The San Francisco call., 1898-11-27
Answers to Correspondents.

L. B. R-You, too, I feel certain will forgive me for not having replied to your letter by mail. The alum wash Is to be used only in case of fabbiness or the skin and should be used after massage with a good cold cream skin food. A piece the size of a bean in pint of water is plenty It is not necessary to bind 1t on over night-just dip piece of absorbent cotton or small sponge In the water ana dabble 1t on the chin.
 AUGUSTA-The condition of your skin is no doubt caused by an impure condl- tion of the blood. Try and remedy this by plenty of outdoor exercise, and by eat ing good, nourishing food. Avoid all rich and indigestible foods, such as gravies; all highly spiced dishes. Eat vegetables and lots of fruit. Sleep in a well ventilat- ed room; take daily tepid sponge, bath the entire body briskly with a flesh brush and good soap. Then suppose you first drive away the Pimples l3y by sPongingS St the they disappear, go for the blackheads each night with a camelshair face scrub After thoroughly rinsing and drying the face, rub into the skin cold cream made after the following formula: Spermaced. sweet almonds, five ounces; rosewater. one and three-fourths ounces, and twenty grains of borax. Melt the first three in- gradients in porcelain kettle over slow fire, and be sure not to let the mixture boil. Remove from the heat and add the roSewater in which the boraX has been dissolved. Fluff up with an egg-beater.
 E. B.-Take equal parts of red vaseline and cocoanut oil and mix by melting in a porcelain kettle. This will do nicely to @ risky business to put anything on the lashes, as the simplest oil will irritate the eyes. To make the neck plump massage every night for ten or fifteen minutes with equal parts of cocoa butter. lanoline and cocoanut oil melted together. The breath ing exercise given in beauty talk of Sun before " fn
 BEATRICE B.-I am afraid nothing but time will restore the color to your faded locks. For the dry and brittle condition l would advise massaging the scalp with little pure olive oil which has been heated. The next simplest tonic is sage tea. Take small handful of the com mon dried sage, which can be bought at any drugstore, and place it in porcelain kettle Add nearly a quart of water and about a pint. Strain and add one table spoonful of alcohol. This will darken the hair slightly and may be just what you excellent and Is surely not the cause of it's becoming coarse and dry.
 MRS. WI can tell you of nothing bet ter in the way of a skin food than the one you are using. Perhaps you have not used it long enough to see its good effects, for 1t may be that your skin does not re- spond readily to treatment I am so pleased that the exercises which I recom-- mended for reducing the large abdomen have been of so much benefit to you. I
 
 harsh and severe. The cameps hair brushes are better, but unless there are blackheads or clogged pores the crash wash cloth will do just as well.
 ETHEL B.-YOu can get piece of fine- ly cut punice stone, and by rubbing it daily over the superfluous hairs can keep the skin free from the blemishes. This will not destroy them for good, and al- ways, but by constant use will keep the skin clear of them. Peroxide of hydrogen the liquid used for bleaching the hair can be applied with perfect safety. It will bleach the hairs to a lighter shade, so that they will be less noticeable. Soap if 1t is pure. should not encourage the growth of hair on the face, but it Is very difficult to tell about these things. Where the tendency toward a superf1uous growth Is excessive. almost everything will seem to stimulate 1t, even friction. A pure and perfectly harmless powder can be made after the following formula: One ounce Lubin's rice powder; one ounce best pur- est oxide of zinc; one-half ounce carbo- nate of magnesia, finely powdered twen- ty grains boracic acid ten drops altar of roses. When purchasing your ingredients ask your druggist to powder each separ- ately in mortar. First put your rice powder through a fine sieve and then through bolting cloth. Do the same thing with the oxide of zinc. the magnesia and the boracic acid before adding them to the rice powder. When all are combined put twice through bolting cloth. After each sitting throw away any particles