OLD-FASHIONED TOILET RECIPES.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13231, 26 September 1908, Page 7

OLD-FASHIONED TOILET RECIPES.

The old-fashioned mother, writes ! "Testa" in the "Argus," had a very! comprehensive knowledge of everyday things that very few women posse&i nowadays. The care of the skin and the hair, for example, were duties just j as important to her as sewing and baking. We were a big family, and mostly girls; but every day, during as much of my childhood as I. can remomber, each of us was treated tea _ood vigorous hair-brushing. And to this] I suppose, we may attribute the possession of good heads of hair, for not one of the whole seven of us had weak or scanty hair. In addition to the brushing, our hair received >■ occasional. dressings of "pomades" and "washc-.** -,'.These, I ■ ■'-'■ ___B_s_' : -" -.».-:-,"■ ~--.--,.-j-^i.t"«^^^tr.:>-tsr-"-^:s—r_^_^_^_B__K^-^;>-n'.r

fancy, wero only used when tho hair was too dry or too greasy. They were not used regularly. Tho preparation of tlio nomado was always interesting. It contained "somo special oil, a little spirits, perfume, and other ingredients, whoso nature I havo forgotten. Borax and rosewatcr and bay, leaves went to the comoosition of on©;of the washes. Then, for tho skin,; thero wero preparations which were mixed with ''much care. These, too, wero used only on rare occasions. After exposure to wind and sun, wo used to havo a mixture of thick cream and lemon-juico gently applied to the often-bltstcred skin of the face and neck. To this day I know of nothing elso so soothing and healing to sunburned skins. For the redness and soreness which results from exposure to biting wintry winds there used to bo a milky wasb which wo dahbed on. This had amongst its ingredients myrrh and benzoin and orange flower water. It is quite a grief to, mc that I cannot recall more accurately tho composition of theso old remedies. They were probably handed down from our grandmothers, and wero tho product of those days when the "still-room" was an important feature of every large houso. and when the making of perfumes and cosmetics and "cures" was an essential part of the duties of every housewife. Thero aro very few mothers of the old type left —the mothers who, whatever their social duties, niado their houses and their children their own personal care. I wonder somotimes, when I remember tho things they used to do, how their days can ever have beeu long enough. Yet they never suffered from nerves, nor needed rest cures. But, although thero are very fow of tho oldtimo mothers left, there must bo many daughters to whom their household remedies havo been passed down. It would bo worth whife recording some of these prescriptions. Tho "spring medicine,"* for instance, was practically a universal institution.