S. D. P.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| Woman’s Business to be Beautiful.—How to Acquire a Clear Complexion.—Regimen for Purity of the Blood.—Carbonate of Ammonia and Powdered Charcoal.—Stippled Skins.—Face Masks.—Oily Complexions.—Irritations of the Skin.—Lettuce as a Cosmetic.—Cooling Drinks.—Sun-Baths.—Bread and Molasses | Page [9] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Care of the Hair.—Children’s Hair.—When to Cut it.—Ammonia Washes.—Glycerine and Ammonia.—Pomades.—How to Brush the Hair.—Cutting the Ends.—German Method of Treating the Hair.—Southernwood Pomade.—Hair-Dyes.—Dyeing the Eyebrows and Eyelashes.—Superfluous Hair.—Depilatories.—Washes for the Eyelashes and Eyebrows | [22] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Elegance of Manner.—Grace of the Latin Races.—The Secret of Grace.—Gliding Movement.—Calisthenics.—Erectness of Figure.—Shoulder Braces.—How to Acquire Sloping Shoulders.—Care of the Feet.—The Art of Walking.—Picturesque Carriage of Southern Women | [35] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| N. P. Willis as a Critic of Beauty.—The Perfume of the Presence.—Charm of Good Circulation.—Chills are Incipient Congestion.—Paper Clothing.—Luxuries of the Bath.—A Substitute for Sea-Baths.—To Secure Fragrant Breath.—Delicate Dentifrices.—Fine Cologne.—A List of Fragrance | [48] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| Morals of Paint and Powder.—Antique Toilet Arts.—Washington Ladies.—Making Up the Face.—Whitening the Arms.—Tints of Rouge.—To Make French Rouge.—Milk of Roses.—Greuze Tints.—Coarse Complexions Caused by Powder.—Color for the Lips.—Crystal and Gold Hair Powder.—Dyeing Blonde Wigs.—To Darken the Hair.—Champagne and Black-Walnut Bark.—Doom of the Complexion Artist | [59] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Récamier’s Training.—Diana of Poitiers’ Bath.—High Beauty of Maturity.—The Worth of Beauty.—George Eliot on Complexions.—Dr. Cazenave.—Barley Paste for the Face.—Prescriptions of the Roman Ladies.—To Remove Pimples.—Cascarilla Wash.—Varnish for Wrinkles.—Acetic Acid for Comedones.—To Remove Mask.—Lady Mary Montagu.—Habit of Italian Ladies.—Wash of Vitriol | [70] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Shining Pallor.—Lustrous Faces.—Golden Freckles.—Tiger-Lily Spots.—Sun Photographs.—Nitre Removes Freckles.—Old English Prescription.—For Yachting.—Almond-Oil.—Buttermilk as a Cosmetic.—Rosemary and Glycerine.—Lotion for Prickly Heat.—For Musquitoes.—Protecting Hair from Sea Air.—Fashionable Gray Hair.—Dark Eyes and Silver Hair.—To Restore Dark Hair.—Bandoline.—Cold Cream.—Almond Pomade.—For Skin Diseases.—Sulphurous Acid | [77] |
| 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 | [86] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| Hope for Homely People.—Two Vital Charms.—The Way to Live.—Sunrise and Open Air.—Bleached by the Dawn.—Live at Sunny Windows.—In Balconies and Parks.—Christiana’s Breakfast.—Brown Steak and Good-humor.—True Bread.—Device for Stiff Shoulders.—Corsets and Girdles.—The Latter more Needed.—How to be Pleased with One’s Self | [95] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| The Bonniest Kate in Christendom.—A Word to Mothers and Aunts.—Different Vanities.—The Sorrows of Ugly Women.—Recipes of an Ancient Beauty.—Sand Wash.—Color for the Nails.—Embrocation for the Hands.—Soap to Bleach the Arms.—Freckle Lotions.—Artistic Enthusiasm at the Toilet | [108] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| A Dark Potion.—Olive-oil and Tar for the Face.—Olive-tar for Inhalation.—Carbolic Lotion for Pimples.—Cure for Musquito Bites.—Pale Blondes.—A French Marquise.—Deepening Colors by Sunlight.—Seductive Cosmetics.—Nose-machine.—Finger Thimbles | [117] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| Removal of Superfluous Hair.—Effects of High Living.—Work of Typhoid Fever.—Roman Tweezers.—Lola Montez’s Recipes.—Paste of Wood-ashes.—Bleaching Arms with Chloride.—Cautions about Depilatories.—Public Baths.—Improving Complexions by the Sulphur Vapor-bath.—How Arabian Women Perfume Themselves.—Profuse Hair, Sign of Nature’s Bounty | [125] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| Madame Celnart’s Works of the Toilet.