Beauty Culture (Browning)/Chapter 10

1. Keep moderately early hours, if possible.
2. Take a rest sometimes during the day by lying down and closing your eyes for at least half an hour.
3. Do not get up too early—unless you are obliged; but do not lie in bed awake. This is an enervating habit.
4. Sleep in a room that is well-aired daily, and thoroughly ventilated continually.
5. Sleep on a mattress, and do not let the bedclothes be too heavy or too warm. ​
6. Take a sponge or hip-bath daily in cold or tepid water, and a warm bath (using plenty of soap) once a week.
7. Do not wear corsets or clothing that is tight or compresses the figure in any way. You ought always to be able to lift your arms high enough to do your hair in every dress you possess. This is a capital test against tightness.
8. Wear as little underclothing as is permissible, and substitute knickers (with removable linings) for petticoats. By following this rule your figure and movements will gain immeasurably in grace and elasticity.
9. Light is as necessary to the human being as it is to a plant or flower; so do not forget to let the light and the sunshine into all your rooms.
10. Take plenty of open-air exercise in. every sort of weather. Riding, rowing, skating, cycling, golfing, walking, tennis, hockey, dancing, gymnastics, are all excellent and indispensable items of beauty-training—if taken in moderation, though equally harmful when carried to excess.
11. Eat plenty of nourishing food, plenty of vegetables, plenty of fruit, and do not drink too ​much tea, coffee, or other stimulating beverages.
12. Never eat at indiscriminate hours, or to repletion, and take care to masticate your food thoroughly; otherwise you give your stomach a double amount of work to do when the food is not ground up and mixed with the saliva before it passes into the gullet. A good digestion is a necessary point to be considered in beautytraining.
13. Be very sparing in your use of perfumes, and do not habitually use any of those strong scents that fatigue the brain and act deleteriously upon the nerves.
14. Never fret over trifles, and try not to "worry" yourself, even over serious troubles. Endeavour to take an optimistic view of your own life and everybody else's. Don't be jealous, envious, spiteful, or censorious. These emotions only grave wrinkles on the face; besides, they are "not worth while." Our passage through this world is too short for such pettinesses, and they are fatal to lasting beauty, either of person or character. ​
15. Occupy your mind continually, develop your sympathies, broaden your mental horizon, vitalise your soul-currents, open your eyes, and your ears, and your hearts, to the myriad voices of natural beauty around you.
16. Take up a hobby of some kind, but do not ride it too far or too fast.
17. Give your nerves food and rest and exercise just as carefully and just as regularly as your muscles and your mind.
18. Always modify "the fashions" in dress to suit your own person. Let the style and colour of your costumes harmonise with your figure, age, and complexion.
19. Bear in mind that though B natural is the keynote to good manners, the melody will never be a perfect one unless it has tact and refinement as an accompaniment.
20. Remember that the first rule in the art of being beautiful is to appear unconscious of your beauty, and the first rule in the art of being well-dressed is to be unconscious of your clothes.

Wrinkle-lotion to be painted on thrice daily.

Eat an orange on getting out of bed, then drink a tumbler of hot water, do arm and leg exercises for ten minutes, and take a constitutional as soon after breakfast as convenient.

Avoid a stimulating diet, take plenty of open​air exercise, and wash the face daily with the following lotion:

Use June's Bath Salt in your ablutions twice a week.

Steam the face once every fortnight, and rub in some good skin-food every third night, washing it previously with soap or toilet oat-meal alternately, and rinsing it thoroughly in tepid water.

Warts on the face, neck, or arms, may be got rid of by painting them several times daily with pure lemon-juice.

Never apply this or any other astringent lotion to a face covered with acne; but you may apply it advantageously to any face after steaming it, or pricking out blackheads, because it closes the pores. On this account it is also a remedy against freckles.

Vinolia Cream rubbed into the lips and then wiped off both at night and before going out into the open air.

Do not omit to use plenty of soap on the face at least twice a week. It preserves the health of the skin, maintains its tone, and prevents wrinkles. ​In case you feel any discomfort after using soap, rinse the face thoroughly with water into which a few drops of lemon-juice have been squeezed.

