Youth's Educator For Home And Society

CHAPTER XXVII.

TOILET RECIPES.

THE body is the temple of the soul; the shrine of the spirit. To care for it and preserve it in its highest perfection is the duty of every man and woman. To every woman there comes a natural desire to be beautiful. There is a beauty which is planted in the speaking eye, the fresh and roseate skin, the mobile features, ere they are stamped by the hard lines of experience or sorrow. Beauty is the gift of the Creator, and to slight or despise it is to spurn a precious inheritance. To make the most of the charms bestowed by the Master-hand, is to cherish and fit the temple for its occupant.

Frances Willard says: "The desire to be beautiful is instinctive, because we were all meant to be so, though so ruthlessly defrauded of it, on the material plane by the ignorant excesses of our ancestors and the follies of our own untaught years." She utters a truth which strikes home to the consciousness of every woman, who would like to be fair to look upon, and of every man who is led captive by the spells of beauty.

Beauty without sense and intelligence is lamentable;. but beauty joined to wit and intellect is irresistible.

Beauty is to woman what strength is to man. Cultivation of the mind and body should go hand in hand. Then let every girl feel that she is only performing a plea.sant duty when she is using every proper means to develop and preserve her natural beauty.

THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY.

There can be no fixed standard of beauty where the tastes of different peoples are so varied. The Chinese admire fat, laid on in abundance, and to them the feet of one our belles who wears a No. 1 shoe, are monstrosities. In some of the barbaric tribes a beautiful woman's teeth must be coal black. Some tribes press their babes' heads to make them square, while others admire the sugar-loaf head. The French like embonpoint, the Italians and French pay homage to a lissome grace, while the English pronounce the woman who unites health and strength with grace of form as up to the best standard of female loveliness.

HEALTH A REQUISITE.

There can be no solid and enduring loveliness with-but health. This is the foundation of all beauty. And to maintain this, constant exercise is necessary, that the figure may round out, the muscles become firm, and the step elastic and springy. A beautiful form is often deemed more desirable than a handsome face. Defects of form are often inherited, while others are the result of improper care. Bow-legs come from placing the child on its feet too young. Uneven shoulders by allowing a child to sleep continually on one side, or when grown by sitting in school or at their work one-sided. If the head is too high at night, round shoulders will result. All these faults should be corrected, and much attention given to outdoor exercise, as skating, rowing, horseback riding, swimming, and walking. Lawn-tennis and croquet have their uses also. All these tend to develop the figure, and impart to it that fullness and vigor which. is the perfection of beauty.

CARE OF THE TEETH.

Food and drinks that are too hot or too cold, will destroy the beauty of the teeth. They should be brushed after each meal, and the mouth well rinsed with cold water. A soft brush should be used, and all pastes and tooth-washes discarded. Cleanliness will preserve and beautify any teeth, unless they are actually diseased, and then resort should be had to a good dentist at once. Delay is fatal, for the diseased tooth decays rapidly, and will have a like effect on those that are sound. Salt and water cures tender gums. Never use a pin or any metal substance to remove food that lodges between the teeth. Castile soap is an excellent dentifrice. When tartar accumulates upon the teeth, it can only be removed by a dentist. In the early stages, vinegar will remove it, but if it remains too long it has a tendency to loosen the teeth. After using the tooth-brush, rinse it in clean cold water, and dry it ready for further use.

FOUL BREATH.

This most disagreeable infliction arises from two causes – decayed teeth, or some affection of the stomach. If the latter, a physician should be consulted. If the teeth are at fault, attention at the dentist's hands is again required. A gargle made of a spoonful of chloride of lime dissolved in a half tumbler of water, will sweeten the breath. The taint of smoking can be overcome by chewing common parsley, and the odious taint of onions is also overcome by parsley, vinegar or burnt coffee. Careful brushing and frequent rinsing of the mouth will keep the teeth in excellent condition without resorting to tooth-washes or pastes.

TO REMOVE FLESH-WORMS.

