered the best known to science :— The vegetable hair dyes are quite inoffensive. Unfortunately, however, they fade very soon, and the colour they impart to the hair is, as the French say, " doubtful," that iB to say, one cannot to a certainty count on the exact shade. The bast of all vegetable hair dyes iB henna, which is the preparation used to create the Titian red hair now bo much in vogue. Indeed, there is little doubt that Titian's models themselves derived their wonderful bronze tresses from henna leaves, which have been ÜBed for this purpose for centuries and* centuries. I have never purchased henna in this country, but in England a decoction of the henna or alkanna plant may be bought of any drug-grist. The henna may be reduced in strength until it produces the shade desired. It will stain the skin and scalp, but such Btains are readily removed if washed at once with soap and water, without in any way affecting the colour the henna has given to the hair. In Turkey the henna is rubbed into the hair in the form of a paste. A decoction may be made at home by simply brewing the leaves as one would tea. To produce the various shades of brown, the following is the best stain known. It is the basis of mast of the regenerators, restorers, &c. Pyrogallic acid, one-quarter ounce ; distilled water, hot, one and one-half ounces ; dissolve, and when the solution has cooled gradually add of rectified spirits one-half fluid ounce. It may be made weaker or stronger as desired. Years ago a celebrated hair restorative was analysed in a laboratory in Paris, where I waßaßtudent. It waa advertised as possessing qualities little short of miraculous. It proved to be a decoction of green walnut shells, scented with oil of rosemary. This is really one of the oldest of hair stains, and ia readily made aB follows :— Make a strong decoction of! green walnut shells and water. Add enough alcohol to preserve it, also a few bruised cloves. Let it stand for a week and filter. Lighten the colour by adding water. Recollect that the walnut shells will stain the scalp, which must be immediately washed before it becomes set. For producing golden hair the safest and best agent ia peroxide and hydrogen. To produce any shade of golden hair ! pour a little peroxide of hydrogen into a saucer. Apply with a soft tooth brush evenly to the roots only— the hair must be perfectly clean and dry. I may say here thai I know of no bucli bondage a_ the use of any of these hair dyes or stains entails, and I advise against entering upon auch slavery in every /case, but there are women who are determined to have hair this or that shade and to such I give the benefit of the bett and safest means for attaining their desires. Before applying any of tho above cosmetics, the hair should be carefully washed and freed from all oily substances. If it is naturally greasy throw a small lamp of washing soda into the lira**, water und rins_ carefully after or use thia shampoo : Rum, three quarts; alcohol, one pintj

water, one pint ; tincture of cantharides, half an ounce; carbonate of ammonium, half an ounce; carbonate of potassium, one ounce. Dissolve the carbonates in the i water and add the solution to the other ingredients mixed togethor, and shake up well. Never permit a hair dresser to " prepare," a3 they torm it, hair for a change of colour, be it auburn, brown or any other Bhade, by first bleaching it. Bleaching means taking all the colouring matter out of it — the vitality of the hair goea with the colour, and frequently bleaching will rot the hair and utterly destroy ita texture. Of course, the new hair which comes after the dyeing process,will be its original colour — its appearance makes another application of the stain necessary, and usually there will be a difference in the shade because the new growth ia one colour and the other has been artificially changed. Thus we see the woman with restored locks sometimes looking as though ehe Were trying an entire scale of colour on her head. The hair which has suddenly been turned gray by grie? or sickness, sometimes regains its old vitality. I know of one euch esse, a woman of thirty-five, whose hair on one side of her head ouly, turned white from anxiety and fear le3t she should lobo her daughter. The daughter's health being entirely restored, her mother was surprised by the gradual reappearance of the old colour to the gray ! hair. For falling hair, and indeed for baldness, any of the preparations made from cosmolme or vaseline may be used Bucces3fully. The active principle of cosmohne is coal oil, than which, properly used, nothing is better as a hair grower. The following is a good vaseline formula:— Yellow vaseline ... ... 50 grammes Cocoanut oil 30 grammes Gallic acid ... C grammes Essence rosemary 12 drops Bub well into the hair every night. It is a mistaken idea that washing the hair frequently is injurious to it. On the contrary, cleanliness has never been other than healthful. The extreme length of some women's hair makes it a great labour to wash it frequently, and a delicate woman should have assistance in drying it after washing. Brushing the hair thoroughly and gently ia of the greatest importance. Even long hair should be washed at least once a week, and where there iB much exposure to dust, or the subject suffers from dandruff, it should be washed every other day. There is no danger of catching cold so long as the hair is properly dried, and all draughts during this process are avoided. Wetting the hair with bay rum, cologne water or alcohol, contrary to popular belief, increases the tendency to catch cold, unleas the head is lightly covered to prevent the effects of rapid evaporation that at once commences on their application. . Scurf, or dandruff, iB, unleas in s. most aggravated form, not a disease ; it is the result of neglect, or, in plain English, uncleanliness. I will cure any ordinary case of dandruff by perfect cleanliness of the scalp. Scurf, or f arf ura, is a natural and healthy formation, and very frequently it is produced by rapidly growing and very luxuriant hair. You may keep dandruff from accumulating, but yon can't prevent its formation, When the scurf is excessive, despite great cleanliness, it denotes an unhealthy condition of tho scalp. Try the following in euch cases, but always in conjunction with very frequent washings, with plenty of rinßing :— Extract of rosemary „*, - ... 1 drachm Tincture of cantharides ... 1 drachm Solution of carbonate potassium 1-J- drachm Distilled water... ... 4 fluid ounces Apply with a small, soft sponge daily. Where there is great physical debility and a general failure of health combined with falling hair or irritation of the scalp, a course of tonic medicines taken internally is often very serviceable. In such cases a good tonic for external application i to the roots of the hair ia :— j Dißulphate of quinine, one drachm; roßewater, eight ounces ; dilute sulphuric j acid (sp. gr 1-103), fifteen drops ; Jamaica j rum, two ounces. Mix. Then further add of glycerine, one-quarter ounce ; essence royale, five or six drops, and agitate until solution is complete. The next day decant or filter. Moisten the skin of the head twice daily with the above. Superfluous hair on a woman's face is a hideous deformity. Candidly, there is no excuse for a woman's submitting to such a .disgusting blemish. I have tried every depilatory of any renown. If it could be depended upon, electrolysis would by all odds be the proper process to recommend for the extinction of the superfluous hair growth, but the electric needle fails in about ninety cases out of a hundred to strike the middle of the hair root, and until it is struck and killed the operation, which is very painful, must be repeated. A succession of failures results in a mass of tiny cicatrices which are very disfiguring. As between the two I really think the old-fashioned method of using tweezers preferable and certainly loss painful than the needle. There are others, however, which, if properly applied, are excellent. They should be used carefully. The ingredients are perfectly proper for the purpose designed, but are dangerous to leave within the reach of children. I give here the formula for Boudet's depilatory :— Hydrosulphuret of sodium (chryatalliaed), three parts ; quicklime, ten parts ; starch, eleven parts. Reduce separately tq_a fine powder, then mix and keep the mixture in a well stoppered bottle. When required for use take a little and add enough water to form a thick paste ; apply and remove within two minutes. If there is a subsequent irritation of the skin, a little cold cream will allay it. The eye-browß and lashes maybe greatly beautified by a little care— the brows should be brnßhed regularly with a tiny brush manufactured expressly for tbat purpose — if they are stiff or dry pass the finger over them very Blightly, moistened with a little vaseline. If very skilfully applied to the lids so that none of the oil getß into the eye, vaseline will aid the growth of the eyelashes very considerably. Cutting; the eyelashes or trimming them will also promote their growth.