Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-11
CRAZY woMEN's VANITY.
Curious Manias for Cosmetics Which
the Doctors Have to Reckon With.

Curious Manias for Cosmetics Which
the Doctors Have to Reckon With.
From the London Express.
1t is curious fact that many insane wo-
men are possessed with Unsuitable vanity
and mania for makeup
Sometimes the only way to keep the
peace with such patients is to allow them a
certain freedom in the use of cosmetics.
A wave of unmanageableness often passes
over the womens side of an asylum if the
material of new uniform dress deserves
the title of dowdy.
Many insane women will tear a somber
brown gown to shreds: but if it is pretty
blue or smart red they preserve 1t care
fully against spots and dust.
The effect that dress has on the insane
is so well known that the lunacy COM
missioners make SPECIAL comments in their
official reports to the lord chancellor on the
colors and material of the gowns supplied
to women in the various asylums.
Very clever devices to obtain cosmetics
are resorted to by patients infected with the
mania Of vanity. who have been accus-
toned to artificial aids to beauty.
They soak paper roses in water and use
the tinted result as a cheek reddener; or
they put the red covers of books borrowed
from the asylum library in a basin Of boil
ing water and bottle the carm:ne fluid for
future face use. Fresh flowers of reddish
tfnge are crushed and used on faded cheeks
and wrinkled skins.
One former society beauty. now in an
asylum Is perfectly tractable so long as
she is allowed to wear curly false fringe
and to use modified amount of rouge and
powder. II these are taken away she be-
comes suicidal and refuses to eat.
Another notable example is that of an old
woman with gray hair who becomes homi-
cidal when she is deprived of a beautiful
golden wig suited to a girl of seventeen.
The experiment was tried once. but 50 much
violence resulted that the commissioners
recommended that she should be allowed to
retain her headdress.
Before admission to the asylum she had
poisoned three persons: but the wig and
plenty of pink powder keep her peaceable
and contented.
The friends of patients who find their
happiness in personal decoration bring them
small packets of cosmetics, or rather they
smusgle them in, for such articles are con-
traband and against the rules. Though
their minds are gone. the patients are
clever enough to make little holes in their
mattresses and to invent most cunning hid
ing places for their treasures.
In those cases where restriction of toilet
appliances increases insane outbreaks the
attendants let these little beauty stores
pass by unnoticed. So long the makeup
is not too evident the attendants do not in
terfere
Strictly speaking, curl papers are not al
lowed in asy.ums. AS a matter of fact,
their use is overlooked. CurIed fringes and
WaVy locks often make all the difference
between peace and rebellion. The ingenuity
displayed by feeble minds in turning every
day articles to facial use is often surpris-
ing.
Brickdust. scraped from the asylum walls
and powdered hearthstone have frequently
figured on faces in lieu Of rouge and pow
der. A spoonful of red currant jam pro-
vided a weeks roses for pale cheeks. In
delibie pencil coaldust and black lead make
dark stain for colorless eye ashes and
outline deficient or white eyebrows
A handful Of -four begged from the kitch-
en- IS an excellent substitute for toilet pow
der. while gray or faded hair is sometimes
tinted with strong decoction of tea leaves
tendency to tight lace to such tiny pro-
portions as to interfere with sanity and
bodily health is another foible OF the wo-
man with unhinged mind. Abnormal waists
are counteracted by lacing the corset with
elastic.
An insane asylum would not seem to offer
many temptations to its inmates to rival
one another in dress and beauty. But gen
erauons of women patients appear to make
themselves happy by following a feminine
instinct to be personally attractive.