COSMETICS AND LOTIONS

A cheap and simple cosmetic is made by taking one-half pound of white soap ; melt over a slow fire with one gill of sweet oil ; add a tea- cupful of clear white sea sand, and stir till cold. This will make the hands remarkably soft and white.

Cosmetic Gloves — (For night wear) — Yolk of two fresh eggs, oil of almond, two tablespoonf uls ; tincture benzoin, one dessert spoonful; rosewater, one tablespoonful. Beat well together. Keep tightly corked. Paint the inside of the gloves every night, and do not wear the same pair longer than two weeks. Use kid or dog skin gloves, if you can- not get India rubber gloves, which are the best.

Cold Crea?n—Takt of oil of almond two ounces, spermaceti half an ounce, white wax one drachm. Melt together and while cooling add two ounces of rosewater, stirring it until cold.

Eace Washes — Powdered borax, half an ounce ; glycerine, one ounce ; camphor water, one quart. Wash the face with the above twice a day. Excellent lotion for sunburn and tan.

Fresh lemon juice, a wineglassful; rain water, one pint; attar of roses, a few drops ; mix and keep in a well corked bottle. Use twice or three times a day. Splendid for " muddiness " of the complexion.

Milk of Roses — Put into a small botile two ounces of rosewater, one teaspoonful of oil of sweet almonds, ten drops of oil of tar. Shake the bottle till the whole is combined and you have a nice cosmetic to apply to the skin after washing.

Harmless Face Powders — Rice powder, though expensive, is war- ranted perfectly harmless. Refined chalk is the safest thing to use, and costs far less than if put up under some other name and sold in boxes. Cascarilla powder is much used by Cuban ladies, and is con- sidered harmless. Wash the face with thick suds from glycerine soap, and, when dry, dust on the powder with a puff or piece of chamois skin.

Toilet Ice — Take a quarter of a pound of fresh mutton suet, melt it slowly, taking care that it does not scorch. Put in your glass box or cup, four or five drops of sweet oil, and, if you please, add a few drops of some liquid scent ; then pour the hot tallow in the box and set it in a cool place to harden. For summer use the oil is not needed, as it will be soft enough without it. Keep it in glass. It is an excellent remedy for parched and chapped lips and hands, or abrasions.

Camphor Balls — Clarify a pound of mutton suet and add to it three pounds of spermaceti, two of white wax and one of gum camphor cut into very small pieces. Melt these together with gentle heat, and stir until the camphor is dissolved ; then pour it into molds. It is very good for rough hands.

Remedy for Chafing — Make a lotion of alum in water. A piece of

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alum as large as a hazel nut dissolved in half a pint of water is suffi- cient. It will quickly heal excoriated skin and harden the unabraded cuticle. It is also good for tender feet and soft corns.

For Chapped Ha^ids — The nicest preparation for chapped hands is composed of quince seed and whisky. There is no rule as to propor- tion. Put the seeds in a botile, and pour in enough whisky to cover them. As this thickens add more whisky until it is of the right con- sistency. This healing preparation is far superior to glycerme, as it dries off quickly and leaves a most agreeable odor. Or this: One parr of glycerine, four of Pond's extract of witch hazel, and four of water; put in a bottle and shake well ; it is ready for use immediately ; it is well to shake thoroughly each time of using,

When the Feet are Sore, as from long walking, take a tablespoonful of epsom salts, five or six drops of tincture of capsicum, and put it in a shallow basin of water — just enough to cover the soles of the feet — and soak them for twenty minutes. One will be surprised at the relief it will give. It will also cure burning of the feet that so many are troubled vvith in the summer.

All cannot with equal safety take baths of the same temperature or observe the same hours ; but as a rule a bath at ninety degrees, for cleansing purposes, may be taken about twice a week in winter, just before retiring to sleep, and a tepid or cold bath (if one can stand the latter) eveiy morning, if convenient ; or a sponge bath — the application of the cold water being of but a few moments' duration — followed by a thorough rubbing with a Turkish towel and flesh brush. Wet the head first and it's seldom you will take cold. A tablespoonful of ammonia put in a pail of water and used for bathing will have the same invig- orating effect as a sea bath. If in the summer time, it will have the same exhilarating effect as if you had taken a plunge in the sea, and the skin will be firm and cool. The ammonia is a good absorbent of per- spiration ; for such cases use a teaspoonful to a washbowl of water, but do not wet the hands or face with undiluted ammonia as it is very apt to injure the skin. *

If you must bathe in the bedroom, then get a square of white enam- eled cloth, sew a heavy rope around the ^Ag& tightly, and you can take a shower-bath without getting the water on the carpet. Use the wrong side, as the oil-cloth is apt to chill one. Get a large sponge, and be sure and keep it clean. One hardly realizes how dirty a sponge may get till they try to wash one in soda and water, then the dirt will appear.

