The Ugly-Girl Papers/Chapter 8

CHAPTER VIII.

• 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 ambitions 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 drank 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.