These "worms" are merely a greasy or sebaceous matter which the glands secrete in little sacs. They can be pressed out by a watch-key. But the best remedy is to bathe the parts affected once a day with warm water, and rub with a coarse towel. Then apply with a soft cloth a lotion made of liquor of potassa, one ounce; cologne, two ounces; white brandy, four ounces.

A FINE COMPLEXION.

This is one of the principal essentials of beauty.

Indeed, it outranks mere beauty of feature, for it is of no consequence to possess a perfect arm, or a beautiful face if the skin is as rough as a nutmeg grater, or is disfigured by pimples and blotches. And what we say. is to the gentlemen as well as the ladies. A clear, polished skin can only be had by observing three things – temperance, cleanliness and exercise. The inordinate use of liquors or strong coffee, greasy food, hot biscuit will tell upon the finest complexion in time. The young lady who devours pickles, sits up half the night reading novels, and lounges round the house the next day, can never expect that clear, fresh, peach-like complexion which she longs for so ardently. Nourishing food, regular exercise, and perfect cleanliness can alone restore that youthful brightness which so many ladies have lost through neglect of an obedience to nature's laws.

Late hours are inveterate foes to a beautiful complexion. Sleep is a great restorer of the exhausted nerves. Parties, balls and amusements of any sort that are carried into the "wee, sma' hours" should be indulged in sparingly. The division which some agitators make of "Eight hours for sleep, eight hours for work, and eight hours for recreation," is a very fair one in all departments of life.

REMOVING FRECKLES.

Many ladies are very much annoyed at freckles. We have seen faces on which they were positive beau-tifiers. Probably the best eradicator of these little blemishes was known as "Unction de Maintenon," and was composed as follows:

Venice soap.................. 1 ounce
Lemon juice............ ... 1/2 ounce
Oil of bitter almonds..... .1/4 ounce
Deliquidated oil of tartar..1/4 ounce
Oil of rhodium .............. 3 drops

Dissolve the soap in the lemon juice, add the two oils, and put the whole in the sun till it becomes of ointment-like consistency, and then add the rhodium. Bathe the freckled face at night with this lotion, and wash it in the morning with clear, cold water, or if convenient, with a wash of elder flower and rose water.

The odor of perspiration is often very offensive from some persons. A corrective is to wash the body with water to which has been added two tablespoonfuls of ammonia – the compound spirits. It is perfectly harmless.

BRAN MITTENS.

Large mittens worn at night filled with wet bran or oatmeal, keep the hands white, in spite of the disfiguring effects of house-work.

TO PREVENT CHAPPING.

After cleansing the hands and thoroughly drying them, apply Indian meal or rice flour.

Lemon juice three ounces, white wine vinegar three ounces and white brandy half a pint is a nice preparation.

Ten drops of carbolic acid, and one ounce of glycerine, applied freely at night, is another cure for chapping.

BEAUTIFUL HAIR.

There is no perfection of beauty without fine hair. It is called, even by St. Paul, who was rather strict in his ideas of feminine beauty, "the glory of woman." The most bewitching face unshaded by soft, shiny hair, and a goodly share of it, cannot lay claim to beauty. Every woman, who has a fine head of hair, is proud of it, and justly so. It may be contradicted, but we dare the assertion that every woman can have this crowning glory if she pays proper care to keeping it bright and clean.

It requires continual brushing. Each morning it should receive a thorough brushing, lasting at least ten minutes, and the brush used should be soft and clean. The most dry and harsh hair will yield to this treatment, and become soft, glossy and strong. The morning is the best time for performing this brushing, for the hair is more pliable then. It is a bad practice to use a very hard brush, under the impression that it stimulates the scalp. It may do that, but at the expense of the hair, which it breaks and snarls. The head should be washed at least once a week. A good cleanser is to break the whites of two eggs into a basin of soft water and work them up to a froth in the roots of the hair. Rinse thoroughly with clean warm water, and wipe and dry the head as thoroughly. Do not dress your hair until it is perfectly dry, else it will have a musty odor.

CARE OF CHILDREN S HAIR.

Great care should be taken of the heads of children. Frequent cutting should be practiced. Indeed the hair will be much more luxurious in maturity if it is kept short up to twelve or thirteen years of age. The scalp should be cleansed each morning with a damp sponge, and constantly brushed. Fine-teeth combs should never be used; they scratch and wound the scalp, and loosen the hair.

