Illustrated Beauty Guide from the Titanic Era –
Some highlights from a 1910 personal beauty book by Margaret Mixter. You can find the full book on Archive.org.
A rare insight from the Edwardian Era, into the beauty habits and secrets of Edwardian women.
1. Massage – Face,Neck,Eyelids,Arms
2. Giving a Dry Shampoo.
3. Manicuring.
4. Wrinkles.
5. Preserve your Small Waistline.
6. Rouge and Face powder.
7. Eyebrows and Lashes.
1.Massage – Face,Neck,Eyelids,Arms.
Mix up a massage cream with Almond Oil,(1.5oz); white wax,(2.5 drams); Benzoin,(50 grains) – for skin whitening; Spermaceti,(2.5 drams); lanolin,(1.5oz);oil of bitter almonds,(1.5 dram);Elderflower water,(1.5oz);Witch Hazel,(0.5oz).
Melt the wax,spermaceti and bezoin over a basin of boiling water, add lanolin, beat in the oils slowly. Remove from heat and add witch-hazel and elderflower.
Apply to face before going out ( then wipe off and dust on your day powder) or as a pampering treatment last thing at night.
Facial Massage: First wash your face. Dip your fingers into cream. Rub gently upwards to increase the flesh and make your cheeks more round., or if you have a double chin or superfluous flesh, rub vigorously to wear away the fat by friction!! The objective is to both smooth the skin as well as contour and strengthen the facial muscles.
Neck Massage: By the time a woman is 25 years old, she should devote at least ten minutes, nigh and morning, to massaging her throat under the chin. If she does this religiously, by the time she is 40, she will not have the hanging “dewlap,” which, more than anything else, proclaims a woman, no longer young!
First wash the neck with hot water for at least 5 minutes! This opens the pores. Then cover with cream from chin to base of her throat. Use both hands in a rotary motion, using the tips of the fingers and making the upward stroke stronger than the downward. Stroke right up to the ears!
That done, the movement is alternated by a stretching, beginning by bringing the finger tips together under the chin and pulling up hard toward each ear. the end of this treatment should leave the throat red and smarting a little, but the sensation will soon wear off. With attention, the homeliest neck can be pretty, very important these days with gowns cut so low.
Eyelid Massage: I would like to impress upon all women, but especially young girls on the importance of daily massage about the eye corner s and lids, for such treatment prevents and delays the onset of wrinkles in later life. Devote five minutes to the care of your eyes every night. Beginning just in front of the temple and working slowly down over the bone beneath the eye. Puffiness under the eyes, which is most disfiguring can be alleviated by this treatment.
Arm Massage: Massage is also essential in the beautifying of the arms. the girl with thin arms will do wonders by daily exercise and proper massage with simple olive oi or equal parts lanolin and lard. Massage the arms every night, taking as much lanolin and lard as will lie in the palm of the hand, and work it in while kneading and pinching the arms to bring the blood to the surface. Then with long strokes up and down the arms, rub firmly from shoulder to elbow and elbow to wrist. Then with thumb and forefinger, begin at the wrist and massage corkscrew fashion up the arm.
2.Giving a Dry Shampoo.
Many women injure their scalps by shampooing too often, stripping the hairs natural oils. A dry shampoo is a great alternative. Lavender water,( 2oz); Borax,(0.5oz); Orange flower water,(1.5oz),Tincture of Cochineal,(0.25oz). The last and borax are put into the cologne, the sweet water being added when mingling is complete.
First brush out the hair tangles and divide into many parts. Apply the shampoo mix to the head with a sponge. Massage in gently with finger tips.A final brushing and combing completes the treatment.
3.Manicuring.
You need nail scissors, file and orange stick.
Begin by filing the nails to any shape wished. Do both hands and lay the file aside. Put one hand into a basin of soapy water and soak for five minutes. Wipe gently and take a tapered orange stick and gently push the cuticle toward the base of the nail. Wet the stick and rub it to and fro over the nail on the line where the cuticle has been. With the scissors trim off projecting points of flesh that are too firmly fastened to come with the stick. Go over each nail in this fashion.As so as each nail is done, anoint gently with cream. When both hands are done, cover each nail copiously with powder and polish with a chamois burnisher.
4.Wrinkles.
On wintry mornings, before going out, try applying an adhesive plaster to the temples, pulling upwards and outwards before adhering. leave for ten minutes. Mix up the following magic potion. Add a dram or two of gelatine, along with two drops of tincture of benzoin and a few drops of attar of rose to an ounce of rosewater. Pour into a jar. Leave until set in a jelly. Apply this to the outer corners of your eyes morning and night!
5.Preserve your Small Waistline.
Before bed, a few calisthenic exercises must be taken, to preserve figure and a small waist. The easiest of these consists in doubling the fists, placing them at the shoulders and then thrusting them out at arm’s length swiftly. After that it is well to bend, trying to touch the floor with the finger tips without bending her knees. This will help keep the waist line small ad feminine. A mere five minutes a night should suffice.
6. Rouge and Face powders.
Homemade Rouge:
Carmine,one-quarter dram; sweet almond oil,one half dram; One ounce of Powdered magnesia or Rice powder. To mix, mingle the carmine and powder, and then slowly work into the oil. the preparation should be forced through course muslin cloth several times, pressing out the lumps. It will be in powder form, the oil being absorbed. Voila – homemade rouge.
Homemade Face powder: Lycopodium powder (10 grams);talcum powder,(10 grams); powdered tannin, (2.5 grams), boracic acid, (2.5 grams);essence of violet,( 5 drops).
To mix, mingle the powders and slowly work into the essence. Strain six times through.
Before going out, and especially in Winter months, a tin coating of cold cream should be rubbed over the cheeks and chin. the merest atom on the finger tip may be smoothed over, so that a slight amount of cream covers the whole surface. After that, the powder may be dusted on. Then a quick spray of atomizer to set and a lady is ready to face the outdoors.
7.Eyebrows and Eyelashes.
Eyebrow and lash tonic: Red Vaseline,(5 grams); boric acid,(10 centigrams). Make into a smooth paste, and massage into the brows at night, also rubbing lightly over the lashes at the roots.
Massage every night. The perfectly shaped brow is indeed quite like a swallow’s wing, the line long and sweeping, the hair short and thick without being course. Under no conditions are the brows to be clipped or tweezed. the only way of improvement in shape is through electrolysis. Application of the needle should be made to remove all unwanted hairs.
The inclination of modern women to darken their brows and lashes is one that must be controlled, for if the hair is to benefit by the treatment the roots must not be damaged with dyes or chemicals.First treat with glycerine.
© Glamourdaze.com 2013.
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…love the visuals and the text, all that I can say is wow…this routine must have taken a long time each day, I wonder how many woman actually went through with it…also, you know how one time wisdom turns out to be faulty. I wonder which of these 7 secrets would be something that turns out to be risky or dangerous…ah, so it goes…