USEFUL BEAUTY HINTS FOR MEN
Men take beauty treatments. Had that been a secret heretofore, one of
their own sex revealed it. David Graham Phillips, whom some critics
have called the Zola, others the Flaubert, of American literature,
tells of the disappearance of a wealthy broker who was taking a beauty
treatment.
Of what do men’s beauty treatments consist? Like the soundest of beauty
treatments given to women, some of them are the rebuilding of the
constitution upon a basis of health. Muldoon, of White Plains, many a
New York man considers the greatest of beauty doctors. Men of London
and some men of Paris have the same unlimited faith in Sandow.
No intelligent person can doubt that rest, regular living and much
out-of-door air will make a person’s beauty greater, because it will
strengthen the very pedestal of beauty, which is health. Every man is
justified in taking one of these beauty vacations, which is, after all,
a health vacation, a tonic time for the entire system.
If I were asked what the smart man has most regard for in his
appearance, I should say his baths, which the English and those who
spend much time in England, call their “tubs,” and the cut of their
clothes.
As to the baths, the man who is really not unkempt, by the standards of
the high world, has two baths a day, in the morning a cold plunge or
shower as a tonic, in the evening just before dinner a tepid or warm
bath, with a shower afterward, as a cleanser.
The cold bath is not cleansing. On the contrary it merely closes the
pores, shutting the gates upon the effete matter that is trying to
escape from the system by means of the millions of little gateways in
the skin. It is valuable as a tonic to the nervous system, by means of
the shock it gives to that system. But not even my lord man, mighty in
his strength, should take such powerful tonics without having consulted
his physician about it.
A man who always seems to shine with the radiance of his bath pours a
wineglassful of perfumed ammonia into a tub of water. This softens the
water, removes the odors of perspiration and whitens the skin.
An exquisite who is the fashion in London uses a quarter of a pound of
borax in his bath to soften the water and so refine his skin.
I once heard the story of the physician with so admirable a skin that
all his women patients asked the secret of his complexion’s perfection.
He told one, who generously told many others, that knowing the mighty
power of absorption of the skin, he had experimented with the use
of Epsom salts in the bath. He had found it stimulating and, in
consequence, had used a pound of the salts dissolved in a bathtubful of
water, every day.
A salt bath is stimulating. Rubbing handfuls of table salt on the body,
getting it into a fine glow before the bath, is one means of absorbing
the salt into the system. Another is pouring an ordinary five-cent bag
of table salt into the water and letting it thoroughly dissolve before
taking the bath.
[Illustration: MAXINE ELLIOTT Whom Mme. Cavalieri admires not only for
her classic lines of face and figure, but also for her admirable taste
in dress.]
But ask any well-groomed man if baths are sufficient for cleanliness
and he will answer, “No. No man can be clean unless he walks four to
six miles a day.” There must be then three baths, the cold plunge in
the morning, the natural perspiratory bath at any time that is
convenient between the two, and the before-dinner tub in the evening,
for the cleanliness that obtains among men who are proud of their
grooming.
The man who fears baldness does well to avoid a tight hat. The size
should be large enough to permit ventilation of the hair and scalp.
Also he should puncture the hat with fine holes for the same purpose.
A man is his own best judge of when he needs a shampoo. If the hair
falls unduly, or if it feels sticky, or if the brush is considerably
soiled after brushing, it is time for a shampoo, even though you had
one three days before. If there is much dandruff in the hair there is
need of a shampoo. A shampoo successfully used by a relative of mine
who has beautifully thick and glossy hair is made of:
Tincture of green soap, 1 tablespoonful; the whites of two eggs;
cologne, 10 drops.
If the hair is dark the yolks of the eggs may also be used. The eggs
are beaten into the water, the soap added and the cologne sprinkled in.
To prevent catching cold after a shampoo, rub alcohol into the hair
about the neck and cheeks and temples.
Remember that there would be no baldness if the hair roots were
properly nourished. So keep a plentiful supply of blood flowing in that
direction by massage. If the scalp is dry rub olive oil or lanolin
liberally into the scalp at night.
Be sure to keep the skin of the scalp so loose that it can be easily
moved about, and keep it cool if to do so you must occasionally place
on the head when it is overheated a bag of cracked ice or a cloth
dipped into cold water, renewing it as the cloth dries.
One authority on the hair believes in a daily pulling, not by an
irate wife, but by yourself. He believes that this takes the place of
exercise for the hair and that it strengthens the roots as walking
strengthens the muscles of the legs or rowing the muscles of the arms.
Every man fears the ugly dewlap, often called “the statesman chin.” He
can prevent this by carrying his head and chin well up. He can to some
extent correct it by using webbing chin bandages at night.