Beauty culture : a practical handbook on the care of the person, designed for both professional and private use

Front matter

WILLIAM A, WOODBURY,

22101357483

Med

Chapter I— Structure And Treatment Of The Hand 21

The Anatomy of the Hand — Characteristics of the Several Fingers — Difference Between the Right and the Left Hand — Treatment of Cold or Damp Hands — Exercising the Hands — Massage — Treatment of Enlarged Joints — Of Twitching Hands — Of Hardened Hands — Of Periodical Peeling of the Hands — Of Chapped Hands.

Chapter Viii— Chiropody 88

The Necessary Instruments — Preparation of the Feet — Treatment of Hard Corns: By Knife Alone; Medicinal Method — Inflamed Hard Corns — Soft Corns — Vascular Corns — Removal of Callosities — Treatment of Ingrowing Nails — Of Bunions — Recipes — Treatment of Flatfoot — Artificial Arches — Treatment of Chilblains — Recipes — Treatment of Perspiring Feet — Recipes — Treatment of Hot Feet and Cracks Between Toes.

Chapter Ix— Structure Of The Hair . . 117

Anatomy of Hair and Scalp — The Colors of Hair — Racial Differences — Albinism — Number of Hairs— Growth of the Hair — Shape of the Hair.

Chapter X— Care Of The Hair . . . .125

Combs and Brushes — Method of Combing — Resting the Hair — Care of a Child’s Hair — Massaging the Scalp — Washing the Hair — Recipes for Shampoos and Tonics — Tar Soap — Drying the Hair — Effect of Washing on Color of Hair — The Nightly Care of the Hair — Care of Eyebrows — Care of Eyelashes.

Chapter Xi— Simple Hair Dressing . . .142

Historical Sketch of Hair Dressing — Wigs — Individuality in Coiffure — Fixed Types of Coiffure — Fundamental Forms of Hair Dressing — Home Coiffure— The Simple Pompadour — The Divided Pom> padour — The Psyche Knot — The Swirl or Turban Coiffure.

Chapter Xv— Coloring The Hair

Antiquity of the Practice — When It is Justified — Precautions — Preparation for Hair Dyeing — Necessaries— Mordants — Color Guide — Home Hair Restorers— Herb Recipes — Other Natural Restorers — Mineral Recipes — Hair Stains — Vegetable Recipes — To Darken Eyebrows and Eyelashes — Recipes — Stains for Stray White Hairs — Simple Dyes — Recipes — Silver Hair Dyes — Recipes — Bleaching for Dyeing Purposes — Titian Bleach — Bleaching Dark Hair to White.

Chapter Xviii— Treatment Of Skin Dis- Orders 243

Pimples or Acne — Red Nose — Dry, Scaly Skin — Oily Skin and Enlarged Pores — Blackheads — Milium — Ringworm — Chapped Lips — Sunburn — Freckles and Tan — Liver Spots and Moth Patches — Warts — Scars and Small-pox Marks — Birthmarks — Superfluous Hair.

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Chapter Xix— Physiology Of Facial Mas- Sage 259

Scientific vs. Unscientific Massage — Distribution of the Facial Muscles.

Chapter Xx— General Facial Massage By Hand 264

General Instructions — Massage Cream — Vacuum Massage — Cautions.

Chapter Xxi— Regional Facial Massage By Hand 273

Cheek Massage — Tissue Food — Wrinkled Lotion — Under Eye Massage — Nose Massage — Mouth Massage— Temple Massage — Forehead Massage — Chin Massage — Ear Massage — Neck Massage.

CHAPTER XXH— VIBRATORY MASSAGE . . .282

Mechano-Vibratojry Massage — Electric Vibratory Massage — Applicators — Effects of Vibratory Massage— Cautions.

