Confidential Chats with Girls

by William Lee Howard

But there is a more important effect that the absence of plenty of water in the system has upon the girl. It is a very serious matter to her, as it affects her attractiveness and happiness, and this is what we want to get at in these Chats.

You all know that at certain times girls will have more or less an odor from their skins and breaths. It is very noticeable in some girls, and in others of the most careful cleanliness and habits it will be detected. Perfumery only makes matters worse; the attempt to cover the natural odors is too marked.

These odors are all caused by acids and other chemical materials which exist in the natural secretions of the body; the perspiration, breath and other secretions. The less water there is in the human system, the more will these chemical odors pervade the atmosphere surrounding the girl.

It is the lack of plenty of water that causes the skin to give forth odors. If you have exercised to the extent of bringing on profuse perspiration and have not drank plenty of water before, during and after the exercise, no amount of bathing will prevent an odor coming from the skin. If you are going out to a dance or any place where you will be in a warm room, you will not be able to disguise the chemical odors coming from the skin.

But if you have filled your system with water two or three hours before going out, your skin will have a delicious, natural odor.

During the menstrual period every gland in the growing girl is very active. The skin throws off an extra amount of perspiration, the glands under the arms are very, extremely, active. Then at this time the breath comes faster than usual and throws off its poisons in large quantities. All these off-castings of the body are loaded with material that must leave the body if we are to keep in good health. But here is the point. You can so saturate your system with pure water that all these fatty and acid odors become highly diluted and scarcely any of them will make their presence known to those around you.

Drinking water will make you fat? Nonsense. That is some old woman’s tale—some old woman who tries to excuse herself from drinking water. Water will not make you fat nor make you lean; just keep you in the good health and state you were born to be in. Then it helps keep the bowels clean, gives a good flow to the blood and keeps the womb free from any little clots being left over from your last menstruation.

How much water shall I drink? Two tumblerfuls every morning before breakfast, two between each meal and as much at meals as you want. Don’t bother yourself about the fads of drinking water, such as none at meals, for instance.

Look at a horse; he drinks when he is thirsty and he drinks all he wants. Take water away from a horse, keep it away from him as it has been kept away from girls and young women, and you would soon see his coat become dull, sticky, and the light go from his eyes.