Personal hygiene and physical training for women

by Anna M. Galbraith

The Action of the Bath in Health.—Not only in the art of pleasing, but in the maintenance of health, neatness of person must be carried to perfection. By the use of friction, soap and water, the scarf-skin becomes more and more constantly renewed by the layers underneath it. It becomes softer, more pliant, and finer than satin in appearance and texture. Besides this, as has already been shown, bathing has upon the corium or true skin, and thence upon the general system, a revitalizing influence. Combined with the proper kinds of soap, avoiding the use of irritating ones, bathing removes from the skin all effete oily matters, scales of the scarf-skin, crusts, the saline matters excreted by the perspiration, dust of all kinds, soot, particularly that from the clothing, and so forth.

Caustic soaps and borax in excess may remove the oil in so great quantities as to be detrimental to the skin.

PLATE I
Facial expression.

Within twenty-four hours the skin, especially those parts which are covered, becomes vested with a pellicle of impurities, which, when allowed to remain, become thicker every day, and may produce injurious effects by obstructing the excretory openings and affording lodgement for disease. The effects would be felt not only in the skin, but in the whole organism. The skin when not cleansed will be irritated chemically and mechanically.

The Proper Time to Bathe.—This depends on the nature of the bath to be taken, the strength of the woman, the temperature of the room, and the season of the year.

To repeat, a cold bath of any description must never be taken unless the body has a decided sensation of warmth. In winter, if she will drink a glass of hot water before rising and has a warm room, the woman in average health may take a cold sponge bath. But the body must be very gradually trained to the application of cold, just as it is to vigorous muscular exercise. For the woman who has never in her life taken a cold bath of any sort, except in midsummer, to begin a heroic treatment with cold baths in winter would be utter folly, which might easily be the cause of pneumonia and even of death. The time to begin a systematic use of cold water is in summer, continued through the autumn, and by the time midwinter has arrived, the system has become so toned up that nothing but good can result.

If the woman is not very strong, she had better begin with the cold ablutions, just to the waist, on rising in the morning. These must always be followed by a vigorous toweling and friction. In case of inflammation of the kidneys or pelvic viscera, cold applications to the abdomen should be avoided, as they are badly borne.

If the woman is anemic, has a poor circulation, or is conscious of her heart, she will feel at her best in the afternoon. In that case, after a cup of hot bouillon, taken on rising from her siesta, she may take a quick hot scrub, followed by a cold shower. This is much more invigorating than the cold ablution, and the reaction at that time of the day is more vigorous than in the early morning.

From the simple ablution, the next step in training would be the cold wet sheet. It is impossible to take this without an attendant, but a good maid may readily be taught to give the necessary rubbing. Ordinarily, this will be enough to attempt in one winter.