HOW TO KEEP YOUTHFUL IN APPEARANCE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 10, 7 March 1891, Page 11

HOW TO KEEP YOUTHFUL IN APPEARANCE.

Under the heading of ‘ Another Strange Profession' I read the following :—‘ We have our “ manicures ” and our “massages.” What do you think of the latest feminine profession, the “ facewasher " ’ According to one of the professional face washers in London very few women know what it is to possess a clean face. This is how you manage it. The face is washed in various waters. The first is tepid, the second is warm, the third is hot, and the fourth is boiling. At this point the face may be compared to a lace handkerchief that has been washed and rough dried. Before it can be ironed the handkerchief must be sprinkled with water, or the wrinkles won’t come out, and the same rule applies to the face, only cream must be substituted for water. The facewasher gently anoints the skin with this, and then starts on the ironing. She uses the first and second fingers on both hands, nothing else, for the iron. First the forehead is attacked, then the eyes, then the coiners of the mouth, and lastly the throat. The lines gradually get fainter, and some of the young ones disappear altogether, but the ironing goes on for twenty minutes. But this is not the end. The face is washed again, and precisely in the same numbers of waters as before. This time the first water is boiling hot and the last cold. Then the face is gently tapped with the forefingers until a pretty pink colour fills each cheek ; then you have done after an hour and a-half’s work.’ Fancy, and yet women mostly waste quite that time each day, and some spend as long in ‘ getting up,’ so that for those who wish to look young and beautiful for ever this is a far cleaner, and almost certainly a more effectual way of attaining the object, and does away with the grimy, dirty appearance on the edge of some people’s collars, which betrays the too free use of cosmetics. After a few more generations Ido believe women will turn out quite sensible. The ‘ massage ’is one of the most delightful and health-giving of our fads, and when a good substitute is found for youth by a youthful face and form gained by natural means, and the paint box and powder, corsets, high-heeled shoes abolished, and a few other reforms appertaining to the toilet and costume are brought about, men will have to declare that the higher education of women has had some good results. Never until men cease to admire beauty will women cease to strive to be beautiful, so that every healthful and natural means should be welcomed, and even applauded, so that those harmful follies that so many women and girls indulge in may vanish one by one.—DienerZin Correspondent.