Chapter Xxiii— Electrolysis .... 297

Hairy Growths on the Feminine Face — Electrolysis the Only Effective Depilatory Process — Apparatus— Hypertrychosis, or Superfluous Hair:

Causes of Abnormal Growth, Method of Removal, Returning Haiss — Moles — Red Veins and Capillaries — Birthmarks — Scars,

VI

Chapter Xxiv— Flesh Reduction . . .329

Dieting — Systems: Banting’s, Ebstein’s, Oertel’s, Cathell’s, Schweninger’s — Three Weeks’ Course to Reduce Corpulence — Cold Baths — Sweating — Sassafras Tea — Summer the Best Time to Reduce Flesh — Sleeping Less — Erect Carriage — Walking — Rolling — Massage: Japanese Pinching Massage, Mechanical Massage (Zander’s Method) — Reducton of Double Chin: Massage, Exercises, Use of Appliances, Plastic Surgery — Reduction of Thick Lips: Astringent Lotions, Plastic Surgery — The Nose — The Ears — Reduction of Bust: Diet, Pomade, Exercises — Reduction of Forearms: Exercise — Reduction of Hips and Abdomen: Rubber Bandage, Perspiration, Lotion, Exercises — Reduction of Calves: Exercise.

Chapter Xxv— Plastic Surgery . . . 352

How Facial Features are Changed by Surgical Operations — Humped and Hollow Noses — Drooping Eyelids — Wrinkles — Protruding Ears — Hare-Lip — Thick Lips — Dimples.

Chapter Xxvi— Flesh Development . . 356

The Philosophy of Bodily Development — General Development of the Body: Proper Diet, Bathing, Deep Breathing, General Exercise, Massage, Rest — Prescriptions to Aid Appetite and Flesh Development— Bust Development: Massage, Deep Breathing, Walking — To Make a Flabby Bust Firm: Massage, Massage Lotions — To Develop the Arms: Housework, Bathing, Massage, Lotions — To Develop the Legs: Exercise for the Calves, Exercise for Both Arms and Legs — To Develop the Face: Tapping or Pinching Massage, Skin Foods, Recipes, Vibratory Massage — The Lips: Lotions.

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CHAPTER XXVII — THE CARE OF THE EYES . . 369 Bathing — Lotions — T onics — Strained Eyes — Wa

tering Eyes — Inflamed Eyes — Pufftness Under the Eyes — Dark Circles Under the Eyes — Styes.

Chapter Xxviii— The Care Of The Teeth 371

• Increasing Attention Paid to Teeth — Care of an Infant’s Mouth — Bacteria — The Tooth Brush — Tooth Powders and Washes — Recipes — Massaging the Gums — Eating Candy — Tartar — Sweetening the Breath — Recipes — Receding Gums — Breaking the Teeth.

Introduction

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF BEAUTY CULTURE.

Health the Basis of Beauty, not its Synonym — Beauty the Physical Ideal of Womanhood — General Discussion of Health, Diet, and Exercise in Relation to Beauty — Natural Methods in Beauty Culture — Beauty Culture as an Employment for Women — Incomes of Successful Practitioners — Qualifications of a Beauty Culturist — The Ethics of the Profession — Keeping in Touch with Experts — Cautions against Misinformation — The Only “Beauty Secrets” — The Author’s Purpose.

Beauty and utility in the arts, beauty and health in the person, are often wrongly treated as identical by theoretical writers on these subjects. There are those who would have you believe that to any solidly constructed building which is exactly adapted to its purpose the term beautiful cannot properly be denied. They assert that a well-built, well-lighted, commodious brick factory is as beautiful in its way as a Greek marble temple is in its way. Similarly there are enthusiastic devotees of physical culture who claim that every person in sound health and fine physical development must be considered as a “beautiful” specimen of humanity.

It is only by straining the application of the term

IO beauty to an extent unwarranted by common usage and common sense that such a view can be maintained.

It is true, as Emerson says, that “the beautiful rests on the foundations of the necessary,” that, for example, true beauty of person cannot exist apart from a sound and well-developed body, but this does not mean that beauty and health are identical. Else why would we have the two terms ? The truth is, beauty begins where health ends. Of two equally healthy women in an assembly, one will be passed over as plain, however thoroughly wholesome she may be in appearance, and one pointed out as notable for the attractiveness of her face and figure. Indeed, the derogation in the term “homely,” which originally was applied to a woman having every housewifely virtue, and, necessarily, the health requisite to perform her duties, is a striking evidence of the superior regard that is paid to a woman who has taken pains to preserve and enhance the “good looks” which were her inheritance at birth, and to remedy defects in personal appearance which were either natural or occasioned by employment, mode of living, or accident.

