HOW TO MAKE YOUR NECK BEAUTIFUL
It is a most decided advantage to be born with a beautiful neck, as it
is to be born with beautiful features, a beautiful figure or beautiful
hair. It is one of the compensations of being overplump that the
woman of too ample lines has a beautiful throat and arms. While the
thin woman, whose features are well defined, not being blanketed by
superfluous layers of flesh, and whose figure is more elegant because
not swathed by adipose tissue, has, as a rule, a scrawny neck and
whip-like arms.
The neck to be beautiful must be neither too long nor too short, too
fat nor too lean. It must be shapely; that is, evenly developed. The
skin must be soft and white.
The length of the neck is one of the fixed quantities of nature. One
cannot change it, but we can learn the lesson of illusion from the
stage, and try to make it seem longer or shorter than it is. The
best aid to this is the poise of the head. The woman whose chin is
carried well up, whose poise of the head is habitually high, gives the
impression that her neck is at least an inch longer than it is. Also
the manner of the trimming of her high-neck gown and the line at which
the low-cut gown is finished determine whether the neck looks longer
than it is or shorter.
If the neck is short the collar should be of solid colors or be trimmed
with perpendicular lines. The low-necked gown should be cut lower than
that of the woman with the long neck, for the neck is more dependent
upon its surroundings for its effect than is any other part of the
body. If there is a wide sweep of the shoulders the long line from the
point of the shoulder to the chin will lend itself to the neck and make
the neck seem longer than it would if the gown were merely one of the
collarless sort with a line of cloth defining where the neck actually
begins.
If the neck is long the problem is an easier one, especially at times
when much dressing for the neck is in vogue. Even an ostrich’s neck
could be so wrapped about with laces, with collars and ties of a
contrasting color which would cut the apparent length, that it would
be far less conspicuous than unadorned. I should say it could be
made to look a foot shorter. The human neck can be dressed to make a
proportionate change of appearance. The extremely low décolletage is
less becoming to the woman with the long neck. If she must adopt it, or
thinks she must, she should wear her jewels or a band of ribbon about
her neck to make her neck seem shorter. The drooping Madonna poise of
the head may be becomingly affected by the woman with the long neck,
especially when sitting for her photographs.
The neck, I have before said, must be neither too fat nor too lean.
To correct either too much or too little flesh upon the neck we must
summon the aid of that lieutenant to beauty, massage. On the beautiful
neck the flesh is evenly distributed. The neck should be, save for the
two parallel lines about an inch apart which encircle the neck and are
seen on the necks even of babes, perfectly smooth. If the flesh be
uneven, persistent, skillful and gentle massage should redistribute the
disproportionate bulk of flesh.
There is always a possibility that the neck will be flat in front
and display thick layers of fat at the sides and back. This can be
corrected by patient and careful massage. The front of the neck should
be made plumper by massage. Olive oil or a pure cold cream should be
freely rubbed into the skin by the first three fingers of each hand,
massaging first on the right side of the neck with the right hand, then
on the left with the left hand, then with both hands together. The
motion should be a rotary one, always the best movement for rebuilding
tissue because it induces circulation, which feeds the starved,
atrophied portions.
To reduce the bulk of the back and side of the neck a reducing lotion
should be applied by long, sweeping, downward strokes, the effect of
which strokes is to melt the flesh downward into the larger masses of
flesh on the shoulders. A lotion I have known to be used with success
for the melting away of too ponderous flesh about the neck is this:
Tincture of iodine, 30 minims; iodide of potassium, 60 grains;
hyposulphite of soda, 20 grains; distilled water, 7 ounces; aniseed
water, 170 minims.
Be careful not to tamper with and so enlarge the large glands in the
neck. Enlarging them may permanently disfigure a beautiful neck. They
are the danger points of the manipulation. It is they and the gorged
veins that give to a neck that aged, withered appearance which we
describe by the word “ropey.” Once these glands are enlarged and the
veins swollen there is no art in beauty lore to diminish them. Perhaps
a physician can reduce their size, but I have never known it to be
achieved.
For the “aged neck” there is almost no hope. Mme. Sarah Bernhardt
realized this, and while combating all the other signs of her
increasing years, yielded to the demands of the neck that was no longer
young, and covered it. The collarless gown is not for her. Always she
wears a high-necked gown, or, if circumstances require, a costume
décolleté, she wears a ribbon of velvet or a collar of jewels about her
throat.
For battling against the ageing neck I can give no better recipe than
this for a massage cream, which should be plentifully applied night and
morning:
Glycerine, 5 ounces; mutton tallow, 1 pound; tincture of benzoin, 2
drams; spirits of camphor, 1 dram; powdered alum, ½ dram; orange flower
water, 1 dram; Russian isinglass, 2 ounces.
