The
Complexion
PERHAPS you think there is nothing pathetic in the
condition of a woman who, having committed no sin,
finds herself the object of a lifelong punishment in
the shape of a moustache.
Yes, I know it is the custom to laugh at women with
beards, but you may believe me when I tell you that
the poor creatures thus disfigured weep and suffer,
and sometimes have actually died from the
mortification and shame. I may also add that of all
the punishments meted out to our sex, the one that is
the ugliest to bear--superfluous hair--is the one that
practically defies science, and for which up to this
writing there is no certain cure, electrolysis
excepted.
SIXTY out of every one hundred American girls have
poor skins. When I say poor skins I am trying to
soften what seems to be a very harsh statement.
What I really mean to say is, that out of one
hundred youthful faces taken at random from any
congregation of young people, at the most generous
estimate, about forty per cent. Will be free from the
blemishes we all know and loathe, and are content to
abide by and with--pimples and other equally
disgusting accompaniments of an ill-conditioned skin.
And this state of affairs exists despite the fact
that twenty millions of dollars are annually expended
in the United States for cosmetics, facial treatments
and alleged cures for an almost national defect.
American women are, as a rule, not stupid--yet they
are singularly gullible on this one point.
Every thinking person must know that a bad skin is
the result of an internal disorder or external
neglect. External neglect may be summed up in one
word--"uncleanliness." Internal troubles, I
grieve to say, may be too often fastened on the
all-prevailing pie of our beloved land.
When I say pie I generalize. I mean to include all
those soft, pasty, creamy, delectable
stomach-destroyers which the girls of to-day are
offering to their stomachs week in and week out, in
place of food that will nourish and produce red
corpuscles instead of white.
Frequently I go to a dairy kitchen near my office
for a hurried luncheon, and I am always spellbound for
the first few moments by the apparently irresistible,
swift-recurring wave of pie-eating that pervades the
entire establishment.
Long ago our Puritan ancestors did some of us an
evil turn by way of saleratus bread and soda biscuit.
Too much saleratus will upset the best little stomach
in the world, and when a good little stomach is
insulted day by day, it retorts by throwing out
through the blood, a lot of nasty little pimples, with
a sort of "Now, there!"
And our grandmothers are somewhat to blame for the
unhealthy pallor they bequeathed our mothers, which
was caused by the bread of the ante-yeast period.
Nowadays we can get good, wholesome bread, even the
least of us--and girls, if you could but believe it, a
six months' course of bread-and-milk luncheons would
so improve most of your skins, as to make you the
wonder of all the neighborhood not in the secret.
If you were on the second floor of a dwelling
house, and a large spot appeared upon the ceiling, you
would go to the third floor and find out what had
caused the discoloration.
If you found your little sister seated on the floor
directly over the spot peacefully and contentedly
pouring molasses in a steady stream out of a pretty
molasses jug, would you apply a kalsomine or a wash to
the spot below, or would you insist that nothing could
remove the discolored spot till the small girl above
gave over pouring molasses on the floor?
That is about the way it is.
Pie, Boston cream puffs, chocolate eclaires, and
all the rest of them. Oh! if you but knew the havoc
they make with your pretty little noses, your saucy
chins, and innocent brows. It is just the case of a
little girl pouring molasses on the floor above.
FOSSATI CREAM FOR PIMPLES
Lanolin 5 grammes.
Sweet almond oil 5 grammes.
Sulphur precipitate 5 grammes.
Oxide of zinc 2 1/2 grammes.
Extract of violet 10 drops.
Apply a very little of the cream to the pimples;
wait until the pimples are cured before using the face
brush, which might irritate them.
Many women are troubled each Spring with an
outbreak of pimples, and the skin of others turns a
muddy, yellowish. and disagreeable hue.
The causes for both conditions are practically the
same. The subject has violated the rules of hygiene
through her diet. Tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate,
sweets, pork, and buckwheat cakes are the things to
leave off. A regimen consisting of fruits, green
vegetables, celery, water cress, spinach, and the
like, and just as much hot water as can be comfortably
drank, is the cure.
Sulphur soap is used frequently with good effect in
some cases. There are several good sulphur soaps
procurable at any first-class drug store.
A celebrated French woman, noted for her beauty,
declares that she will cure any ordinary skin
eruptions known under the general term of
"pimples," by vegetable diet, saline
purgatives, ointment of tar, and lanolin and sulphur
baths.
I indorse this regimen heartily, although I am
obliged to say that very few American women, in my
opinion, would follow it strictly and persistently
long enough to experience its good effect.
continue
to the Complexion (part II)
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