Common Sense and the Complexion

Ladies' Mirror, Volume V, Issue 6, 1 December 1926, Page 44

Common Sense and the Complexion

Some Methods to Avoid

TV/Tost articles that appear upon this theme are usually treated from

the point of view of "Do this if you value your skin"; "Do this for a rough skin; "Do that for another type of skin, and that for wrinkles."

Now let us think of the Don'ts. If you want to make the most of the care and attention you give to the skin, there are some things that must not be done.

The first thing is massage. Don't massage your creams and tonics into your skin. We are so accustomed to hear of face massage that this may sound surprising, but there is very good reason for the caution.

An athlete, after a strenuous football game or a foot-race which he has run with terrific effort, finds his muscles tight and hard as nails from the strain to which they have been subjected. In this case, massage is perfect. Massage will relax his muscles and let down the tension in the tissues. This is just the result the athlete wants.

But the treatment of a woman's face and neck is quite a different matter. Here we do not want to bring about relaxation. . On the contrary, we want always to tighten up. As the years go by, all the tendency of a woman's face is toward relaxation. We want to check that, and to counteract it by scientific treatment which will lift and make firm the tissues. When the circulation and tone of the muscles are good, the tissues of the skin are full of vigour and elasticity. With the years, the circulation begins to lag; the muscles are undernourished and the tissues get flabby. Like old rubber bands, they lose their elasticity. They need to be tightened up or the contour will soon lose its smooth youthful line.

Massage will only increase the harm, for the effect of massage is to relax the tissues still more. Instead, your method of treatment must invigorate the tissues, tighten them up and restore their elasticity and firmness.

'"The very foundation of a correct method of skin treatment is the

scientific patting to stimulate the tissues. Every cream tonic, astringent and lotion should be applied with the same patting strokes. The patting should always be upward, to overcome the tendency of the face to droop. The pats should be smart, telling pats, so as to stimulate the tissues, to bring the blood coursing through the muscles and to galvanise the cells into action. Half the wrinkles, the flabbiness, the sallowness and blackheads and lines are clue to a torpid condition of the skin. Pat your skin into wakefulness. Don't massage it into flabbiness.

Creams are patter best with the fingertips. Use the cushion part of

your lingers; let your wrist bend loosely, so that each stroke has some resilience. When you pat your creams near the eyes and on the upper and lower lids, pat very gently, of course, for these tissues are very delicate. But when you are applying your skin food and muscle oil along the edge of your contour, under the chin, around the mouth, on the cheeks and forehead—pat hard. It will do the skin lots of good.

Skin tonics and astringents are applied best with a cotton pad. Make a firm pad of absorbent cotton about the width of three fingers and Sin. or 6in. long. Wring it out first in cold water so as to make it very firm. Then dip it in your tonic or astringent and pat briskly with this.

Here again you must pat with some vigour along the jawbone, for these preparations are particularly important to correct any looseness or flabbiness in the muscles which make the contour of the face.

second don't is even more serious than massage. Don't think of subjecting yourself to any sort of facial operation. The risk is too great, the result too uncertain, the need too small. If you care for your skin wisely and faithfully, you can keep your youth and good looks for years longer than you can by means of operations.

The operation most talked about to-day is the one called "face lifting." This is an actual surgical operation involving cutting—and so includes the everpresent possibility of infection in the process. It is an exceedingly, delicate operation The skin is cut on the temples, between the eyes and the hair. ' A piece of skin the shape of a crescent is removed, and the two edges brought together again and sewn tip. If you put your fingers on your temples and pull up the sides of your face you will see what the result is. It seems to erase the line from your nose to your mouth-corn-ers. But that is not all the story.

If you have ever done any dressmaking you can realise how difficult it is to sew together smoothly two sides of an opening from which you have cut a crescent shaped gusset. When this is not perfectly done, the operation leaves a scar.

And the results are so temporary. In making the cut, only the skin is removed. The muscles are still there. For a short time the skin will pull them up. But not for long, of course. How can it ? With the heavy flabby muscles dropping downward, the skin will soon stretch and let them down and the wrinkles will be there again. The effects of the operation can last only a few months at best.

pace peeling is another operation to be avoided. This is not as common as it was a few years ago, but it still seems to arouse the curiosity of many worn''*' Peeling is done with a, chemical, which eats off the outer layer of the skin. You know how tender and sore the spot is if you so much as tear off a tiny bit around your nail ? Fancy having your whole face in that condition ! The risk of infection and of scarring here is very great. With the outer layer gone, the need for precaution is multiplied a thousand times. It is several days before the patient can go out into the light and air, so sensitive is the face. Even water is torture. It must be cleansed with ointments. After all this agony the result is only temporary. When the under layer of the skin becomes tough enough to endure exposure, it is just an outer layer again and soon takes on the appearance of the o.d familiar complexion. You will see how much easier and safer and surer it is to keep the skin clear and fine and soft by caring for it correctly each day. Another don’t is this. Don’t think of paraffin injections to fid out hollows and wrinkles. Why should you, anyhow when you can fill them out so easily and sanely with good nourishing creams ? The paraffin method is risky, too. You may have heard of the matinee idol who had it done and bad to retire from the stage and all public life, because the paraffin melted down under the skin in little balls that made bumps in odd places all over the face. These arc my warnings against attempting drastic methods of improving the skin. Take good care of it • every morning and night cleansing your skin carefully to keep the pores clean and free from the impurities that cause blackheads, toning it to keep the cells active and the muscles firm, nourishing it, to supply the needs of the skin and to round out lines and wrinkles—and you will have no need to think of any other method. Freckles freckles are by no means unenA. • dearing— a certain type they provide chic. But deep and persistent freckles, beyond the mere faint powdering of nose or frrthead, are not only ugly but actually injurious to the skin. Prevention is better than cure. All women with red hair and a milky skin or the sensitive blonde type freckle easily. Such should wear wide-brimmed felt or linen hats, preferably lined with orange, carry orange sunshades, and use a specially protective vanishing cream. If freckles do appear, there are several easy remedies. The simplest consists of equal parts of fresh lemon juice and glycerine dabbed on and left to dry. This or horacic lotion painted on with a brush will cure light freckles. Deeper ones may yield to a lotion made from loz. peroxide of hydro-

gen (10 vols.) glycerine, eau de Cologne, and rosewater. An old-fashioned remedy is made from an ounce of red rose petals infused in 12 fluid ounces of hot water. After macerating the petals and straining off the fluid, add 30 grains of citric acid to each half-pint. Dissolve, leave to stand 12 hours and draw off all the clear part of die mixture. This needs to be applied regularly twice a day, as do the anti-freckles lotion made from loz. alum, a teacupful of fresh milk, and a few drops of eau de Cologne, or the zinc preparations, or the freshly expressed juice of a* cucumber mixed with buttermilk, all of which are effective freckle antidotes.