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    The Cream of Beauty - A Little Book of Beauty Culture, Containing Many Recipes for Useful Toilet Creams and Lotions
    The Cream of Beauty - A Little Book of Beauty Culture, Containing Many Recipes for Useful Toilet Creams and Lotions
    The Cream of Beauty - A Little Book of Beauty Culture, Containing Many Recipes for Useful Toilet Creams and Lotions
    Ebook207 pages1 hour

    The Cream of Beauty - A Little Book of Beauty Culture, Containing Many Recipes for Useful Toilet Creams and Lotions

    By H. Stanley Redgrove

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    This classic, historical book is a detailed look at ladies' cosmetics, filled with detailed descriptions and recipes forming a complete how-to-guide that is still practical and useful today. A fascinating read this book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the history of beautification. Contents include - Introduction - The Care Of The Face - The Care Of The Hands - About The Materials Used In Making Cosmetics - Cold Cream, Its History, Compostion And Utility - Modern Vanishing Creams - Emollient And Astringent Creams, (A) Greasy - Emollient And Astringent Cream - (a) Non-Greasy - The Mud-Pack Treatment - Face Powder - Rouge And Lipstick, Their Use And Abuse - Some Useful Toilet Waters And Lotions - The Care Of The Hair - Some Preparations For The Hair - The Problem Of Superflous Hair. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateNov 10, 2011
    ISBN9781447493822
    The Cream of Beauty - A Little Book of Beauty Culture, Containing Many Recipes for Useful Toilet Creams and Lotions

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      Book preview

      The Cream of Beauty - A Little Book of Beauty Culture, Containing Many Recipes for Useful Toilet Creams and Lotions - H. Stanley Redgrove

              INDEX

      THE CREAM OF BEAUTY

      CHAPTER I

      INTRODUCTION

      FROM the earliest times of which we have any record, throughout the entire history of the human race, woman has set before herself an ideal of personal loveliness which she has sought to attain by every means within her power. Sometimes she has been praised for this; sometimes she has been criticised. We are now coming to understand that in her quest for beauty she is fulfilling a biological need. She is doing something which, in fact, is natural to her and which, therefore, she should be encouraged to do. But whether encouraged or not, her quest for beauty will continue.

      Sometimes she has cherished an ideal of beauty of a very artificial character; sometimes she has used means very ill-adapted to achieve her purpose. To-day she is beginning to realise that beauty means Nature at her best, and her appeal to men of science for their aid in the achievement of her purpose is by no means being ignored.

      THE CURE OF UGLINESS

      For long, the medical profession as a whole were so intent upon the many problems presented by the grievous bodily ills of mankind that they were able to give scant attention to the relatively minor one of ugliness. Whilst it was freely recognised that beauty had its basis in good health, it was by no means clearly realised that any departure from beauty constituted an ill which called for curing.

      The result was that the field was left free for quacks, who readily exploited woman’s desire for beauty, often with extremely disastrous results, their nostrums proving not merely useless, but oft-times positively harmful.

      In the domain of cosmetics, quackery is by no means dead to-day. In the Press there still appear advertisements of face creams, skin foods, hair restorers, and the like, for which claims are made that no preparations of the type in question could possibly fulfil. Nevertheless, great improvements have taken place, improvements which, no doubt, are responsible in part for the greatly increased use of cosmetics in recent years, and for which we have to thank advances in chemical and dermatological knowledge. Today, whatever old-fashioned folk may think of the modern young woman, with her vanishing cream, face powder, lipstick, rouge and eyebrow pencil, and in spite of the fact that she often spoils rather than improves her appearance by an injudicious use of such aids to beauty, the fact remains that, speaking generally, these vanities of hers are quite harmless.

      ANCIENT COSMETICS

      The eyebrow pencil, it is interesting to note, is the lineal descendant of the oldest cosmetic in the world. Women in ancient Egypt used certain preparations for darkening their eyebrows and eyelashes, and in the tomb of Queen Shubad, recently excavated at Ur, curious vessels shaped like cockle shells were found, which had originally contained cosmetics for the queen’s use in the world of spirits. At one time the Egyptian preparation, or kohl, as it was called, was made from a poisonous mineral containing antimony. The modern eyebrow pencil is made from lampblack, mixed with suitable fats and waxes, whilst the little blocks made for darkening the eyelashes are similarly made from lampblack and soap. Both are quite harmless.

      Grandmama, who strongly objects to young ladies painting their eyebrows or lashes, does not take at all the same view concerning the propriety of wearing a diamond ring. But lampblack and diamond are both forms of the same elementary substance, carbon; and, looking at the question quite dispassionately, one might well ask why one method of decorating the person with carbon should be permissible and not the other. Indeed, the diamond ring is, in every sense, the more artificial adornment of the two, for the girl who skilfully paints her eyes is really endeavouring to imitate Nature at her best.