Many women are resigned to being thought “plain” and “homely,” just as most cripples are to the possession of their deformities, but none is pleased at the thought, and, with the joy of a lame man at discarding his crutch, would hail the opportunity to rid herself of the justification for the obnoxious terms. Indeed, the ideal of most women, however secret they may keep it, even refusing to admit it to themselves, is that they may be considered beautiful, if only in respect to one feature; and the most universal source of feminine grief is the fear of the waning of personal charms. The proof of the predominance of beauty in woman’s regard was strikingly shown by the general acclamation by the sex of the

II unparalleled heroism of Madame Breshkoffsky, the noble-born Russian revolutionist, when, on the occasion of her recent banishment to Siberia, the fact transpired that in her youth she had deliberately disfigured her remarkably beautiful face in order to carry on her work among the peasants unrecognized. This immolation of beauty on the altar of patriotism seemed a nobler sacrifice even than would have been the offering of her life.

And rightly, too ; for, while as citizen, as mother, as wife, there may be and are higher duties, it is the supreme duty of woman as woman to be as beautiful as careful attention, first to the laws of health, and second to the arts of the toilet, can make her. In so doing she is obeying the instinct of her sex, divinely implanted at creation, when woman was designed to be, as Macaulay says, “the most beautiful object in the world.”

Of attention to health in the matters of diet, exercise, and that cultivation of mind which is necessary to give a living soul to the otherwise inert body of beauty, it is not the province of this book to speak save in general terms here and in practical suggestions of immediate connection with specific subjects discussed in the body of the work. The reader is referred to books and periodicals devoted to health, diet, and physical and mental culture, and advised to consult her own physician in regard to her special needs in these matters. Constitutional treatment is required in almost every local disorder, whether of skin, or nails, or hair. Hygienic exercise, simple, natural diet, strict cleanliness, and peace of mind will lay the solid foundations of health upon which the temple of beauty must be reared if it is to stand. Otherwise it must be upheld by unsightly props, such as rouge, badly counterfeiting the blush of health; powder, obviously covering blemishes due to bad blood;

dead, lack-lustre hair, replacing the rich, living growth, and pads inertly rounding out hollows which should be filled with pulsing flesh.

In Beauty Culture proper, the building upon the foundations of general physical health and development, art should proceed along natural lines. The anatomy and physiology of the members and features of the body should be carefully studied, in order that these may be brought as nearly as possible into the form and condition of the ideal set by nature herself for attainment. The purpose of art, said Aristotle, is to fulfil the ijncomplete designs of nature. Too often, alas, its purpose has been to thwart the^e designs. Finger-nails are shaped into fantastic forms, stich as the “roseleaf,” “shield,” and “talon,” utterly out of harmony with the shapes of the fingers, and thus ruinous not only to the expression of individuality in the hand, but even its resemblance to a human member (see illustrations on page 37). The hair is dressed according to the passing fancies of fashion, with no regard to enhancing the special charms of the subject’s face or minimizing the effect of irregularities of contour or unshapely features.

The one who practises Beauty Culture, either for her own personal adornment or professionally for others, should be filled with the spirit of the artist, enabling her to adapt the mode of the hour to individual requirements, or, if such adaptation is impracticable, giving her resolution to disobey the edicts of fashion and produce results in harmony with the laws of pure beauty. Such a person will not fail of distinction. If she is a professional operator her parlors will fill with patrons, who will go forth to sound her praises among their friends, their encomiums being proved by the evidences of her taste and skill in the treatment of their own persons. **

Of all employments for women, the profession of Beauty Culture is the easiest for a woman of good sense and good taste to learn and establish herself in, and one of the most remunerative as well as agreeable. The cost of instruments is trifling, and their use is readily acquired. Most of the necessary preparations can be made at home, as the best formulas for them are exceedingly simple. Practice can be begun in the home of the operator, or the homes of her patrons. A public beauty parlor need not be established until the increase of custom warrants it. The operator can perform every branch of the work herself until she has too many patrons to attend to properly, when it will be time for her to employ assistants in the simpler operations. These helpers will gladly accept small wages while they are perfecting themselves in the business. There is no need for the proprietor to fear that she is training up competitors who will cut into her profits, since the number of people who employ the services of beauty culturists is increasing far more rapidly than the number of operators. It will be a long time before the business will need to be unionized and apprentices limited. Whenever a second beauty parlor has been opened in a community, the total business has at least quadrupled, since each patron is an advertisement of the practice to her hitherto unmanicured or self-manicured friends.