—Literature of Beauty.—Cares of the Toilet.—Arts of Coiffure and Lacing.—How to Hold a Needle Gracefully.—Iris Powder for Tresses.—Arts of Italian Women.—Depilatory used in Harems.—Spirit of Pyrêtre.—Herbs used by Greek Women.—Mexican Pomade.—Dusky Perfumed Marbles.—Lost Perfumes.—Sultanas’ Lotion.—Brilliant Paste for Neck and Arms.—Baking Enamel | [134] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| The Last of the Rose.—Weighing in the Balances.—To Love and to be Loved.—The Enigma of Love.—Its Power over the Lot of Men.—Inspiration in the Looks.—The Land of Spring.—The Duchess of Devonshire.—Women at and after Thirty.—Training of Emotion.—Warming the Voice.—Crow’s-feet at the Opera.—Bohemian Arsenic Waters.—Recipe from Madame Vestris.—Milk of Roses.—Sweet-oils.—Opera-dancers’ Prescription for Restoring Suppleness | [146] |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| The Fearful Malady of which no one Dies.—Esprit Odontalgique.—Gray Pastilles.—Important to Smokers.—Mouth Perfumes.—Care of the Breath.—Directions for Bathing.—Perfumes for the Bath.—Bazin’s Pâte.—Quality of Soaps.—Bathing and Anointing the Feet.—Nicety of Stockings.—Delicate Shoe Linings.—Feet of Pauline Bonaparte | [155] |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| “The Leaves are Full of Joy.”—Nobility of the Body.—Its Possibilities.—Brain and Heart Dependent on it.—Physical Culture Imperative in America.—Our Contempt of Health.—Easier to be Magnificent than Clean.—Distilled Water for Every Use.—Substitute for Stills.—Vapor and Sulphur Baths.—Bran Baths.—Oatmeal for the Hands.—Frequency of Baths.—Remedies for Hepatic Spots | [165] |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| The Banting System.—A Quaint Author.—Trials of Corpulency.—Result of Living on Sixpence a Day.—Indifference of Doctors.—A Wise Surgeon.—Relation of Glucose to Obesity.—Diet for Stout People.—No Starch, no Sugar.—Losing Flesh at the Rate of a Pound a Week.—“Human Beans.”—Humors of Banting’s Tract.—His Gratitude.—Honors to Dr. Harvey.—One Day with Dives, the Next with Lazarus.—Bromide of Ammonia | [175] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| A Letter.—Trials of a Plain Woman.—The Best Husband in the World.—Burdock Wash for the Hair.—For Children’s Hair.—Oil of Mace as a Stimulant.—To Restore Color to the Hair.—Sperm-oil a Powerful Hair Restorer.—The Cheapest Hair-Dye.—Cure for Chilblains.—Loose Shoes the Cause of Corns.—Pyroligneous Acid for Corns.—Turpentine and Carbolic Acid for Soft Corns | [185] |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| A Talk about Complexions.—Delicate Lotion.—Cause of Rough Faces.—Sun Painting and Bleaching.—Court Ladies Refusing to Wash their Faces.—Experiments with Olive-tar.—Consumption and Clear Faces.—Rev. W. H. H. Murray on Olive-tar.—Porcelain Women.—Drawing Humors to the Surface.—What is to be Done for the Weak Women? | [192] |
| CHAPTER XX. | |
| Sulphur Baths.—Bleaching Old Faces.—Experiments in Bathing.—Cautions.—Need of Public Baths.—Their Proper Prices.—Method of Giving Sulphur Vapor-baths.—Hot Baths for Hot Weather.—Russian Baths at Home.—Improvements Needed in Public Baths.—What they Should be.—What they Are.—The Russian Vapor-bath.—After-Sensations.—Brightness and Lightness of Health.—Reverence for the Physical.—Influence of Bathing on the Nerves and Passions.—Necessity of Public Baths | [198] |
| CHAPTER XXI. | |
| Devices of Uneasy Age.—Bread Paste and Court-plaster to Conceal Wrinkles.—Accepting the Situation.—Plain Women and Agreeable Toilets.—Examples.—The Rector’s Daughter.—Dressing on Two Hundred a Year.—Écru Linen and White Nansook.—A Senator’s Wife.—A Washington Success.—Dull, Thin Faces.—Hay-colored Hair.—Advantages of Lining Rooms with Mirrors | [212] |
| CHAPTER XXII. | |
| Physical Education of Girls.—A Woman’s Value in the World.—High-bred Figures.—Antique Races.—Inspiration of Art not Vanity.—The Trying Age.—Dress, Food, and Bathing for Young Girls.—A Veto on Close Study.—Braces and Backboards.—Never Talk of Girls’ Feelings.—Exercise for the Arms.—Singing Scales with Corsets off.—Development of the Bust.—Open-work Corsets the Best.—The Bayaderes of India and their Forms.—The Delicacy due Young Girls.—A Frank but Needed Caution.—Care of the Figure after Nursing | [224] |
