How to Preserve Your Beauty

He wants you to glow with health and vitality, and he would wish never to meet you after the days have passed leaving on the page of your face the furrows of neglect and wasting. He refuses to have you appear before him like flowers on the verge of wilting, because in his soul you are a living image of the splendor of beauty and the radiance of light. The day he met you for the first time — you remember — he stood struck dumb and began gathering his memory, so that you thought him tongue-tied, unable to speak. The truth is that he had begun fitting to your person the dream-bride who had accompanied him since his tenderest years — that free, pure girl, sound of build, light of movement, her spirit flying with hope yet perched upon the branch of composure — and behold, you were she. You must therefore remain she.

All the qualities that endear a woman are bound up with her personality: and that needs a study of its own. But it must be said that the firm cornerstone for the survival of those merits is food. The radiance of your face, the warmth of your love, the strength of your body, and your fitness for life depend on the timing, the quantity, and the kind you appoint for your food.

The timing must be regular: take no food between the appointed mealtimes. As for the quantity, it must claim your whole attention. And beware of slipping into certain habits which, though they do no harm at once, show their harm in the future. Thus some women, following newfangled fashions, turn away from food for days, taking nothing but a few refreshments, seeking thereby slender waists and delicacy in all their limbs. If they achieve this, they achieve it only after it has dragged behind it a chain of aches and ailments — among them: nervous complaints, the dimming of the light of the eyes, the yellowing of the cheeks, weakness of the heart, and all else that comes of the exhaustion it bequeaths to the stomach — and the stomach is the house of disease. Many women have fallen into a habit whose danger they have rarely felt: one of them takes a little coffee in the morning, and no food at all, and at midday contents herself with a simple "sandwich."

But when evening comes she falls upon supper with excessive greed and takes an enormous quantity to make up for what she has missed. This method — starvation at the day's beginning and surfeit at its close — is very harmful indeed.

The kind of food: It is well known that our foodstuffs are drawn from animal and plant. These supply us with what our bodies require for the steady maintenance of their heat and for the replacement of whatever wears out and frays, and they are the guarantors of preserving the splendor of your face and the beauty of your figure.

So we now refer you to mistresses of the art of "beauty food," and this is what they tell you:

"Take a full portion of protein foods, vegetables, fruit, and fats every day. This is nothing strange to you, but it is well that we name for you some of the foods rich in body-building proteins, among them: lean meat, eggs, cheese, milk, fish.

As for appetizers, they are unnecessary — indeed harmful in most cases.

— Eat salad twice a day, or at least once. The kinds of vegetables and legumes fit for salad in our country are many. Neglect of these matters harms your health today and your beauty tomorrow.

And remember that the luster of your eyes and your hair comes from the vitamin we obtain in carrots, butter, milk, turnips, and legumes. As for spinach and liver, they are two foods rich in the elements necessary to man.

Remember, too, that whatever the measure of beauty — whether you reckon it the shape of the mouth, or the color of the tresses, or the magic of the eyes, or the grace of the figure, or reckon it soundness of judgment or earnest work — you must arrive at this conclusion: as you eat, so you are. And in any case, what refreshes the hearts of men is that inner spark flashing in your smile, the lightness of your spirit, and the sincerity of your companionship — not that affectation in your appearance. And finally, hold to earnest, fruitful work, to bodily exercise, to generous love, and to a life that does not withhold its blessings from you.

There are, moreover, two features of attractiveness that are essential: the eyes, and the hair.

The eyes — and what shall tell you what the eyes are! They are the lamp of your heart and the door of your mind; through them your personality shines forth, and from them Harut breathes his lawful magic. Care for them with all possible care, for they not only display your emotions but also betray the state of your health. Do not forget that the physiological structure of the eye contains a large quantity of fluids. To ensure perfect health, then, drink six glasses of water between meals; this in turn bestows on your eyes a marvelous luminosity. It is well for you to know that tears are the finest cleansing balm for the eyes — but let us hope you will not weep on purpose. We advise you, however, after fatigue, to bathe your eyes in a solution of half a spoonful of table salt or boric powder in a cup of lukewarm water; this washes out of them the dust and the clinging impurities that prey upon their freshness. And if you use this solution every morning, it will grant you quick alertness and drive away drooping lids and the feeling of sinking back into drowsiness.

As for the hair, it is a blessing whose worth none knows but the one who has lost it. The best ways of keeping the hair's beauty and increasing it are the observance of the laws of health, first among them cleanliness. The comprehensive law for the treatment of the hair is to keep up its vigor, so that it remains abundant, obedient in dressing, pleasing to the eye, in harmony with one's natural form. What guarantees all this is washing. Do not forget, then, that it must be washed at least twice a month — a complete washing, so that you fully ensure the cleanliness of the scalp. The truth is that the care of the hair begins at the roots of the hair. For this reason the "brush" is to be preferred to the comb. The masters of the art point also to the use of massage, their argument being that the roots of the hair lie hidden beneath the skin, where they connect with the blood capillaries. If these capillaries are not stimulated by massage and suitable rubbing with the fingertips, they grow sluggish and cut off the blood from the roots of the hair, which then withers and falls out. This is besides the fact that massage removes whatever dirt sticks to the scalp, strengthens the hair cells, and does away with dandruff.

Finally we say again that a woman's attractiveness depends entirely on her observance of the laws of health. It has been said: a sound mind in a sound body — and we add: and in these two, sound beauty.