JAPANESE BEAUTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 56, 3 September 1936, Page 19

JAPANESE BEAUTY

SHAVING THE NECK

STRANGE COSMETICS

Cold water is recognised in Japan as the best skin lotion, and only poor girls use hot to wash off the dirt of the street and factory from their faces.

The. powder foundation applied after the wash is a liquid consisting of rice-chaff and unrefined sugar, which keeps the skin soft and tender. Yet, in addition, the Japanese woman must shave her neck and face at least once a month, even when the lotion is used, for powder does not stick properly upon a skin covered with small hairs. '

The Japanese consider short faces and flat short noses ugly, so they skilfully paint the powder over the face, moving the brush from ear to ear instead of from forehead "to chin, and pile it high on the bridge of the nose. Both methods are remarkably efficacious.

In spite of their golden skin, all Japanese use white powder. The mouth

is painted white and only a small spot of rouge is applied to the lower lip, for a tiny mouth is the ambition of every Japanese woman who would be beautiful.

The hair is smeared with the oil of camellias to obtain the stiff and shiny appearance so well known in the Japanese. It is very difficult to remove the oil after some weeks when it has become dry and sticky, and the hairdresser is obliged to rub the hair with wet towels for several hours.

Lest they destroy the elaborate work of the hairdresser, Japanese girls place a piece of wood under their necks while they sleep, and so manage to preserve the beautiful structure unruffled.