If the neck is thin, but the veins and glands are not enlarged, there
is hope. The skin must be fed by cold creams and the circulation
promoted by massage. The rotary motion with the first three fingers of
each hand is the desirable one. Fifteen minutes should be spent night
and morning in this massage. One nourishing massage cream especially
excellent for the neck is this:
Oil of sweet almonds, 10 grams; lanolin, 15 grams; tannin, ½ gram.
A successful fattening cream for the neck contains:
Alcohol (95 per cent.), 20 grams; lard or cocoa butter, 100 grams;
essence of rosemary, 12 drops; essence of bergamot, 12 drops.
A third and most important essential is that the skin of the neck be
white and soft. To secure this effect one must, as you say in America,
“start right.” First prevent stains upon the neck.
A stained neck is always a revolting sight. A dark, shadowy rim about
the neck may have been caused by dark collars and there may have been
valiant efforts to remove it, but if they have not been successful I
beseech you wear only high-necked collars until the stain is removed.
The casual observer at a dinner or a ball will make no allowance for
the cause, the stain-communicating collar of colored net or some other
fabric. To him your neck will be soiled. That is all and that is very
much.
To prevent such stains avoid wearing dark colors next to the neck. If
the dark collar is unavoidable then line it with something soft and
white, old muslin or part of an old silk handkerchief.
But, having acquired the dark, shadowy look about the neck that is
so repellent remove it as soon as possible. A thorough sponging with
peroxide of hydrogen, full strength, followed immediately by another
bath of rose water, I have found excellent.
Or there may be frequent baths with this preparation, which is
admirable for bleaching:
Glycerine, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 ounce; carbolic acid, 10 drops;
tincture of benzoin, 10 drops.
This home remedy is useful when less drastic remedies are not at hand:
One-half lemon; one small tumbler of water. Squeeze the lemon juice
into the glass. Bathe the neck frequently with the mixture.
For those, and there are many, among them experts, who do not wish to
use the peroxide of hydrogen full strength, I would recommend:
Peroxide of hydrogen, ½ wineglass; witchhazel, ½ wineglass.
To bleach a neck that is too oily this used once a day for three
successive days is helpful:
Rosewater, ½ wineglass; ammonia, 5 drops. Use this sparingly, for the
action of ammonia upon the skin is to make it exceedingly dry.
The woman who would have a beautiful neck must consider it even in
repose. She should never use a high pillow, preferably no pillow at
all. For when the head rests upon the pillow, the chin falls upon the
breast. The muscles of the neck are contracted, wrinkles are formed
and muscles become flabby. Lying on the back is the best posture for
sleeping. The muscles of the neck are thus given full play and rest.
Many times I am asked “If you had a mole on the neck what would
you do?” I would let it remain there, and be thankful that I had a
distinguishing mark, a beauty spot. But if you insist upon removing it
a physician might try electricity.
I have been asked how to remove superfluous hair from the neck. I
should not remove it, for I should not regard it as superfluous. Why
do American women so dislike hair upon the face and neck? There should
be a fine covering of hair. It is beautiful. It is like down upon the
peach.
Sometimes the collar supporter, or a pin or hook used for fastening
the collar, scratches the neck. For these or any other bruises of
the neck I should first bathe the injured part with absorbent cotton
dipped into peroxide of hydrogen. If the bruise is severe I would apply
collodion or court plaster to protect it from air-floating germs, while
healing. I would remove these by moistening them with alcohol. If this
precaution is not taken a bit of the skin or flesh might adhere to the
application, so causing a scar. When the new skin is formed, covering
the wound, and it is no longer very sensitive, I would massage it
gently once a day. This relieves the congestion and gradually removes
the disfiguring red line that might remain as a trophy of the adventure.
A traveling companion of mine once scraped her neck against a deck
railing while the ship tossed. She treated it as I have advised and
when there still remained a broad pink stain as a souvenir of the
accident she massaged it very lightly every day for a fortnight, when
the pink stain utterly disappeared.
If your neck is suffering from wearing a too high collar I recommend
one of the following recipes:
Equal parts of peroxide of hydrogen and water. In extreme cases there
is no objection to a neck bath of pure peroxide of hydrogen.
Equal parts of alcohol (95 per cent.) and water.
Equal parts of lemon juice and water.
Water, ½ pint; ammonia, 1 dram.
Still another remedy is to scrub the neck with a soft complexion brush
dipped into a warm lather of Castile soap with a few drops of ammonia
added.
In summer when the neck becomes tanned and blistered by the sun massage
it with a pure, cold cream and bathe it frequently with a mild solution
of peroxide of hydrogen.