SUN IN SMALL DOSES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 47, 19 November 1936, Page 7

SUN IN SMALL DOSES

IF spring means ridiculous variations of weather and “colds id the dose” for every third person you meet, then spring, it seems, is here again. And with it comes the imminence of bleached hair, tender shoulders and the lassitude that follows long, hot hours on the beach —Mondayitis, in fact, in its most acute and agonising form.

Why not make a resolution that this summer will be an energetic and comfortable one, and that you will, for once, honestly put into practice all the good advice you have previously read and heard about sunbathing? Remember that the holidays for most of us are only a month or six weeks away. They will, perhaps, be spent in sunnier climes than Wellington. So be wise. Don’t be one of those who draw their friends confidentially aside and,' flicking their shoulders out of rasping cloth, exhibit great patches of inflamed and shredding skin. “Aren't I getting brown?” they say, with fatuous pride, and wince as their shoulder- slips back into obscurity. The desire to “get brown” has become a mania in New Zealand where to be lily-white at the end of December is to be morally black, even in windy Wellington. Fashionable women in this country are compelled by public prejudice to sport a healthy tan in the summer months. Nevertheless, judging by early-season results, 00 per cent, of the suntan they boast is neither healthy nor beautiful. The trouble is that most of our athletic young things start the suntanning process far too late

Means Joy and Beauty

The first suns of the bathing season are the most important for the woman beach-lover, because they make or mar the dusky charm of tanned shoulders and brown arms. A sane use of them ensures zest and energy, with happiness for summer dancers.

in the season. Its sole effect is to irritate their complexion into such a fury that they persistently peel into late autumn or acquire that dingy mahogany tint that makes mockery of the most graceful evening frock. Start, if you must sunbathe this summer, by having ten minutes or quarter of an hour in bathing costume every time you are free and the sun

is shining. The »' •' wind may still be a little chilly, but you can find a sheltered place on your own balcony or in your back garden. Stretch yourself out in the thin sunshine and grow brown and healthy before the sea-bathing

season calls you out on to the beaches. Nevertheless, even in spring, don’t bake yourself. Fifteen minutes is ample at first, although you can gradually increase the time until after a fortnight or so you are sunbathing for more than an hour. It may be tempting now to make the very most of the first few summer days, but to hasten slowly is a good insurance against later painful regrets. The morning is the best time to sunbathe, because even those who flush flame-colour at the slightest provocation can bear the early morning rays and enjoy the tonic effects of an ultra-violet bath without the slightest discomfort. If you are a busy girl, however, and have no time for lying about in the mornings, then choose what time you can on a Saturday or Sunday. Remember always that sunbathing does not mean sunburning, for burning coarsens the skin and tires the nerves. Even the vigorous, oily skin that does not redden at the beginning of the season must be carefully broken in, or else an uneven, smoky brown of varying degrees of ugliness will almost inevitably result. It is notable that people who live constantly in the sun, even in the tropics, seldom tan to

an unpleasant colour. Complexions that are gradually acclimatised to infra-red rays —the tanning component of sunlight—never lose their clearness or smoothness of texture. It is also notable that people who live constantly in the sun seldom wilfully expose themselves to its rays in the fiercest hours of the day, between noon and two o’clock. It is far better to forgo the doubtful pleasure of slowly grilling the body for two or three hours every week-end. Energy and stimulation come from sane sunbathing at hours when the system is not strained in resisting the disintegrating effects of a flood of infra-red light. There are one or two well-known but often forgotten rules of sunbathing that might seasonably be recalled. The first is: Never sunbathe so long that you feel a sense of lassitude and uncomfortable tiredness stealing over you. On the first signs of having had enough, go into the water or the shade. People with dry, tender skins should protect themselvt" from loss of natural oil by a liberal application of some protective trade preparation. Coconut oil brings the deepest tan, and is the best if you wish to

be really brown. But for acquiring that fasein ating honey-brown shade, which is so becoming with blonde hair anil blue eyes, the best to use is pure olive oil.

Women who wish to maintain a line, unblemished complexion and yet enjoy summer s fullest delights will (hid that sponging the face and hands with sour milk after sunbathing will minimise the roughening effect of out-of-doors. Equal parts of witchlmzel and almond oil is also effective for dry skins. Take care to oil your face thoroughly, especially under the eyes. Some girls smear on calamine lotion, an excellent preventive for raw noses and peeling chins. It is wise to sunbathe in an eye-shade because the strong light may draw a little ring of white crow-tracks round your eyelids.

Too frequent doses of salt water and sun light will bleach and dry out the oiliest hair. All the same, you cannot wear a hot, tight fitting bathing cap all the day: so why not combine eye-shade and cap in a gay open-work sombrero, an attractive form of headwear that enhances both bather and bench? Otherwise, wash the hair after immersion in salt water with pure eastile soap. When it is dry, brush and massage the scalp vigorously to promote activity in the tiny oil glands which feed each hair follicle. The application of

warm olive oil—just a little—thoroughly massaged into the scalp will be found beneficial in almost every case. Behind all this advice —which, like all good advice, is unlikely to be taken—is a plea for more self-control and good sense in the indulgence of things we like. One can be a good outdoors specimen without having hemp-like hair, a chapped nose and brittle finger nails. All that is required is forethought and a little afterthought. What we want is sane sunbathers!— G.P.D.