QUEST OF BEAUTY

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 13 September 1930, Page 16

QUEST OF BEAUTY

T>EAITTY parlours (with their compile- i a ted! hair drying, dyeing, and 1 wav- ! ing appliances, and mysterious jars and , plnals of transforming creams and i liquids, are. regarded' as essentially | modern. 'But. when she submit* to the I ministrat.ions of a bouuity oulturist, to acquire, sleekness of hair and freshness I of complexion, the 20th century woman is merely following the. path to beauty trodden by nvoman- since. the world' was young. Beauty culture, ha's been a' complicated 1 matter in -all countries and climes 1 throughout the ages. Six thousand years ago, Egyptian and Assyrian beauties powdered their faces rouged, their cheeks and! lips, darkened) their eyes, and gradually complicated the secrets.of their toilets-un-til, archaeological discoveries show the beau tv parlour paraphernalia- of eha.rm:ers of’ant iquity rivalled in luxury that of their 20th century sisters. In one form or another, the use of cosmetics can be traced as far back as history itself. Egyptian tombs closed 4000 years ago, have yieldied vanity reticules containing all the’ of the modern manicure set; rougc-cf briekdust; ornamental flasks retaining evidences of beauty ointments; and pots of powdered antimony to darken eyelids s ueh as are in daily use all over the East t'o-day.

Washes and lotions have varied throughout the ages, and 1 continents, fre.m the asses’ milk baths of Poppaea, the beautiful wife of Nero, rosewater and eld'orflower water lotions and red wine baths of the loth century; the fresh green oranges used as bath soap in Polynesia; the cast-off snake skins used by Japanese beauties as toilet preparations, in: the'belief that when s-nake skin, is used for washing the face, charm and allure will be added, to the expressions. Eve-brow plucking was practised 3000 years ago, and intermittently through the centuries. A lip-lotion is recommended in an old book published in .Venice! in l’ol'O 1 —‘ '-ashes of hair plucked from a horse’s tail mixed with an. equal portion of honey.” Far Eastern beauties at all times have found a substitute for the much-maligned lipstick of the 20th century flapper in the scarlet juice of the prepared betel, which they chew iwith persistency of an American gum addict. In the great days of Home, scent was so' important- a feature of the toilet that every part of the body had its

Toilet Table as Old as History

i special perfume, such as a mint for the ! arms, andi ivy essence for the knees. In the olden days one way, of perj fuming- a room or uppartment was to | drench doves in essence' andl let them | lie about. But, incense was ithe most used medium, as it is now. There have always been fashions in scents, just as there are to-day. Nero. is said' to have set the fashion- for rosewater; Louis Xl'V. made orange 'blossom the ragei; and the Empress Josephine introduced musk. Make-up is always unjustly attributed to women’s vanity; but if she were fatuously content with her appearance, it seems hardily likely that cosmetics would be called in to improve matters. Jezebel, who painted her face and looked out a window, probably used brick-dust, unless’ she knew of a- strange Chinese-rouge spread on little cards—a vivid green which turns carmine when it is moistened. Rouge was once known as Spanish paper, because it was sold in books of rouge-paper supposed to have come from Spain. 'Most powders used to be made, of starch 'or chalk', din’d, the Chinese idea of powdering,' among the poor classes, is still pure chalk. In- India they use yellow saffron, and Java, the treasure house of tiny Holland, is the home. <>t our familiar rice-powder. - V Care of the hair i 9 an subject. The Eskimo lady used reindeer marrow for pomatum. In Fiji they use scented oil and the gum of the bread-fruit tree .as a kind of stiffener. In the Society Islands of t-he South Seas where burned coral serves as hairdye, there is even a god of hair-dress-ers, Totoropotea is his name. Permanent waving was known in the time of Nero, according to .historians, who credit a favourite of the Emperor with having made the first experiment by remaining three! weeks in a hot Roman bath, hex hair in curlers securely packed with clay. Kohl has 'been used to shade and enlarge the eyes -since the dawn of ancient Egyptian civilisation, -and- is still freely used! in Oriental -countries where the cult of the eve is the supreme care of a beautiful .woman. In the Near East there are two -kinds of kohl, one made from powdered antimony, which sparkles -and glistens with a myriad tiny lights; and the other sort from burnt sweet almond- oil, prepared iwit'll- many precautions against 1 the machinations of the Evil One.