For the Beauty of Your Skin

It is a natural, insistent desire among women of every kind to possess some share of beauty and elegance. It is natural, then, that every woman should seek to strengthen the seats of beauty in herself by refining her outward appearance, so that she may always look like a charming doll for which eyes long, and on which the gaze settles with pleasure and appreciation. The girl who cares nothing for her elegance and nothing for her beauty is not a girl in the full sense of the word; she lacks some of the qualities of the refined female!

So long as woman is woman, she will forever be looking toward whatever adds to her beauty and raises her aesthetic worth. By this we do not mean excess in paint and adornment; we mean her attention to her appearance, so that it harmonizes with her spirit, and the qualities of her personality stand out plain and clear.

And since personalities differ one from another, it has become difficult — impossible, rather — to lay down conditions and standards for beauty, apart from those general ones that adapt themselves to circumstances and situations... There remains sound, cultivated taste, and practice joined to keen observation — these together remain the judge on which we rely.

In this piece we shall take up the general rules for the care of beauty as they concern the beauty of the skin; it remains for our gracious readers to apply them, each according to her own personality and to what suits her...

The first thing that meets us in a woman's beauty is the clearness of her skin, and its freedom from wrinkles and blemishes of every kind. To preserve the softness and purity of the skin, it is necessary first to know whether the skin is dry or oily, for its treatment differs in the two cases. If your skin is dry, then reduce, madam, as far as you can, your use of water and soap, and let the cleansing of your face be done every night just before sleep with cold cream: spread it generously over your face and neck and work it in with your fingertips until it seeps into the pores and draws out from their recesses the dust and the remnants of powders... Then wipe it away with a piece of soft, clean cloth, or with Kleenex — “Tissue Paper” — whose use has spread so widely these days. A little of the cream left on overnight keeps the skin from drying out and being exposed to early wrinkles —

But if your skin is oily, then take to using water and soap two or three times a day. Native soap is the best thing for the skin of the face and of the body in general, provided it is pure and free of chemicals, especially acid. And do not suppose, my dear madam, that the perfumed soap prepared in the West is any more beneficial

to the skin; many a sweet-smelling soap has by itself been the cause of exposing a pure skin to all manner of flaws.

It is known that every skin needs a nourishing cream or paste after the age of twenty-five, to guard against light, early wrinkles. But it is a mistake for a lady to rush into using a particular cream merely because a friend has recommended it to her and exaggerated in describing its benefits! Rather, every lady should take her time before using any paste or any powder on her face, to be sure that its effects are safe and that its ingredients will not produce a bad reaction..

To remove wrinkles, madam, rub your face twice a day with a quantity of cold cream, and work the wrinkled areas with your fingertips in a light circular motion, moving from below upward and not the reverse — for the skin of the face tends to sag, so let the motion lift it, though not with violence and force. Continue this light massage in this fashion for ten minutes.

There is one piece of advice which, for all its simplicity, is of the greatest practical benefit: to accustom the features of the face to serenity and complete calm, and to shun agitation and scowling, with the movements that accompany them, which leave traces on the face that are hard to erase. Let us shun these expressions before the lines take hold and settle in, and getting rid of them becomes impossible.

And to keep a pure skin that resembles the skin of children in freshness and radiance, we must also cleanse the conscience within us of all the poisoned thoughts that leave on the face the ugliest of traces, whatever its beauty. This clean spirit, joined to the love that springs from within, is the best thing to beautify your skin, madam, and to give it a touch of that refined feminine magic which comes to it by no other road. So remember this precious truth, and turn first to your heart: wash it of all the impurities that cling about it, and purge it of the grudges and rancors nesting in its folds — and you will find your spiritual beauty reflected on the page of your face, making it lovelier and more radiant than ever it was...