Service of Beauty.--Not for Vanity, but Perfection.--Eyebrows of
Petrarch’s Laura.--Fashionable Baths.--Trimming the
Eyelashes.--Luxury of the Toilet.--Its Magnetic Influence.--A Safe
Stimulant.--Amateurs of the Toilet.--Cosmetic Gloves.--To Refine the
Skin of the Shoulders and Arms.--Sulphate of Quinine for the
Hair.--For the Eyebrows and Eyelashes.--A Harmless Dye.--To Remove
Sallowness.--A Hint for Stout People.--Perfumed Bathing-powder.
It is a wonder that so few educated people address themselves to the
service of beauty in the human form. It is refined to study draperies
or design costumes for the adornment of the body, but not to develop
the perfection of the body itself. Hair-dressers, perfumers, and
tailors find ample consolation for being the ninth part of men, or
something less, in public estimation, since the world finds their work
a necessity, and amply repays it. Who make fortunes faster among the
working-classes than those who minister to the desire for beauty, let
us call it, rather than the severer name of vanity? The arts of the
toilet are advanced to the rank of a profession abroad. English fashion
journals declare this in their advertisements. Establishments in London
and at fashionable watering-places offer brightly furnished parlors
where one may enjoy the luxurious soothing of every appliance of the
toilet in succession. The warm bath, in all the appealing pleasure of
marble, porcelain, and gold, instead of dingy oil-cloths and reeking
zinc basins, gives place to the deft hands of the hair-bather and the
chiropodist, and these to the dresser, who arranges the locks, quickly
and artificially dried, in the most elegantly simple style. Then comes
the cosmetic artist, who removes blotches and specks from the face
with quick acids, laves it with soothing washes, or applies emollient
pastes which leave soft freshness behind. The vulgarity of paint and
enamel is not allowed in these establishments, though the operators
have good knowledge of all secrets of their art. Innoxious dyes are
used as novices never can apply them, superfluous hairs are removed,
and eyebrows and eyelashes are cared for by the most skillful hands.
The former have every unnecessary hair removed, and are thinned to
the penciled line they form in the portraits of Venetian ladies, who
secured this peculiar charm in the same way. If I could only find out
how Petrarch’s Laura trimmed her eyebrows, and give the method to my
readers!
With a pair of fairy-like scissors the lashes are trimmed a
hair-breadth, and brushed with sable pencils conveying an ointment
which increases their growth. The nails are polished, and the hands
indued with soft and perfumed oils which leave no trace. Picture the
luxury of such a place and such attention, instead of the frowzy rooms
and careless servants of a common hair-dressing saloon! The magnetic
benefit of such operations ought to count for much in elegant physical
culture. It unmistakably soothes the system, and freshens its powers
better than any narcotic stimulant. More than one of the most brilliant
writers of the time is in the habit of bathing and making a full
toilet before composition, feeling its magic influence on the mind in
rendering one’s thoughts bright and happy.
But blessed water and simples, chemicals and strokings, do their work
in stone-ware and top bedrooms as well as in baths lined with porcelain
behind the portière of a Pompadour dressing-room. Clever girls can do
much for each other in these matters; and let me hope no one will have
to ask more than sixteen people before finding a friend with nerve
enough to trim her eyelashes for her, as an ambitious maiden once did.
A fresh handful of prescriptions for these amateurs is taken from Paris
authorities.
Cosmetic gloves for which there is such demand are spread inside with
the following preparation: The yolks of two fresh eggs beaten with two
teaspoonfuls of the oil of sweet almonds, one ounce of rose-water, and
thirty-six drops of tincture of benzoin. Make a paste of this, and
either anoint the gloves with it, or spread it freely on the hands
and draw the gloves on afterward. Of course there is no virtue in
the gloves save as they protect the hands from drying or soiling the
bed-linen.
A paste for the skin of the shoulders and arms is made from the whites
of four eggs boiled in rose-water, with the addition of a grain or two
of alum, beaten till thick. Spread this on the skin and cover with old
linen. Wear it overnight, or all the afternoon before a party where one
desires to appear in full dress. This cosmetic gives great firmness
and purity to the skin, and may be used to advantage by persons having
soft, flabby flesh.
A wash to stimulate the growth of hair in case of baldness is made
from equal parts of the tincture of sulphate of quinine and aromatic
tincture.
For causing the eyebrows to grow when lost by fire, use the sulphate of
quinine--five grains in an ounce of alcohol.
For the eyelashes, five grains of the sulphate in an ounce of sweet
almond-oil is the best prescription; put on the roots of the lashes
with the finest sable pencil. This must be lightly applied, for it
irritates the eye to finger it.
The best dye is this French recipe, which is seen to be harmless at a
glance: Melt together, in a bowl set in boiling water, four ounces of
white wax in nine ounces of olive-oil, stirring in, when melted and
mixed, two ounces of burned cork in powder. This will not take the dull
bluish tinge of metallic dyes, but gives a lustrous blackness to the
hair like life. To apply it, put on old gloves, cover the shoulders
carefully to protect the dress, and spread the salvy preparation like
pomade on the head, brushing it well in and through the hair. It
changes the color instantly, as it is a black dressing rather than a
dye. A brown tint may be given by steeping an ounce of walnut bark,
tied in coarse close muslin, in the oil for a week before boiling. The
bark is to be had at any large drug-store, for about thirty cents an
ounce.
The recipes which follow will be of special value in the warm days of
early spring. The first contains nearly all the vegetable medicines
in common use for purifying the blood, and will prevent the lassitude
and bilious symptoms which overcloud many a sweet spring day. When
made by one’s own hand, so that the purity and excellence of the
ingredients can be insured, the mixture is far better than most of
the blood-purifiers and tonics prescribed by the faculty. It is given
here because it removes the sallowness and unhealthy iris hues of the
complexion at a season when a girl’s cheek should wear its brightest,
clearest flame.
Half an ounce each of spruce, hemlock, and sarsaparilla bark,
dandelion, burdock, and yellow dock, in one gallon of water; boil half
an hour, strain hot, and add ten drops of oil of spruce and sassafras
mixed. When cold, add half a pound of brown sugar and half a cup of
yeast. Let it stand twelve hours in a jar covered tight, and bottle.
Use this freely as an iced drink. This is a good recipe for the root
beer which New Yorkers like to taste during warm months.
People inclined to embonpoint feel the burden of mortality oppressive
during the first heats of the calendar. They will be glad to hear from
a hill-country doctor, whose praise is in many households, that a
strong decoction of sassafras drunk frequently will reduce the flesh as
rapidly as any remedy known. Take it either iced or hot, as fancied,
with sugar if preferred. It is not advisable, however, to take this
tea in certain states of health, and the family physician should be
consulted before taking it. A strong infusion is made at the rate of
an ounce of sassafras to a quart of water. Boil it half an hour very
slowly, and let it stand till cold, heating again if desired, and
keeping it from the air.
A trouble scarcely to be named among refined persons is profuse
perspiration, which ruins clothing and comfort alike. For this it is
recommended to bathe the feet, hands, and parts of the body where the
secretion is greatest with cold infusion of rosemary, sage, or thyme,
and afterward dust the stockings and under-garments with a mixture
of two and a half drachms of camphor, four ounces of orris-root, and
sixteen ounces of starch, the whole reduced to impalpable powder. Tie
it in a coarse muslin bag, and shake it over the clothes. This makes a
very fine bathing-powder.