| CHAPTER XXIII. | |
| Hands and Complexions.—Preparing for Parties.—Refining Rough Faces.—Carbolic Baths.—Chalk and Cascarilla.—Glycerine Wash.—School-girls’ Flushed Hands and Faces.—To Soften the Hands.—Red Noses.—Secrets of Making-up.—Cologne for the Eyes.—Cosmetic Gloves.—To Impart a Brilliant Complexion | [238] |
| CHAPTER XXIV. | |
| Women’s Looks and Nerves.—A Low-toned Generation.—Children and their Ways.—Brief Madness.—Women in the Woods.—Singing.—Work well done the Easiest.—Sleep the Remedy for Temper.—Hours for Sleep.—The Great Medicines—Sunshine, Music, Work, and Sleep | [247] |
| CHAPTER XXV. | |
| Changing Wigs and Chignons.—Matching Braids.—Frizzing the Hair.—Crimping-pins.—Blonde Hair-pins.—What Colors Hair.—Bleaching Tresses.—Sulphur Paste.—Foxy Locks.—Freshening Switches | [257] |
| CHAPTER XXVI. | |
| Hair and Complexion.—Black Dyes.—Persian Blue-Black.—Peroxide of Hydrogen.—Chloride of Gold.—Transient Dyes | [267] |
THE UGLY-GIRL PAPERS.
CHAPTER I.
Woman’s Business to be Beautiful.—How to Acquire a Clear Complexion.—Regimen for Purity of the Blood.—Carbonate of Ammonia and Powdered Charcoal.—Stippled Skins.—Face Masks.—Oily Complexions.—Irritations of the Skin.—Lettuce as a Cosmetic.—Cooling Drinks.—Sun-Baths.—Bread and Molasses.
The first requisite in a woman toward pleasing others is that she should be pleased with herself. In no other way can she attain that self-poise, that satisfaction, which leaves her at liberty to devote herself successfully to others.
I appeal to the ugly sisterhood to know if this is not so. Could a woman be made to believe herself beautiful, it would go far toward making her so. Those hopeless, shrinking souls, alive with devotion and imagination, with hearts as fit to make passionate and worshiped lovers, or steadfast and inspiring heroines, as the fairest Venus of the sex, need not for an instant believe there is no alleviation for their case, no chance of making face and figure more attractive and truer exponents of the spirit within.
There is scarcely any thing in the history of women more touching than the homage paid to beauty by those who have it not. No slave among her throng of adorers appreciated more keenly the beauty of Récamier than the skeleton-like, irritable Madame De Chateaubriand. The loveliness of a rival eats into a girl’s heart like corrosion; every fair curling hair, every grace of outline, is traced in lines of fire on the mind of the plainer one, and reproduced with microscopic fidelity. It is a woman’s business to be beautiful. She recommends every virtue and heroism by the grace which sets them forth. Women of genius are the first to lay the crown of womanhood on the head of the most beautiful. Mere fashion of face and form are not meant by beauty, but that symmetry and brightness which come of physical and spiritual refinement. Such are the heroines of Scott, Disraeli, and Bulwer, as inspiring as they are rare. Toward such ideals all women yearn.
Who will say that this most natural feeling of the feminine heart may not have some fulfillment in the first thirty years of life? This limit is given because the latest authorities in social science assert that woman’s prime of youth is twenty-six, moving the barriers a good ten years ahead from the old standard of the novelist, whose heroines are always in the dew of sixteen. In the very first place, one may boldly say that beauty, or rather fascination, is not a matter of youth, and no woman ought to sigh over her years till she feels the frost creeping into her heart. Men of the world understand well that a woman’s wit is finest, and her heart yields the richest wealth, when experience has formed the fair and colorless material of youth. A sweet girl of seventeen and a high-bred beauty of thirty, if well preserved, may dispute the palm. I do not mean to decry rose-buds and dew. One hardly knows which to love them for most—their loveliness or their briefness. But women who look their thirties in the face should not lay down the sceptre of life, or fancy that its delights for them are over. They are young while they seem young.