Twentieth Century Culture and Deportment / Or the Lady and Gentleman at Home and Abroad; Containing Rules of Etiquette for All Occasions, Including Calls; Invitations; Parties; Weddings; Receptions; Dinners and Teas; Etiquette of the Street; Public Places, Etc., Etc. Forming a Complete Guide to Self-Culture; the Art of Dressing Well; Conversation; Courtship; Etiquette for Children; Letter-Writing; Artistic Home and Interior Decorations, Etc.

by Maud C. Cooke

An Excellent Head Covering.

A very pleasant step, though not a necessary one, next to take is to have a little thin silk mob-cap (of some pretty shade of silk, so that it is becoming rather than disfiguring, if needful, to wear about the home), lined, and thickly wadded with cotton-batting, well powdered with heliotrope or some other delicate sachet powder (these come in ten or fifteen-cent packages), and wear this from one to three hours. Here, again, those thousands of minute tentacles come into play; they catch and retain (one would almost think they close over them) the atoms of the perfume when they are thus freed from dust, and when the hair is soft and light in its new cleanness—and it is astonishing for how long a time the hair will retain that faint, delicate aroma which is so truly lovely in a woman’s hair; and all to be obtained in so simple and innocent a way as with this little mob-cap, put on at the right time.

A good rule for ensuring the regular brushing of the hair which may be taught to children (and perhaps good for busy women also), is to brush the hair with fifty long strokes both at morning and at night.

Much also depends upon the brush. Let it not be stiff enough to hurt the scalp. Choose a brush of medium stiffness, with bristles long and close together, and nowhere will it pay better, “in the long run,” to give a good price for a good article than in a woman’s hairbrush which she proposes to use as described above.

Do not use a fine-tooth comb. Frequent washing will remove the dandruff in all cases, and without the injury caused to the scalp by the fine comb.

It is also well to clip the ends of the hair regularly once a month, keeping it smooth and even, besides, as is thought by some stimulating the growth and keeping it in a more healthy condition.

Perseverance in this treatment will give the hair a fine natural gloss, and a healthy tone. It will tend to prevent its falling out, and will also help to preserve its natural color much longer than if it were neglected.

“Show me a woman,” said a wise matron the other day, “though she be in the busiest farmer’s kitchen in America, who may always be found with her hair neatly and carefully arranged and with a fresh linen collar, and I will show you a lady in mind and manners. Those two points always settle the rest in my opinion!”