The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-13
Bathing and Beauty.

st. Louis Post Dispatch.
Many women take cold baths daily. They are
not only injurious to the health in most in
stances being too great drain on the vitality,
but they are not advisable for the skin Hot
baths are also objectionable. Rapid transitions
from heat to cold hurt the skin; that is the
reason that cook never has good complexion
The water should be tepid and the flesh should
be rubbed gently with soft flesh brush or nit
ten. The daily bath as cosmetic can not be
too highly recommended. The reason that
pimpleS and other cutaneous eruptions appear
more frequently on the skin and neck than else
where is simply because those parts are more
frequently washed and cleaned, and that the
pores being kept open, eruptive tumors find there
reader exit 1t has been said that the age of
beauty will never come until every woman takes
a bath every day. After drying the body
thoroughly, it is well to dust it with a big fine
gauze, containing powdered orris root and starch,
one part of the former to three of the latter.
Baron Liebig says that the progress of nations
N civilization can be accurately measured by
the amount of soap they USE Nevertheless it is
not necessary to use soap more than twice q
week in bathing. Some soaps are very bad for
the skin; there is better than glycerlne
palm oil' and ''oat meap soaps are good.
Other liquids have been used for bathing pur
poses besides water. Prince Jerome Bonaparte
bathed daily in champagne. 1t is said that a
number of ladies' of the monde in Paris bathe
eveSy day in milk and the story is handed down
to as that in ancient times the noble DANES of
Rome and Athens practiced their additions In
the nourishing fluid. The Princess Borghese,
afterward Queen of Naples, was said to indulge
regularly in milk bath. So essential to her
good looks did she deem it that she denied her
self visit to the Court of ST. James because she
was given to understand that milk was not suf-
ficiently plenty in England TO permit her to in
dulge in her luxurious habit. In Paris the milk
used for bathing purposes is afterwards bought
up by second class laitenes and served to their
customers, The effect of tepid bathing on the
skin is so salutary that recently a distinguished
dermatologist of Vienna, Prof. Hebra, has adopt
ed the plan of placing some Of his obstinate
cases in water up to the neck and leaving them
there for several days. They are tied up in
rubber sacks through which water is constantly
kept flowing One should avoid going into open
air for half an hour or so after bathing, to avoid
sudden change of temperature.
A shiny, polished complexion is due to an
unusual secretion Of fatty matter by the skin.
For this a saturated solution of borax used
morning and evening a wash for the face is a
good remedy. The best remedy for the trouble
as we'll as for the cure of tendency to redness
of the nose and knuckles is the following:
Powdered boraK, one-half ounce; pure glycerine,
one ounce; camphor water, one quart Mix and use
twice day. This lotion is better than any in
the shops, according to the opinion of a cele-
brated authority on skin diseases. 1t prevents
chapped skin removes sunburn, keeps the pores
in fine condition, and is cheap.