The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-12-30
The HOUSEHOLD.
Sensible Manicuring.

Everybody ought to desire to have
clean hands, and unbI oxen, tidy, finger
nails, Tor their own comfort aud that of
their friends. To carry pair of re-
pulsive hands is unnecessary and un-
kind to ones ass ciates.
Hands need not be repulsive if they
are used to hard work, aid hands are
not always attractive if the nails are
highly polished and daintly curved
Even shell-like nails will not conceal
the bad character that some hands re-
veal, neither will toil-worn fingers con-
denim the truly fine hand.
Cleanliness comes first, and therefore
soap aud warm water, a crash wash
cloth for rubbing the bands or ma
brush are the first requisites. BY the
time the hands have been soaked and
rubbed till clean, the cuticle around the
nail is sufficiently looseued TO be easily
pushed back at the sides aud root OF the
nail, either by the pressure of the fir
gers alone, or using The wet cloth. In
driving the hands, use the soft BAH
towel the same way as when drying the
fingers: the habit once formed OF touch
ING each nail with this backward move
ment when bathing and dying the
hands, one almost unconsciously gives
their nails "massa-e treatment not
less than three times day, and as
many more as the nature of their en-
ployment demands. The home keeper,
who is a worker, may have occasion TO
wash her hands twenty times day"
but the dizziness which she may acquire
in pushing back the cuticle around her
nails, will not delay her an appreciate
number of seconds. The hands must
be cleaned after sweeping before turn
ing 10 cooking, or to her sewing, and so
on through the days duties, and she
may as well dry them in the best way
as the worst; dried they must be, and it
takes no longer to do it properly than
improperly. The simple achievement
of clean nails and well loosened cuticle
LAYS the foundation for an attractive
hand.
If the skin is not permitted to grow
up and lie on the nail, it rarely dries
and cracks, and therefore there are no
hang nails and no broken edges that
need cutting with the cuticle scissors.
To know when the nails are perfect
one may look to see if the skin lies
around the nail evenly with a narrow
edge, like heml The manicurist in
her ignorance usually cuts this hem off
and when she does not draw blood
often the edge swells, looks red and re-
mains tender and perhaps even sore for
two or three days after treatment.
Moral: Never recommend the wielder
of those scissors to friend, and re-
solve to use common sense and home
treatment in the future.
Unguent is very well to remove
stains from under the nails or on the
nails if not used too freely. But it il
safer to have a bottle of lemon juice
dip the orange wood stick into the
juice and pass under the nail once OF
twice, and having cleaned each mai
wash away the acid.
One-half. the usual manicure set is en-
tirely unnecessary and one-half the re
mainder optional. The cuticle knife
and scissors are so unwisely used, tina
one dare not recommend them. Th'
average person is safer when confined
to the five cent orange wood stick, t.
pass under the cuticle carefully RAISED
with the dull point of an cid pair o
scissors Not so stylish as a steIlinl
silver cutice knife, of the grade sold il
department Stores" but less injuriou
10 the nails, which are so sensitive ant
easily injured.
Polishing the nails ia entirely a mat
ter of taste, and one that is questone'
severely A few foolish people of boil
sexes like high polish, as indicaliv
of idleness.
Most hands would be improved b,
the use of some emollient night an,
morning; but ii is matter of individ
ual need which must be found out
One finds vaseline just the thing