In other women's work the rank and file of workers must be and usually are satisfied, if they can average ten dollars weekly the year round. Nurses barely do it by being on duty twenty-four hours a day. Waitresses and saleswomen cannot possibly reach this level. In any direction you seek, you will find ten dollars a week a high average income for a woman.

On the contrary, the low average income of a beauty

H culturist is not less than double this amount. Even two manicures an hour at the lowest price — thirty-five cents — net her six dollars a day, while better paid operations, say a hair-tinting one, may bring in anywhere from fifteen dollars to fifty dollars for two hours’ work.

Incomes of beauty culturists vary from one thousand to twenty thousand dollars a year, the average of a good operator being possibly between twenty-five and thirty dollars a week. This, mind you, for an employee working on a salary and commission. Those who employ themselves, whether “by appointment” or as owners of beauty shops, may make more, even double or treble this amount. There are scores who take in a clear profit the year round of one hundred dollars a week and over.

The big rewards of the business are* dependent on two things* which must be combined to make up the successful practice of Beauty Culture. The operator must not only be deftly skilful and capable of meeting any requirement of her patronage, but she must also be equally well grounded in practical business management.

The successful beauty culturist must, above all, be modest, tactful, and discreet. The common impression that she should be a dashing beauty is erroneous. The appearance of good health and the evidence of good humor are better assets than good looks without these accompaniments. A clear skin and bright eye, simply arranged hair, neat dress, and a self-effacing manner will win patrons where an artificially treated complexion, hair dressed in the extreme of fashion, gaudy ornaments, and conscious pride in appearance will repel them.

Above all, the operator should see to it that her hands and nails are as near perfection in contour, trim, and lustre as her art can keep them, for with these she is earning her livelihood, and they are always under the close observation of patrons.

The beauty culturist should have strict regard to professional ethics. She should never gossip, avoiding in particular the discussion of a patron, man or woman, with a patron of the opposite sex. One infraction of this rule may wreck her business, and render it impossible for her to build it up again, even in a new place.

In short, the beauty culturist should be a plain business woman, proving the fact by minding her business. If she does her work conscientiously, and with pride in it, rather than in her appearance and her social graces, she is bound to prosper.

It goes without saying that the beauty culturist should keep herself informed of the best practices in her profession. This is more important than to know the latest fashions in it. She should keep in communication with specialists in the treatment of the parts of the body with which she has to deal, and confer with them upon any difficult problems which may arise in her practice. As a rule she should place little dependence upon advice given in the “beauty column” of newspapers and women’s magazines, unless this department is conducted by an expert of approved reputation, who gives the advice himself instead of merely lending his name as editor. Far too much of this advice is prepared by clever newspaper sub-editors who employ their powers of invention for lack of real knowledge of the subject. In nine cases out of ten, the information they give is harmless, for, in order to be safe, they confine themselves to obvious suggestions, often bordering on nonsense, but in the tenth case they may give absolutely injurious advice.

All recipes for skin lotions and other preparations, wherever these are published, should be specially exami6 ined to see if there is responsible expert authority for their safety, as irremediable harm may result from their use.

Above all, every woman interested in beauty culture should view with distrust the frequent advertisements of “Beauty Secrets,” announcements of wonderful methods of removing superfluous hair, developing the bust, etc., which are not generally known in the profession. These “secrets” are either the methods belonging to the early unscientific stage of the art, and discarded for better methods by the present experts as harmful or ineffective, or they are “fakes” pure and simple, designed to accomplish the sale at an extravagant price of some cheap cream or lotion which the advertisers expect to sell only once to each purchaser. In the case of depilatories they usually remove the hair, only to have it grow again, since the effect is only that of a deep, sub-cutaneous shave.

Really the only Beauty Secrets are those which, if not generally known to the public, are common to the practice of the trained specialists. For business reasons, these practitioners are not prone to publish, the names and proportions of the ingredients of their most effective preparations, or the details of their manipulating processes. They are wrong in this, not alone from the ethical, but even from the commercial point of view, since the prevalence of the best methods in beauty culture would lead to a discrimination by the public in favor of the class of legitimate practitioners to which they belong.

