SOMETHING ABOUT THE COMPLEXION.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 37, 10 September 1892, Page 915

SOMETHING ABOUT THE COMPLEXION.

What a wearisome thing it is—ali this talk about the complexion : what we must do, and what we must take, how we must manage it and the thousand and one petty details told in the minutest fashion ; as though the complexion of womankind were absolutely anew thing, and no one had the least idea of how to get along with it- Will women ever learn that the principal things required in order to have a good complexion are cleanliness and a careful diet ? Wash the face thoroughly and—speak it not aloud -the entire surface of the body, also. If there is any mistake in the world which women and girls make, it is in the idea that they can play tricks with nature. Just stop a minute and think it over. The face and hands are but a very small portion of the surface of the body. They are, as a rule, the only visible parts. Society and custom demand that they shall be kept, at least, approximately clean. If this is not done, one’s dear five hundred friends have no difficulty in finding it out. That the rest of the surface gets no particular attention seems to them a very unimportant affair, and they, therefore, bestow all of their time, strength and labour on the few square inches of face and hands. The consequence is that this mnch-washed portion is made to do duty for the entire system. It is, as a matter of fact, much better for the complexion to avoid a thorough washing of the face, provided the body is neglected. The reason for this is apparent when one considers that the pores of the remainder of the skin are still closed with perspiratory matter, and that the face and hands furnish the only means of egress for the impurities of the skin. Having to do not only double but tenfold duty, what wonder that they become overtaxed and weakened, and that a good crop of pimples and other eruptions is the result? Many a person has observed eczema and similar diseases in the face after a thorough bathing of the face, resorted to in the hope of bettering the complexion. Those who have not been in the habit of taking full and frequent scrubbing baths will do well to begin with the body and leave the face alone until the system has had time to accustom itself to the new order of things. The entire surface of the skin

should be thoroughly scrubbed with a soft brush at least once every week —twice is better; or every second day, at least, a quick sponge-bath should be taken. Many persons cannot endure the daily bath. They are cold and tired and dragged if they bathe too much. The thorough cleansing of the surface of the body will do more towards improving the complexion than all of the applications ever invented. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of young persons that three-fourths of the eruptions and pimples are traceable to thorough washing of the face and neglect of the remainder of the body.