REMEDY FOR BALDNESS.

This recipe has been known for many years, and found a prominent place in the list of remedies for this evil. It is the celebrated Baron Dupuytren's pomade:

Boxwood shavings .......6 oz.
Proof spirit...........12 "
Spirits of rosemary.....2 "
Spirits of nutmegs....1/2 "

The boxwood shavings should be left in the spirits to steep for fourteen days at 60 degrees temperature. The liquid is then to be strained off, and the other ingredients added. Rub this thoroughly on the bald spots, night and morning.

PREVENTING THE HAIR TURNING GRAY.

It does not by any means assume that a person is old because the hair has turned white, for premature blanching of the hair is on the increase. There are many reasons for this, such as late hours, nervous exhaustion, too much anxiety, giving way to violent passions; all have an evil tendency. There are many young people whose lives are as placid as summer day, whose hair is snowy, and there are old people whose lives have been spent in direct violation of all the laws of hygiene, and yet whose hair is as dark and glossy as in youth. So, after all, it seems as if these things were constitutional. There does not appear any probability of "restoring" gray hair to its former color. We can only counsel moderation in all those pleasures that tend to an exciting, unhealthy mode of living. We give a recipe that a writer says she believes wards off gray hair:

Oxide of bismuth.............. 4 dr.
Spermaceti.................... 4 "
Pure hog's lard (unsalted).... 4 oz.

Melt the lard and spermaceti together, and when cool add bismuth. Perfume to suit yourself. Use as a dressing.

DYEING GRAY HAIR.

Dyeing the hair is a very dangerous business, as most of the hair-dyes have for their base sugar of lead, caustic alkalies, limes, litharge and arsenic, all of which burn the hair. We have known of cases of paralysis of the brain occasioned by the inordinate use of hair dyes which their makers asserted were "perfectly harmless."

Shampooing is a great detriment to the beauty of the hair. Soap fades the hair, often turning it a yellow. Brushing is the only safe method of removing the dust from the head, with the occasional use of the whites of eggs, Perfect rinsing and drying should follow all washing of the head.

MOLES.

Never tamper with these disfigurements. There is but one way to have them removed, and that is by a surgeon.

THE BATH.

Every house should make some provision for a bath-room. Nothing is so conducive to health and beauty as the bath. It should be of a temperature from 80 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It is not wise to remain in the bath too long, and on leaving it, a vigorous rubbing with flesh-brush and Turkish towels aids the circulation. A bath once or twice a week, exercise in the open air, plain food, and early rising, will prove the best beautifiers for the complexion, and will change a skin as rough as a nutmeg grater to one as smooth and brilliant; as satin.

If there is no bath-room, a sponge bath can be substituted. Many declare this to be the most desirable form of bathing. Place an oil-cloth on the floor, and improvise a bath for yourself.

Shower baths are not safe for delicately organized persons. In all baths, however, the head should be wet first.

CARE OF THE EYES.

The eyes, "those windows of the soul," are terribly abused. Late hours, reading by bad lights, straining them by over use, are all destructive of their beauty. A darkened room is not the best, indeed, it will weaken them. A good steady, strong light is more favorable to them.

STY, TO REMOVE.

These painful little affections are easily removed by placing a little tea in a bag. Pour on boiling water to moisten it, and apply to the eye warm. Keep it on all night. A second application will perhaps be necessary.

CUTTING THE NAILS.

Filbert-shaped nails are esteemed the handsomest. Trim them with round corners. But be very particular to keep the nails clean. Nothing is more disgusting than a finger with a black border at the end. A well kept nail will be smooth, shiny and rosy.

If a lady desires a soft, white hand she should. always wear gloves when she is performing her household tasks. There is a rubber glove for sale in rubber goods stores, which many ladies use who do their own washing of dishes. Gloves should always be worn when outdoors. A beautiful hand is a poem in itself, and many are the devices resorted to, to keep it white and shapely. A French recipe for this purpose is to sleep in gloves filled with a paste of the following ingredients:

Half a pound of soft soap, a gill of salad oil, an ounce of mutton tallow, boiled together until thoroughly incorporated. As soon as done boiling, but before cold, add one gill of spirits of wine, and a grain of musk.

