GOOD LOOKS AND MIDDLE AGE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17039, 12 May 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

GOOD LOOKS AND MIDDLE AGE.

(By MARGARET MERE.) The girl in her twenties, whose youth alone ensures her a certain beauty, will spend hours “ improving her appearance.” The woman of forty, on the other hand, often regards her “good looks” as something over and done with. She may have spent hours brushing her hair, manicuring her nails and going through all the exacting, wise routine of the beauty culturist, when she was twenty-five. At fortyfive she wearies of well-doing and st-ops —just when she should begin—caring about her appearance. English women are the chief offenders where this lack of pride in themselves is concerned. The middle-aged Frenchwoman takes ten years off her age by careful corseting; by ten minutes’ gentle massage of face and neck each night; by the choice of well-cut clothes in becoming colours; by visiting, at least once a month, a good hairdresser for massage and shampooing. The middle-aged woman’s two greatest enemies are worry and stoutness The worry habit may make her thin to the point of scragginess, and increase the number of lines on her face.

Too much weight is something that can be overcome only by careful dieting and exercise. Avoid all purely fattening foods, and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. School yourself to a brisk walk each day, and play tennis, or golf when feasible.

A woman most readily shows her age by her neck. If this is either too fat or too thin, gently massage with the finger tips, in a rotary motion from the base of the ear down to the collarbone, will do wonders. For a thin neck cold -cream should be used when massaging. But it must be don© regularly each day and never for less than five minutes.