The author of the present book entered as a young man into close business association with the man who is acknowledged as the founder and greatest exponent of dermatology — John H. Woodbury. Together they inl7 vented new methods and preparations in Beauty Culture, and carefully tested these and others which were brought to their attention. Mr. John H. Woodbury saw fit to refrain from publishing these to the world while he was in active practice, and, indeed, protected by law the manufacture of a few of the preparations. At that time the author protested, though in vain, against the policy of secrecy in regard to those recipes and methods which were unprotected and in which there was no manufacturing interest. As the advertising agent of the business he believed in the wisdom of the widest and frankest publicity, especially as the methods and recipes had become the common property of the profession through the fact that the concern was the great training school of the leading dermatologists and beauty culturists of the country.

Since the death of John H. Woodbury, the author has devoted himself to the dissemination of the best methods of beauty culture. He is neither an operator nor a manufacturer. He is simply an instructor, imparting whatever special knowledge he may possess, as other teachers and writers upon subjects of interest and value to the public are wont to do. In the present book he has collated the most important information upon Beauty Culture which he has acquired, and presents it in the form of a practical progressive course of instruction, stripped of technicalities, and suited to the needs of both the professional practitioner and the person who is interested in the art for the sake only of herself and members of her family. He holds himself responsible for every process and preparation that he describes and endorses in the book, since he has thoroughly tested their efficacy, some, indeed, being of his own devising.

PART ONE — to whose soft seizure

The cygnet’s down is harsh, and spirit of sense Hard as the palm of ploughman.

— Shakespeare.

Chapter I. Structure And Treatment Of The Hand

The Anatomy of the Hand — Characteristics of the Several Fingers — Difference Between the Right and the Left Hand — Treatment of Cold or Damp Hands — Exercising the Hands — Massage — Treatment of Enlarged Joints — Of Twitching Hands — Of Hardened Hands — - Of Periodical Peeling of the Hands — Of Chapped Hands.

Since manicuring (which signifies “care of the hands,” and not, as popularly understood, of the nails alone) is in greater demand than any other operation in Beauty Culture, and since it is the simplest of the processes, it is expedient to begin our treatise with its discussion.

Anatomy of the Hand. — First of all, it is necessary to learn the anatomy of the hand in general, and that of the finger and nail in particular.

The hand consists of the digits or fingers, and the metacarpus or palm, which is connected with the forearm by the carpus or wrist.

In Figure i will be found the names and locations of the various fingers, fleshy protuberances, lines and folds, etc.

Differences Between the Fingers. — The different lengths of the fingers are explained by Gall Humphrey, M. D., of Cambridge, England, by their adaptation to

THE PARTS OF THE HAND i. Pollex, or thumb. 2. Index, or forefinger. 3. Medius, or middle finger. 4. Annularis, or ring-finger. 5. Auricularis, or little finger. 6. Thenar eminence, or ball of the thumb. 7. Hypothenar eminence, or heel of the hand. 8. Linea vitalis, or line of life. 9. Linea cephalica, or line of the head. 10. Linea mensalis, or line of the heart. 11. Linea fortune, or saturnine line. 12. Rasceta, or wrist markings (“bracelets”). 13. Nodes, or finger knots. 15. Interdigital folds.

From the Standard Dictionary. By permission of Funk & Wagnalls.

the amount of mobility of their metacarpal bones on the wrist.

Thus the middle finger is the largest, its metacarpal being the most fixed. The forefinger ranks next, its metacarpal being more movable. Then the ring finger and the little finger come next in size and in the mobility of the metacarpal. The thumb, shortest, has its metacarpal much more movable.

“Observe,” says Dr. Humphrey, “that when the fingers and the thumb are spread out, the space between thumb and forefinger is considerably greater than the space between the other fingers. Then, by a slight movement, the thumb takes a position in front of, or opposite to, the fingers. In grasping any substance it has to antagonize the pressure exerted by all the fingers. Hence it needs to be much stronger than they are, and to be wielded by more numerous and powerful muscles.”

“The forefinger has the greatest range of independent movement.” Hence it is used to point with (or beckon with), and is called the index or indicator, more commonly the former.

“The ring finger cannot be bent or straightened much without being accompanied in movement by one or both of those next to it. This is partly because the extensor tendon is connected,” says Dr. Humphrey, “by means of a band of fibres with the tendon on either side.” In other words, there is a remnant of the webbing, so curiously found still persisting in the toes of the Russians as will be hereafter noted in the discussion of chiropody.

