Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 22, 30 May 1907, Page 33

Domestic

By * Maureen '

Washing the Hair. There is a right way as well as a wrong way to wash the hair, and one of the wrong ways is to apply the cake ■of soap directly to the head. Nine out of ten people do this, but it is wrong nevertheless. When the cake of soap is rubbed on the hair it crusts there and often cannot be rinsed out with the most elaborate applications of water. To wash the hair properly, so as to cleanse the head thoroughly and at the sarnie timse* leave the hair in good condition 1 , a lather should be made from soap in somewhat at the same general way as for sbavine;, and this lather then applied to the hair. Hot water should be used in making the lather, while borax and just a drop or ■two of ammonia added will do much toward preserving the natural softnless of the hair. Hot water ought also to be used for the rinsing, save toward the finish of the operation, when cooler water may be employed to prevent any possibility of taking cold when the hair is drying. The rinsing should be most carefully done, for the smallest quantity of soap clinging to the hair will prove a ve-itable catch-all for dust and germs and perhaps lead eventually to a diseased condition of the hair, l-ind scalp. One thing that people should avoid 1 in cleansing the hair is in rubbing too hard. Men especially are prone to use their finger nails on the scalp, and the habit is found to some extent among women also. The scalp is not rendered any cleaner by doing this than it would be by drying gently, and the hard scrubbing will have a tendency .to inflame tbe roots of the hair .and cause it to fall out. The Best Way of Tea Making. The following hints on -the exceedingly homely but very important operation of tea making may be read with advantage even though the gentle reader insists that she knows everything about the subject : Tea should be made directly the water comes to a boil, for if allowed to remain boiding the water undergoes a ' hardening ' process, and if taken off the hob and put back again the water loses the very properties that are required to make good tea. It is better to infuse the tea by pouring only a little water upon it first, ca>re being taken that the wate- remains hot in the teapot, or it will not properly fulfil its duty. After three or four minutes the teapot should be filled up, and the teais ready to pour out. As a polished metal teapot is a very bad radiator of heat, it keeps the water .hot much longer than a black earthen one would, and therefore makes better tea, inasmuch as the goodness of it has been drawn' out. When the dull black earthen teapot is put on the hob. it in turn makes better tea than the other, because although when away from the fire the heat of the water flies quickly through the dull surface of the teapot, yet it will absorb heat plentifully from the fire ; whereas the bright metal teapot, if pla-eed on the hob, would throw off ihe heat by reflection. Tea should not be drunk after the water has stood long ur>on the leaves, because after standing for some time the injurious properties of the tea are drawn out. ♦ The Wife as a Helpmate. Have you noticed how some men prosper after marriage, while others make no progress whateve", and in many cases fail, after a time, to retain the position they had previously won ? The" reasons, of course, are many and various. 11l luck and misfortune have a great deal to do with many of the failures. If a census of the true opinions of married men were taken, however, it is safe to affirm that the majority would ho found 1o confess that their prosperity or failure, as the rase 'might be, was due to the woman they had married.- Lookerson often see the wonderful influence a wife can exert for the good or evil of the man she had marripd 1 . A wife who wishes to help her husband to srecess 1 must take _ a real, practical interest in his worV and doings.Not in obtrusive, innuisitive manner, which will irri-' tate a man, and kad him to tell his 1 wife not to worry about matters which do not concern her s ; but a auiet thoughtful way, which will enable her to unrlprstand his difficulties, and sympaiMse with him accordingly.

For Bronchial Coughs take Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. Is 6d and 2s 6d....