THE QUEST AFTER BEAUTY

Ladies' Mirror, Volume I, Issue 5, 1 November 1922, Page 36

THE QUEST AFTER BEAUTY

Are Your Arms Beautiful How to Make Them So r PHE fashion for long transparent -*- sleeves or no sleeves at all makes it essential that the modern girl should pay the greatest possible attention to the appearance of her arms. The real key to the question lies, not so much in the development of the muscles as their even development, and the girl whose devotion to sport has developed some muscles more than others is as far from having the arms that a sculptor would admire as she who has the thin arm of a girl with no muscle at all. Exercises should all aim at developing the muscles in order from the fingers upward. Friction in itself stimulates them, and it is not a bad plan to lay the arm out straight on a pillow on the table and simply stroke it from the wrist up to the shoulder and down again. Then start the actual developing exercises by imitating the action of using the scissors. This doesn't stop with the . fingers, but acts on the whole of the forearm. Rowing men have a very good exercise for the forearm and wrist in imitation of the end of the pull. They draw in the arms to the chest, with the wrists bent down, and shoot them out again with the wrists turned up as far as they will go. Everybody at some time has tested their biceps and triceps muscles by bringing the hands, with fists clenched, up to the shoulders and down to the sides again, and this movement will occur to them as an exercise at once, but they must realise that the arm is completely spoilt by a shoulder that is out of proportion to it. The muscle along the top of the shoulder, the deltoid, is quite as important as the arm muscles themselves, and should be trained by the ordinary Swedish drill movement of shooting the arms above the head and down to the shoulders again. Of course, if a woman's work or play brings out any of these muscles it is essential to carefully avoid any exercise which touches- them especially, or the balance will be lost, and the arm will never be round, but always too lumpy and masculine looking. Beauty of Contour THE greatest trouble a woman -■- suffers from at a certain period of her life, when the first bloom of youth has passed its zenith, is the unfortunate little "bugbear" known as a double chin. If a woman will only realise in time that prevention is better than cure, that if prevention is beyond her for the moment, she must take the trouble to understand a proper method to carry out a cure. Massage, judiciously carried out, is an absolute necessity, and to those who can afford to pay someone to do the work they themselves can do is a soothing luxury, but massage alone is not sufficient. To produce healthy tissues and eradicate adipose tissues, whereby muscles become strong and equal to their work, simple exercises

should be performed that will cause no headaches or other inconvenience, and can be carried out in a sitting posture in bed if necessary. Exercises and massage must be taken seriously, just as one takes a course of waters at a spa for a cure, and a certain length of time is always allowed until a cure is complete. Flabby Muscles The flabbiness of muscles by the temples and cheek bones causes ugly drooping lines from the nose to the chin. Therefore they need careful massage. The tightening of the muscles behind the ears has the effect of removing an unsightly double chin and improving the contour of the face. The tightening of the muscles at the back of the neck has the effect of keeping the neck youthful and helping to improve the whole contour of neck and face, retaining its normal beauty. Exercises for the neck are as follow : 1. Bend the head well forward, chin resting on upper part of chest; place hands (fingers interlaced) on the upper part of the back of the head. Then slowly raise the head, resisting the movement with strong downward pressure of the hands until the head is as far back as possible. Repeat this movement backwards and forwards ten times. 2. Turn the head to the left as far oyer the shoulder as possible. Place right hand against the side of the head. Slowly turn the head until facing to centre, resisting with the hands in a contrary direction. Repeat exercise, turning head to right, resisting with left hand. This movement should be carried out ten times. These exercises should be performed slowly without any jerking movement. Massage For massage, using a good massage cream, the following movement is excellent:— The tips of the fingers should be placed on the temples, thumbs meeting under the chin. Pass thumbs round the contour of the face, when reaching temples remove thumbs and slowly massage with tips of fingers with circular movement the muscles by the temples. This massage should be carried out for quite two or three minutes. IVTO one can arrest the approach of - middle age, but any woman who takes an intelligent interest in making the best of herself can retard the moment when she must be classed among those who have bid farewell to youthfulness. A few grey hairs, a wrinkle or two, do not necessarily prove that a woman is growing old; her apparent age is influenced very largely by her mental attitude towards life. Most of us have all, more or less, discovered the power of mind over matter. 10 retain youth one must "think young," cultivate the vitality, and take an intelligent and youthful interest in eveything around you. Youth is always deeply interested in everything, and so is the woman who maintains her youth till late in life.