      THE ARTISTS OF THE FUTURE

      In one of his visions of the future, H. G. Wells has pictured a time when artists will be engaged in painting not pictures on canvases, but pretty women’s cheeks in order to make them still prettier. The hero of his story falls asleep to awaken in the year 2100. At a society gathering of the period, he inquires of a very charming and seemingly young lady if any painters are present. She pauses, as if uncertain of his meaning, and then tells him that the art of making pictures is no longer held in esteem. Noticing her hesitation, he asks what she had at first thought he meant.

      She put a finger significantly on a cheek whose glow was above suspicion, and smiled and looked very arch and pretty and inviting. ‘And here,’ and she indicated her eyelid.

      Perhaps Wells never intended this prophecy to be taken quite seriously. But there is a serious side to it; and to-day the art of maquillage (for which we have no English word save the horrid one making up) is receiving far more attention than in the past.

      ARTIFICIAL AIDS TO BEAUTY

      To-day we are able to consider rouge and similar cosmetics quite dispassionately, and to arrive at a just estimate of their aesthetic and hygienic value.

      Undoubtedly, many women who do not need their aid use rouge and lipstick because to do so is the fashion; whilst there are plenty who choose the wrong shades for their particular complexions. On the other hand, there is not the slightest doubt that a judicious application of a little colour frequently improves the appearance.

      Beauty is good to contemplate. It is an end in itself. Does it really matter if the beauty produced by such cosmetics as these is artificial, produced by the skill of the chemist? At the best, we are told, beauty is but skin deep.

      Moreover, such artificial aids to beauty as these have a definite hygienic value. The consciousness of presenting a good appearance to the world, which they create in the mind, is well calculated to react beneficially on the body, thus helping towards the achievement of that state of perfect health when, perhaps, their aid will no longer be necessary.

      I would not have it thought, however, that the science and art of cosmetics is concerned solely with such artificial aids to beauty as these. Indeed, in this book I shall have relatively little to say about this class of cosmetic, with which, in collaboration with my friend Mr. G. A. Foan, I have dealt in detail in a work entitled Paint, Powder and Patches, devoted to the maquillage of the theatre. We must regard such cosmetics as rouge, lipstick and the like as constituting the last resources of the cosmetic art or as merely the means for putting the finishing touches to a beauty based on good health.

      HYGIENIC COSMETICS

      As well as such artificial aids to beauty, we must include as cosmetics various simple preparations employed to preserve the natural beauty of the hair and skin, and also, without trespassing on the domain of medicine, equally simple preparations which by their medicinal action may usefully be employed to remedy slight defects.

      It is here, perhaps, that quackery is most in evidence to-day. Some seemingly slight defects are really slight and may well be treated by means of hygienic measures. Others are of quite a different character. Some women, for example, regard freckles as constituting a blemish. But woe betide the woman who imagines that this blemish is one that may be remedied without medical aid. If she uses some quack cream guaranteed to remove freckles, she must consider herself lucky if the worst that can be said of it is that it does nothing at all.

      CLEANLINESS THE FIRST ESSENTIAL

      Though sound health may not eventuate in the beauty of a Venus de Milo, there can be no true beauty which is not based on health. And the basis of health is hygiene. Attention to bodily hygiene, therefore, is the first essential for every woman who desires to be lovely. And to-day we realise much more clearly than in the past that beauty is not something which resides in the face only, nor in any one part of the body, but in the whole.

      We realise, too, that the basis of hygiene is cleanliness of the most scrupulous character, a cleanliness which extends not only to the outside of the body, but also within. Perhaps one of the greatest foes to a beautiful skin is the form of internal uncleanliness known as constipation. It is not within the province of this book to discuss the best methods of dealing with this trouble, which is so common to-day, apart from emphasising the importance of a correct diet and of plenty of exercise in the fresh air. Women are sometimes advised that dancing constitutes an excellent form of exercise, but the overheated atmosphere of the ballroom, heavily charged with carbon dioxide from many lungs, is the last place in which to find good health.

      CLOTHING

      Moreover, clothing which in any way restricts the free movement of any part of the body should never for one moment be tolerated. Tight shoes and corsets are two abominations which fortunately are far less in evidence today than in the past. The sports girl who threw away her corsets set a fashion which has benefited Englishwomen enormously. Not only is the wearing of corsets extremely unhealthy, but the figure produced by their aid is very far removed from that of Nature, and hence of beauty.

      The very short frock of the modern English sports and business girl is much to be commended on hygienic grounds, apart altogether from the fact that no style of dress more pleasing to the eye has been designed in recent years. The added freedom is a great asset; moreover, any style of dress which allows light and air in moderation to reach the body is to be commended. Under the action of the ultra-violet rays present in sunlight, a constituent of the natural secretion of the sebaceous glands with which our skins are studded all over is converted into vitamin D, whose great importance to good health is now fully realised. The recent attempt to reimpose the burden of long dresses must strongly be deprecated.

      PERFUMES

      We must not, however, limit our ideal of beauty to that which appeals to sight alone. It is the total impression of her personality which causes us to declare a woman beautiful or not. The added charm which a carefully chosen

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