BOND STREET HINTS for BEAUTY’S BOUDOIR

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 2, Issue 6, 1 December 1923, Page 51

BOND STREET HINTS for BEAUTY’S BOUDOIR

by A GIRL ABOUT TOWN

OEAUTY is undoubtedly a woman’s most valuable asset. Ask any woman if she would prefer to be poor and beautiful or rich and plain, and she will unhesitatingly reply: “Let me be beautiful!” It is her special mission in life to charm and attract, and is not this, after all, Nature’s ultimate object? Why blame her, then, if she employs mysterious methods of her own to accentuate the charms with which she has been endowed, and to conceal as far as possible Nature’s errors? A woman may assist Nature without indulging in any fakery or foolishness, and since every woman wants to make the best of herself, here are some commonsense methods of doing everyday things the right way, which you will find is just as easy as doing them the wrong way. How to Have a Bath To start with the most commonplace and unromantic duty of allhow to have a bath: This sounds rather unnecessary, doesn’t it? The average reader will protest indignantly that any civilised person knows how. But with all due respect to the civilised, let me say that taking a bath is a fine art which as yet has not been taught even in the most expensive colleges for the daughters of gentlemen. I know that all my friends take their “tubs” every day (because they have all, at some time or another, mentioned the fact!), and I respect them tremendously for it, but I must disclose the horrible truth that the application of soap and water alone is not sufficient. I will even go so far as to say that, unless you take an occasional Turkish bath or indulge in some other pleasant means of perspiring, you are not clean! Not every one, however, can enjoy a Turkish bath (either for physical or financial reasons), so here is the next best thing: A very hot bath at home once or twice a week, with a handful of washing soda in it. Lie in soak until you feel nicely boiled, and then rub yourself vigorously all over with a rubber hand-glove, which is sold by chemists for this purpose. After that, sponge yourself quickly with cold water, and you will feel like a new person. Many Spanish women put a handful of starch in their baths, for the purpose of preserving the smoothness and firmness of the skin, and it appears to be a very effective idea indeed. Your Neck and Shoulders And now a word about your neck and shoulders. It is upon the neck that the first dread signs of advancing years make their appearance, and the woman of thirty who wishes to convince the world that she is twenty, should keep a careful watch upon her neck, just below the chin, for it is here that the flesh becomes stringy and wrinkled, sometimes quite early in life. Superfluous flesh may be got rid of by the application of ice and by exercising the neck, turning it this way and that for a few minutes every morning and evening; but in the case of sagging muscles and relaxed skin, the best and surest remedy is to flap the neck with the corner of a smooth towel which has been soaked in some astringent lotion. Witch-hazel is good, but salt and water is equally effective and very much cheaper. The action of flapping the neck promotes the circulation, causing the skin to resume its normal functions whilst the astringent lotion is gradually being absorbed and tightening up the loose flesh. This exercise may become a little tedious after the first few days’ practice, but carry on; it’s worth it. To keep the neck smooth and plump I would recommend the adoption of another Spanish practice, which is to rub pure olive-oil into the skin every night before retiring. A good cream to be rubbed in and wiped off after washing can be made up from the following recipe:— 120 grains of French gelatine, one and a half ounces of glycerine, and one ounce of rose water. Cut the gelatine up into small pieces, place in a jar, and pour the rose water upon it. Place in a saucepan of boiling water

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and allow the gelatine to dissolve. Strain off, then warm the glycerine and pour it in, adding any perfume you may fancy. If you want to look well in your scanty evening gowns do remember these hints, because nothing is so unattractive as bony shoulders unveiled. Pretty Fingers And now, oh worshippers at the shrine of Beauty, what about your little hands? Are they as smooth and white as you would wish? Do you feel proud of their prominence above the dinner table or when you are hesitating about your next call at bridge? I think hands are just as expressive and characteristic as faces, and perhaps their greatest beauty lies in their whiteness. To whiten the hands I know of nothing better than the use of lemon after washing. Keep half a lemon on your washstand for this purpose, and also remember that glycerine applied every night will make any roughness of the skin quite impossible. As for your nails, if you have not been blessed with “filberts,” you can do much to improve their shape by filing them very close at the sides, and allowing them to grow fairly long at the tips. There are many ways and means of preserving the softness of the cuticle, and whilst I believe that most cuticle creams on the market will do what is claimed for them, they are not enough. You need in addition to acquire the habit of pushing the cuticle back with your towel after washing, and you will find that it will not grow rough nor threaten to conceal your fascinating half-moons. Whatever you do, avoid trimming the cuticle with scissors. By so doing you will only make the rim of flesh round the nails sore and ragged. If your nails are weak and brittle, apply vaseline to them every night. This is a very old and unbeatable remedy, whilst a little cotton wool soaked in peroxide of hydrogen, wrapped round an orange-stick and worked gently around the nail, will produce a finish worthy of the most efficient manicurist. And then Your Hair And now, Eve, what of your crowning glory ? I do hope you realise that your physical health has a great deal to do with the possession of beautiful hair. One of the chief causes of impoverished hair is bad circulation, for the roots need their blood supply just as a plant needs water. Massage your scalp as often as you can, and remember that it is much more important to move the scalp than to move the fingers. So long as the skin which covers the head is kept loose and pliable you need never fear scanty hair. In preserving the softness and brilliance of your tresses use common sense. If too dry, apply oil to the roots every night: castor oil, olive oil, or vaseline, and if too greasy, use an alkaline hair-wash about once in three weeks and a stimulating lotion every night. For this purpose the following recipe will be found hard to heat: — Two parts turpentine, eight parts spirits of camphor, and a few drops of ammonia. A good shampoo for a greasy head is lukewarm bran water, into which has been mixed a dessertspoonful of borax and the beaten yolk of an egg. If you carry out these simple rules you should soon be a very charming example of fascinating coiffure. The Lure of Little Feet I cannot let you go without a little lecture on the base of your success the feet. A beautiful shoe will do much towards the production of an outwardly beautiful foot, but there is, alas, no way of camouflaging thick ankles, and those of you who are not as slim below the calf as you would wish will, I know, welcome a hint or two on that point. If the cause of a thick ankle is a thick bone, there is nothing for it but a long skirt, although even that dissembling vogue cannot conceal ankles so long as women will dance, and sit with crossed legs. The average cause of thick ankles, however, is fat, and fat can, thank Heaven, be got rid of with just a little ingenuity and patience. Exercise is the great thing. Devote ten minutes every day to the practice of rising on the toes very slowly, balancing there for as long as you can and then bending the knees outwards until you are in a sort of sitting positionkeeping on the toes all the —and rising just as slowly. You must have done this at school, and it is a wonderful exercise for strengthening the ankles and the insteps. Where there is strength there must of necessity be muscle, and where there is muscle there cannot be fat, so there you are! I know that all these little things take time and patience, but, as our friends across the Channel say, one must suffer to be beautiful, and beauty is always rewarded only by beauty.

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