This finger with less independence of movement was not chosen on that account, as might be humorously imagined, to bear the ring that symbolizes that state in which men and women generally lose their individual mobility, but it was probably selected because the enforced companionship of the other two fingers, when it moves, gives it a comparative immunity from injury, which is further increased by the general, though not universal practice of selecting the ring finger of the left hand. Possibly, however, the fact that the heart is on the left side had much to do with the choice of the left hand as the bearer of the engagement and the wedding ring.

It is well for the manicurist who may be called on to treat the whole hand as well as the nails of a patron to understand thoroughly the bony and muscular structure and the varying degrees of mobility in the fingers and their relations to each other, particularly, for instance, the special connection between the ring finger and its “side partners,” so that, in massaging or in casual manipulations of the joints and tendons, the operator may avoid rubbing or pulling against the grain, so to speak, and so setting up a sensation of slight lameness, instead of restfulness, in the delicate hands of a patient.

Since the right hand is more in use than the left, it follows that nail growth and texture is more subject to accident; although the nail, partaking of the condition of the skin of the hand, might be firmer. If the patron has any manual occupation, is, for example, one who uses the pen constantly or any tools that tend to flatten the tips of the fingers and to spread the nail, extra attention to the manicuring of the nails of the hand most in use will be indicated, in order that this tendency may be held in check.

Temperature of the Hand. — Temperature of the hand is a matter to be noted by the manicurist, especially that of her own hands, since a cold or damp hand is unpleasant to a patron and might suffice to drive some away after one sitting.

Where coldness of the hands or feet or both at once is chronic, it is because the blood is not circulating properly through the system, a condition which the manicurist should seek to overcome or prevent in herself and strive to overcome in a patron, by suggesting regular exercise of the fingers and wrists, or exercises of the arms, both mild and persistent, or, in extremely obstinate cases, by advising her to consult a first-rate physician. Most cases, however, can be easily cured.

Exercise of the Hands. — Since the functions of the hand are prehension, or grasping, and testing by the sense of touch, which is specially developed in the finger tips, the manicurist should take care not to impair these functions, but rather to develop them. The muscles should be rendered strong and flexible by exercise, either with gymnastic appliances, such as the gripping and wrist machines, or by exercise without apparatus, as described in books and magazines relating to physical culture. In gripping there is a striking difference between the masculine and feminine hand, the power of the man increasing with each successive trial until the maximum strength is exerted at the fourth or fifth trial, and thereafter diminishing, and the power of the woman beginning with the first trial as the maximum and thereafter decreasing. This shows greater initial nervous energy in the woman and less staying power. Women, therefore, should strengthen the hand by gripping exercises until the power shown in the first trial continues undiminished for several repetitions.

Massage of the Hands — Plumpness and shapeliness of the hands, as well as their flexibility can be greatly increased by massage, the general principles of which will be presented later in the discussion of Facial Massage. The student is to understand that massaging of the hands runs on an exactly opposite line to the direction given for the massaging of the face. The movements are to be mostly downward toward the finger tips, with intermediate light strokes or gentle pulls and pinches across the back of the hand, and only a few very delicate upward strokes toward the finish. The inside, or palm, is to be massaged toward the fingers also, with interspersed rotary movements toward its middle point.

In this massaging, the use of a little pure olive oil will be found helpful.

Enlarged Joints. — Massaging is especially helpful in treating enlarged joints, not so much in actually reducing their size as in building up the other parts of the hand and so giving it a symmetrical appearance.

Enlarged joints are more frequently noted in men than in women. They are often accompanied with pain or an annoying numbness.

The causes are various, and, therefore, various treatments or combinations of treatments must be undertaken.

Where the enlargement is due primarily to a person’s former or present occupation, nearly always the most that can be done is by long-continued massaging of the adjacent tissue, as well as by gentle manipulation of the joints themselves, to bring out the rest of the hand to such a fulness of contour that the enlargements do not seem quite so prominent.

If the chief enlargement is that of the first joint of the thumb — a very common disfigurement — the problem is to build up the tissue between the thumb and forefinger especially, and to some extent on the outer side of the thumb, where it joins the wrist.