There are vegetable cloths — in the South they call them " dish-cloths " — that make as good an invigorator for the skin as any flesh brush. These can be bought at alniost any place where they have bathing 23

354 THE TOILET.

appliances, for they are used in nearly all Turkish bath houses in place of sponges.

The next care is the soap. The best is the cheapest. Always use the best of soaps for toilet purposes, as cheap poor soaps do more towards injuring the skin than any other cause. The safest soap in market is the colorless castile ; olive oil soap is also good ; glycerine soap is good for winter use, especially if the skin is liable to chap ; tar soap is recommended for those who have eruptions of the skin; oatmeal soap will make the hands soft and white. Soaps made from vegetable oils are much better than those made of the fat of animals ; almond oil soap is a favorite on account of its delightful perfume taken from the oil of which it is made, and therefore requires no other scent- ing. Lard soaps are hard and solid and by some are preferred to veg- etable soaps. Lettuce soap is highly recommended, but is quite expen- sive, and is probably no purer than any of the others.

Bath towels are not half large enough. The best way is to buy coarse crash, or Turkish toweling, by the yard, and then get them long enough to nearly envelope the body so as to dry it at once. Many complain that the bath is injurious to them, that they take cold after- ward ; but if they take a tepid water bath, and then immediately after- ward a sponge bath of cold water, rubbing the body briskly, as soon as through, with a coarse towel, it is utterly impossible to catch cold. The difficulty is usually that the first water is too warm, and then they have not the courage for the bath of cold vater, and in this way one will take cold. The bath should never chill one, but what is a rule for one is not for another ; the only way is to study one's nature and then adapt the rules to it.

For weak people, especially in summer, a gill of ammonia in a small tub of water, or some rock salt is a wonderful invigorator, almost as good as a sea bath. A prominent writer on health thus gives the directions for a bath : Fill your basin about two-thirds full of fresh water ; dip your face in the water, then your hands ; soap the hands well, and pass the soaped hands with gentle friction over the face. Having performed this part thoroughly, dip the face in the water a second time, and rinse it completely. You may add very much to the luxury of the latter part of the process, by having a second basin ready with fresh water to per- form a final rinsing. Having well rubbed the neck with the soaped hands, thoroughly bathe the neck, chest and arms by means of a large sponge dipped in cold water — the colder the better. To cleanse the back, soap a piece of flannel a yard and a half long and half a yard wide, folded lengthwise; dip in cold water, and work it from right to left, up and down, until the back is thoroughly cleaned. Then put the hands, forearms and arms into the basin of water as far as they will

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reach, and keep them in for a few seconds. The wet parts should be expeditiously dried.

If one is strong they will prefer the cold water, but if weak or in poor health just take the chill off. If the loins or back are at all weak rub them with water in which a handful of salt has been dissolved. This is very strengthening to a weak back.

The feet and legs ought every morning to be bithed, not by stand- ing in the water while the body is being washed, but by putting one foot in the water, and then the other, washing quickly with a sponge, and allowing the water to trickle from the sponge, from the knees down- ward. The feet ought to be kept as clean as the hands, and if the nails are cut as often, and they are attended to carefully, it will be a means of warding off corns and bunions.

The best time to bathe is just before going to bed. It will assist one's sleep, giving a quiet, restful feeling. . Never wash the hair before going to bed, as one is apt to catch cold. Reserve that for a day when you can stay in the house. Many take a bath on tirst rising, and this seems to agree with them, but on others it has a very depressing and exhausting effect. Never take a bath just after a meal.

If oatmealis used in the water while bathing the hands and face, it will soften and whiten them ; or rubbed on dry alter the hands and face have been dried with a soft towel.