Never use water that is quite cold or very hot for your ordinary ablutions. It is equally injurious to the beauty of the complexion and the general health of the skin. Let the water be just warm, and as soft as possible. If rain-water is not available, you may soften it without any deleterious effect by either of the following:

1. Dissolve 25 grs. of potash in 3 pts. water.
2. Pour ½ teaspoonful eau-de-cologne into 3 pts. tepid water.
3. Boil a handful of bran in 2 qts. water.
4. Place a bag of toilet oatmeal in your wash-hand jug.
5. Steep slices of orange and lemon with the peel on, or slices of cucumber or melon, in your water for a few hours.
6. Mix ½ pt. new milk with 1 qt. warm water.

Women who suffer from a greasy, shiny condition of the complexion ought never to wear flannel or woollen garments next to the skin.

This is so tonic and stimulating in its effects that its constant use is said to ensure perpetual youth. The petals must be infused for ten days in the alcohol, then strain the latter off, and add the other ingredients to it. It must be kept in a well-stoppered bottle.

This is also excellent for toning the skin and preventing wrinkles, but it must not be used constantly.

Superfluous hairs on the face can only be really ​eradicated by electrolysis, and those who wish to undergo this little process should always be most careful to go to a qualified person. I can most thoroughly recommend Mrs. Pomeroy, 29 Old Bond Street, for the removal of these and other facial blemishes in a skilled and competent manner.

Use any of the powders recommended by your dentist with tepid water, and brush the teeth up and down, not lengthwise. To prevent tartar, squeeze a few drops of lemon-juice into the water for rinsing your mouth, and use a powder containing alum three or four times a week.

Wear fine cashmere stockings, change them frequently, and powder the feet daily with ground starch before putting on the stockings. Rub a small quantity of any good skin-food into the soles at night, or before starting on a long walk.

This must be rubbed in thoroughly at night, and a pair of white kid or chamois gloves worn afterwards, with the palms cut out.

Bathe the feet night and morning in strong soda water, or steep them for fifteen minutes in tepid water in which a packet of sea-salt has been dissolved, and after drying them thoroughly with a soft towel, rub in some eau-de-cologne or toilet vinegar, and dust them over with either of the ​following powders to fill the pores, which are larger on the sole of the foot than on any other part of the body.

Hot, damp hands may be dried by using the following lotion several times daily, and letting it dry into the skin.

Bathe the armpits twice daily in equal parts of alum and water, then dry them, rub in a little eau-de-cologne, and powder with a mixture of starch and zinc; but be careful to wash this away at night with warm water and plenty of soap.

​This is generally a sign of constitutional weakness, so whenever it occurs the health should always receive special attention. Sometimes it is a question of "nerves."

Friction and a daily bath are the best remedies for rendering the skin in general firm and fine in texture.

A course of massage, plenty of muscular exercise, a restricted diet, little sleep on a hard mattress, cycling, riding, walking, rowing, golfing, and Turkish baths.

It is easier to "take off" flesh than it is to "put it on," I have found by experience; but the best treatment is to sleep as much and as often as possible; to eat as much of the most nourishing food as the system will assimilate; to eschew nervous excitement, brain work, and muscular exercise; to get as much fresh air as possible, and as much laughter; to maintain an equable ​temperament, a contented mind, and a tendency to general indolence. A course of massage and some kinds of medicated baths will greatly help this treatment. Bathing the neck and bosom in cold water for ten minutes daily, and then rubbing in warm olive oil, almond oil, or any good skin-food, will develop this portion of the body in time; but "fattening up" is always a slow process.

There are several systems of facial massage now in vogue, but the great disadvantage in some of them is the fact that, the manipulation being too superficial, the skin is apt to become loose and wrinkled. In the establishment set on foot, and personally managed by Mrs. Pomeroy at 29 Bond Street, this point has been carefully studied, however, and all the work is done by masseuses who have been specially trained for the purpose, and therefore understand how to knead the muscles that lie below the surface. This manipulation of the face tends to do away with wrinkles. The Pomeroy system of facial treatment, being based upon ​physiological and hygienic principles throughout, recommends itself to every woman whose complexion is defective. The process consists in steaming the face by means of a Turkish face-bath, after which it is smeared with skin-food, massaged, rubbed with oatmeal, and, finally, squirted" with an astringent lotion that is allowed to dry on. The face-bath, etc., can all be obtained at a moderate cost for home treatment.