HINTS AND IDEAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 261, 3 November 1928, Page 4 (Supplement)

HINTS AND IDEAS.

KITCHEN COSMETICS

Few women realise that the pantry is a well-stocked beauty shop. The use for the humble occupants of the shelves, taken externally rather than internally, seems endless. Alum.—This is useful when hot hands are becoming troublesome. The most satisfactory way to use it is to dissolve about 2 drachms in 2 pints hot water, and soak the hands for a few minutes. Bicarbonate of Soda.—This is a good softener for hard water, and also an effective mouth-wash and gargle, in cases of prickly heat or inflamed insect bites, a soda solution is both soothing and healing. It is wonderfully effective for relieving under-arm perspiration First wash the parts with hot water and soap, drying thoroughly. Apply the bicarbonate of soda dry with a powderpuff or a piece of cotton wool. Or place 1 teaspoonful, slightly moistened, in the palm of the hand and apply under the arm. For sunburn cover the affected parts with a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water. A cooling sensation will be experienced immediately. Bran. —For the care of the hands bran is very useful. Sprinkle bran on the wet soapy -palms and rub in. This effectively removes stains. A bran paste for the hands can be made by taking a tablet of ivory soap and shaving it finely. Add this to 1£ cups boiling water. Let it simmer until the soap has dissolved. Then add a bare \ cup of bran, stirring constantly until it is smooth. Then add loz glycerine.

Bran is useful for the dry shampoo. Part the hair in various places and sprinkle on the bran from a large saltshaker. Spread the hair out so that the bran can get through and reach the scalp. Allow it to remain for about 5 minutes. Rub the scalp until it feels all aglow; then take small Turkish towels and rub the hair vigorously. Next remove the bran by a thorough brushing. The bran friction-bath is one of the very finest cleansers and circulation tonics for the skin. Use Turkish-bath mittens thoroughly wet and soap rubbed in. Then generously sprinkle on the bran and rub the body. The friction makes the skin feel all aglow.

Cucumber. —Cucumber toilet cream has a very whitening effect upon the complexion. Prepare it as foflaws: — Take 3 small cucumbers, 6oz 6weet almond oil, loz white wax, loz stearine, 2 teaspoons tincture of benzoin, a few drops of spinach juice. Cut the cucumber (rind as well) into 2in blocks, put into a saucepan with the oil of almonds, and let it simmer for 4 or 5 hours. Then strain and press out as much juice from the cucumber as possible. Put the oil back into the pan with the white wax and stearine, and heat again until thoroughly melted. Take off the fire and beat gently, adding the tincture of benzoin until it is well mixed. Add the spinach juice until the cream is a delicate green colour.

Cucumber lotion can be varied to suit any skin. Peel a large cucumber and squeeze the juice from it. Place the juice into a white enamel saucepan and boil. Carefully strain the juice through muslin, and put it aside until cold. For a greasy skin, to each ounce of cucumber juice add. 10 drops tincture of benzo'n, well shake, and bottle for use. For a dry skin, to each ounce of cucumber juice add 20 drops glycerine; shak*, and bottle.

Lemon.—Lemon is one of the all round kitchen beautifiers. A little of the juice regularly used will remove all stains from the hands and nails, and soften and whiten the skin. For discoloured elbows, undiluted lemon juice applied every night and permitted to dry on, is a most effective bleach.

The juice of a lemon mixed with 1 gill milk is an excellent lotion. The preparation should be well rubbed into the face and neck and allowed to remain on all night. When washed off, the feeling is a refreshing glow, and the skin is clear and clean. The lemon massage is a great beautifier. First cleanse the face with warm water. Then dip the finger-tips into the juice of a lemon and begin the massage from the centre of the chin with an upward and outward movement, until the whole face has been covered. Allow the juice to remain on the face for a few moments. Finish by washing the face with cold water. Oatmeal.—Only the very finest quality of oatmeal must be used, and then sifted through fine white muslin. Oatmeal dusted on the skin after the bath will absorb all traces of moisture and prevent roughness and redness on the legs. Oatmeal added to the bath will improve the hardest water. It is also a great addition to the hand-basin. If the skin is very sensitive, oatmoal water is always beneficial. To soften the water add 2 or 3 tablespoons oatmeal to each quart. Stir well, and allow to stand for a few hours, giving an occasional stir. Decant the wate* from the oatmeal. The resulting liquid is delightful to use. J a An oatmeal paste, made by soakino oatmeal in water, allowed to dry on the face and neck, then rinsed off. and the skin patted dry, has a wonderfully whitening and softening effect upon the skin. Olive Oil.—lf the scalp is very dry during cold weather, massage the scalp at night with a few drops of olive oil. Rubbed well into the scalp the night before the shampoo, it will loosen any accumulation of dandruff. Olive oil is equal to a cream for the skin. A trace well rubbed into the neck, face or hands will keep them soft and smooth. Rubbed mto, around, and under the finger-nails prevents them from cracking and breaking. To fill out a scraggy neck use olive oil repeatedly. Heat the oil, and with the tips of the fingers smear the oil over neck and shoulders. Pumice.—Rough elbows can be considerably improved by being rubbed with pumice-stone smeared liberally with cold cream. Rub the stone round and round until all the cream has been absorbed by the skin. When corns have been troublesome and have been removed, a drop of castor oil on a piece of pumice-stone rubbed into the place from which the corn has been taken will often prevent further growth and annovance. Ihe yellow stain of nicotine can be instantly removed by squeezing a little fresh lemqn -juice on some pumice-stone Smeared with soap, pumice-stone will remove ingrained dirt from the hands and leave the skin soft and smooth Starch.—Starch is one of the most useful powders for toilet use. The lump-starch must be crushed down until it is quite fine, and then it must be silted through muslin. Soda.—Soda is a useful remedy for tired feet. Let them soak in warm water to which add a flat—not heaped tablespoonful of soda to sufficient water to cover the feet. Let it be well over the instep and ankles, as they are the parts liable to get puffy when the feet are tired.