This is rather a troublesome process, but the result is entirely satisfactory.

Sleeping in soft white kid gloves, after rubbing mutton tallow on the hands, will keep them soft and white.

MOIST HANDS.

Some people have a moist, clammy hand that is very disagreeable to the touch. Exercise, plain living, and the local application of starch powder and lemon juice will cure this affliction.

POMADES AND OIL FOR THE HAIR.

The use of oils and pomades is never desirable. Animal fats are more injurious than vegetable oils, as they heat the cuticle and become rancid, acting eventually as a depilatory. Observe the ends of the hair, and if you find them split or forked, clip off the extreme end. This will promote the growth of the hair.

CARE OF THE FEET.

The health and comfort of the feet depend on the care which they receive. One way to keep them in a healthy state is to soak them several times a week in hot water into which a handful of salt has been thrown. Another excellent treatment is to soak them at night for fifteen minutes in hot soap-suds. Then rub them well, and with a ball of pumice stone rub off all the superfluous skin, after which olive oil or oil of sweet almonds may be rubbed in. To preserve the bedclothes after this, a pair of light stockings should be worn to sleep in. Such treatment will keep the feet in a soft and healthy condition. Cleanliness and health are closely allied; and these too often neglected members of the body must receive the attention they deserve if we would maintain their beauty and health. It is astonishing how much perfect cleanliness and care will do for the appearance of the feet, and even the size. It is true, as a few months' trial will abundantly demonstrate.

India rubbers should be worn only in rainy, muddy weather. They prevent the circulation of air, and cause a perspiration which is offensive. Insoles are better for the feet than rubbers. Thick-soled leather shoes are better for every day use, taking care that they are amply long. A short shoe will deform any foot- in time.

BUNIONS AND CORNS.

A shoe that is too large will cause a corn quite as readily as one that is too small. Pressure or abrasion causes these painful accompaniments of civilization. The fashionable shoe is worn so narrow, with toes so pointed that the wonder is that a foot can be crowded into it. Turpentine may be used for both corns and bunions. A very weak solution of carbolic acid will.remove soft corns between the toes.

CHILBLAINS.

Friction is advised on their first appearance, together with the application of one of the following lotions: (1) Take one part spirits of wine and five parts spirits of rosemary, and mix. (2) A more active lotion is the following: Take ten drachms of compound soap liniment (opodeldoc) and two drops of tincture of cantharides; mix. One of these two may be briskly rubbed in on the first appearance of redness or irritation.

We give a number of trustworthy recipes selected from various sources, but all are known to be excellent and safe.

TINCTURE -OF ROSES.

Take the leaves of the common rose (centifolia), and place, without pressing them, in a common bottle; pour some good spirits of wine upon them, close the bottle, and let it stand till required for use. This tincture will keep for years and yield a perfume little inferior to attar of roses. A few drops of it will suffice to impregnate the atmosphere of a room with a delicate odor. Common vinegar is greatly improved by a very small quantity being added to it.

HOW TO DARKEN FADED FALSE HAIR.

The switches, curls and frizzes, which fashion demands should be worn, will fade, though they match the natural hair perfectly at first. If the hair is brown this can be remedied. Obtain a yard of dark brown calico. Boil it until the color has well come out into the water. Then into this water dip the hair, and take it out and dry it. Repeat the operation until it shall be of the required depth of shade.

REMEDY FOR BURNED KID OR LEATHER SHOES.

If a lady has had the misfortune to put her shoes or slippers too near the stove, and burned them, she can make them nearly as good as ever by spreading soft soap upon them while they are still hot, and then, when they are cold, washing it off. It softens the leather and prevents it drawing up.

TO CLEAN BLACK DRESSES.

Use two table-spoonfuls of ammonia to a half-gallon of water. Take a piece of black cloth and sponge off with the preparation, and afterward with clean water.

NIGHTCAPS.

Heat the head, and injure the hair.

