Removal of Superfluous Hair.--Effects of High Living.--Work of
Typhoid Fever.--Roman Tweezers.--Lola Montez’s Recipes.--Paste
of Wood-ashes.--Bleaching Arms with Chloride.--Cautions about
Depilatories.--Public Baths.--Improving Complexions by the Sulphur
Vapor-bath.--How Arabian Women Perfume Themselves.--Profuse Hair,
Sign of Nature’s Bounty.
A correspondent wishes to know what will remove superfluous hair,
adding that she is annoyed with such a growth of it on her face
that she is the remark of her friends. These unfortunate cases are
the result of morbid constitution, freaks of nature which are to be
combated as one would eradicate leprosy or scrofula. The extreme growth
of hair where it should not be comes from gross living, or is inherited
by young persons from those whose blood was made of too rich materials.
Living for two or three generations on overlarded meats, plenty of
pastry, salt meats, ham, and fish, with good old pickles from brine--in
short, what would be called high living among middle-class people--is
pretty sure to leave its marks on lip and brow. Sometimes typhoid
fever steps in and arrests the degeneration by a painful and searching
process, which, as it were, burns out the vile particles, and, if the
patient’s strength endure, leaves her almost with a new body. The
red, scaly skin peels off, and leaves a soft, fresh cuticle, pink as
a child’s; the dry hair comes out, and a fine, often curling suit
succeeds it, while moles and feminine mustaches disappear and leave no
sign. But this fortunate end is not secured to order, and there are
preferable ways of renewing the habit of body.
For immediate removal of the afflicting shadows which mar a feminine
face there are many methods. The Romans used tweezers, regularly as we
do nail-brushes, to pull out stray hairs; and Lola Montez speaks of
seeing victims of a modern day sitting for hours before the mirror
painfully pulling out the hairs on their faces. But this often makes
the matter worse; for if the hairs are broken off, and not pulled up
by the roots they are sure to grow coarser than before. Often one
hair pulled out sends two or three to grow in its place. A paste of
fine wood-ashes left to dry on the skin is said to eat off hairs, and
is probably as safe as any remedy. The authority on feminine matters
quoted above recommends very highly a plaster which pulls the hairs
out by the roots. Spread equal parts of galbanum and pitch plaster
on a piece of thin leather, and apply to the place desired; let it
remain three minutes, and pull off suddenly, when it brings the hairs
with it, and they are said not to grow again. This will probably bring
the tears into the eyes of any one who tries it; but the courage of
damsels desiring a smooth face is not to be damped by such trifles
as an instant’s pain. If the plaster were left on more than three
minutes, it would be apt to bring the skin with it in coming off. It
is better to use daily a paste of ashes or caustic soda, left on as
long as it can be borne, washing with vinegar to take out the alkali,
and rubbing on sweet-oil to soften the skin, which is left very hard by
these applications. Applied day after day, it would not fail to kill
the hair in a month, when it would dry and rub off. This may be used
on the arms, which might be whitened and cleared of hair together by
bathing them in a hot solution of chloride of lime as strong as that
used for bleaching cotton, say two table-spoonfuls to a quart of water.
Bathe the arms daily in this, as hot as can be borne, for not over
two minutes, washing afterward in vinegar and water, and rubbing with
almond or olive-oil. This should be done in a warm room before an open
window to avoid breathing the fumes of the chloride, which are both
unpleasant and noxious. Strong soft-soap left to dry on the arms would
in time eat away any hair. But the trouble is that these strong agents
eat away the skin almost as soon as they do the hair, and nice care
must be used to prevent dangerous results. If the blood should be in
bad order, though not suspected by any one, least of all by the person
interested, caustic of any sort might eat a hole in the flesh that
would fester, and be a long time healing. I saw a frightful sore that a
lady made on her neck, trying to remove a mole with lunar caustic, and
should advise every one to be careful how they run such painful risks.
It is not wise to endure pain heroically, thinking to have the matter
over and done with at once. Better try the applications many times,
leaving them to do their work gradually and surely.
To lay the foundation of true beauty, the system should be purified
within as well as without. Nothing is of so much value in this respect
as the vapor-bath. In all our large cities public establishments exist
for taking these baths, and their virtues are well appreciated by those
who once try them. At the largest bathing-houses in New York ladies
attend regularly for the sole object of improving their complexion.
Perhaps the most successful form administered is the sulphur
vapor-bath, which works wonders for neuralgia. It purifies and searches
the blood, and I have seen a patient who had lost one of the loveliest
complexions in the world, as she thought forever, come out of her bath
day after day visibly whitened at each trial. For ladies past youth
nothing restores such softness and child-like freshness to the cheek or
such suppleness to the figure. Of course these baths can only be taken
at places for the purpose, where chemical means are not wanting. I only
mention them to urge all ladies who have the chance of trying them not
to fail of doing so, both for pleasure and benefit.
The vapor-bath, pure and simple, has stood for some time among
household remedies for various ills, and is given by seating the
undressed patient on a straw or flag chair over a saucer in which is
a little lighted alcohol, and wrapping chair, patient, and all in
large blankets. After a few minutes the perspiration streams as if
he were in a caldron of steam, and may be kept up any length of time.
Fifteen minutes are enough. A tepid bath should follow, if one is not
chilled by it, and after that either a good sleep or exercise enough
to keep one in a glow. Impurities are discharged from the system in
this way which else might occasion fever. The hair, skin, and nails are
insensibly renewed and refined by it. There is not the least danger
of taking cold if the precautions are taken of rubbing dry, dressing
quickly and warmly, and keeping the blood at its proper heat by work
or fire--in short, by doing just those things which ought to be done
should one never go near a vapor-bath.
Arabian women have a similar method of perfuming their bodies by
sitting over coals on which are cast handfuls of myrrh and spices.
The heat opens the pores, which receive the fumes, till the skin is
impregnated with the odor, and the women come out smelling like a
censer of incense. Twice a week is often enough for the vapor-bath; as
for the fumigation, some creature doubtless will be wild enough to try
the experiment once, which will be sufficient for a lifetime. _If she
do_, she will be very glad to know that ammonia bathing will destroy
most traces of her adventurous caprice.
A profusion of hair, however, is a sign of nature’s liberality, and
this growth is found in connection with a strength and generosity of
constitution that is capable of the best things when duly refined.
South Americans, with their supple bodies overflowing with vitality,
have splendid tresses, and so have the Spaniards and Italians. Such
people are quick and lasting in the dance, own deep tuneful voices,
move with vigor and ease, and have a luxuriance of blood and spirits,
which is too precious to restrain or lose. Fasting, denial of pleasant
food and plenty of it, till one is worn to an anchorite, may do for
religious penance, but does not reach physical ends so well as moderate
and satisfying indulgence. If any poor girl think, from reading this
paper, that she ought to starve and waste herself by sweating because
she has a pair of mustaches and a coat of hair on her arms, she is
vastly mistaken. If she want to know what she may eat, let her study
Professor Blot’s cookery-book. Whatever is there she may eat, _as_ it
is there, assured that all the delightful French seasoning will not do
her blood half the injury of a season’s course of pies made after good
Yankee fashion--the crust half lard and half old butter, the filling
strong with spice or drenched with essence, as the case may be.