t lies not within herself, but in the
unhappy circumstances of fate that have placed her among the less
fortunate sisterhood.
Let a large bar of castile soap be the working girl's first investment.
I say a "large" bar for the reason that it is much cheaper when bought
that way. A good-sized piece of the pure white castile can be bought at
some of the drug stores for fifteen or twenty cents. This should be cut
into small cakes and put on a high shelf, where it will become dry and
hard and so it will be more lasting. With plenty of warm water, a few
good wash-rags and this pure soap you will have a beauty outfit that
will be more beneficial than all the rouges and eyebrow pencils that
were ever put into the windows of beauty shops.
The bath should be daily. Now do not say that you have not the time,
for the sponge bath--which will make the blood tingle and the flesh
glow--can be got through with in almost no time. It is most imperative
that the secretions of the skin and the dust gathered during the day
should be removed. When the body is not kept scrupulously clean the
complexion is sure to suffer, for there the pores of the skin are most
susceptible, and eruptions and blackheads come from very slight causes.
When the hands become rough and tender, and will not stand soap,
prepare a little almond meal. This, too, is very inexpensive, for,
instead of the powdered almonds, you can use the pressed almond cake,
which is nearly as good and very cheap, and in place of the orris root
wheat flour can be used. Take three ounces of the first and seven of
the latter. If you can afford it, add a little powdered talcum. A cream
for the face and hands, and one which can be used with perfect safety,
is benzoinated mutton tallow. This is simply the best mutton tallow to
which benzoin has been added, and both ingredients kept at a steady
heat until the alcohol of the benzoin has been completely evaporated.
About the hair: The greatest secret of luxuriant locks is absolute
cleanliness. There are many women who vainly fancy that they keep their
pretty locks perfectly clean, when they really do not at all. Only
plenty of running water can thoroughly rinse the soap or shampoo out.
If the hair is at all sticky, or if a slight oily substance adheres to
the comb, then the hair is not clean. (And let me say right here, combs
and brushes too must be kept as scrupulously clean as the hair itself.)
Castile soap makes the best shampoo in the wo
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