TO WHITEN THE ARMS

for an evening party or theatricals, rub them with glycerine, and before the skin has absorbed it all, dust on refined chalk.

WALNUT STAIN

for skin or hair is made by boiling walnut bark, say an ounce to a pint of water, for an hour, slowly and adding a lump of alum the size of a thimble, to set the dye. Apply with a delicate brush to eyebrows and lashes, or with a sponge to the hair.

HAIR RESTORER.

The hair usually commences to turn gray on the temples. A very innocent preparation said to be excellent for restoring it is – Rust of iron, one drachm; old ale (strong), one pint; oil of rosemary, twelve drops. Put these into a loosely corked bottle, and shake it daily for a fortnight. Then let it stand undisturbed one day, decant the clear portion and use.

FAT PEOPLE

may reduce their flesh rapidly by drinking sassafras tea, either cold or hot, with or without sugar. There: are conditions of health when it might be injurious, however, and a physician should be consulted before using it. A strong infusion may be made of one ounce of sassafras to a quart of water. Boil half an hour very slowly, let it cool, and keep from the air.

FRESHNESS OF THE SKIN

is prolonged by a simple secret, the tepid bath in which bran is stirred, followed by long friction, till the flesh fairly shines. This keeps the blood at the surface, and has its effect in warding off wrinkles.

MOSQUITOES.

may be kept away from the pillow by sprinkling oil of pennyroyal about it, (a few drops) at night. Be careful that the oil does not fall into children's hands.

TO REMOVE TAN.

An elegant preparation for removing tan is made of: New milk, one-half pint; lemon juice, one-quarter ounce; white brandy, one-half ounce. Boil all together and remove the scum. Use night and morning.

TO PREVENT DISCOLORATION BY A BRUISE.

Apply to the bruise a cloth wrung out of nearly boiling water, and apply until the pain ceases.

WATERMELON JUICE.

A wash for the complexion which is very highly prized by Southern ladies who well understand its virtues, is the juice of the watermelon. After being exposed to the sun and wind during a drive, sail, or other outing, it will soothe and allay the burn and whiten the skin. The juice from both the pulp and rind is used. Washing with it cleanses the skin and makes it soft and clear. The white pulp, next the red, is sometimes crushed and bound on the skin to whiten it, with excellent results.

DANGER OF COSMETICS.

One of the most famous beauties of the last century, Maria Gunning, who married the Earl of Coventry, not content with her natural beauty sought to enhance it, and used cosmetics which caused her death. Physicians are continually called on to treat ladies suffering from the use of injurious cosmetics, and the patient almost invariably used them in utter ignorance of the harmful nature of the compound. Ladies cannot be too cautious about using cosmetics the composition of which they do not understand, however loudly they may be advertised, or however highly they may be recommended.

HIVES.

When these are caused by eating any article of food, it should be discontinued, and a mild laxative be given as some of the aperient mineral waters. The itching may be allayed by bathing the skin in warm, soft water, containing about a tablespoonful of baking soda to the quart of water. This is also good to allay the itching of prickly heat.

TO AVOID WRINKLES.

The hand of Time cannot be stayed, but his marks upon the face need not be placed there prematurely. One of the best local treatments consists in bathing the skin frequently in cold water, and then rubbing with a towel until the flesh is aglow. A little bran added to the water is a decided improvement. This treatment stimulates the functions of the skin and gives it vigor. The wrinkling may be further remedied by washing the parts three times a day with the following wash:

Take of Glycerine....... 4 dr.
Tannin.................. 2 dr.
Rectified spirits....... 2 dr.
Water................... 8 oz. Mix.

COLD FEET.

People who are troubled with cold feet will find that a simple and effective remedy is to bathe them in cold water night and morning, and then apply friction to stimulate the circulation. A little red pepper, dusted into the stockings, will do much to prevent cold feet in the winter. Exercise also relieves this complaint. They may be caused by debility, and then internal remedies will be required. As a rule, woolen stockings should be worn by people thus troubled. The wearing of these will, however, in some persons, cause a perspiration which results in cold feet. A woolen stocking with a merino foot is now sold for such cases.