Important: Safety Warning
This page gives first-aid or emergency advice that predates modern medicine and can make an emergency worse. Do not follow it. In any medical emergency, call emergency services and follow current first-aid guidance.
In addition, this page directs the use of hazardous substances — such as benzine, gasoline, lye, or strong acids — for household tasks. These materials are highly flammable, corrosive, or poisonous, and the practices described have caused fires, burns, and poisonings.
In addition, this page contains cosmetic recipes using substances now known to be poisonous, such as lead, mercury, or arsenic compounds, which cause cumulative and serious harm when absorbed through the skin or eyes.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Home › The Arts Of The Toilet › Queen Bess Complexion Wash
Queen Bess Complexion Wash
Put in a vial one drachm of benzoin gum in powder, one drachm nutmeg-oil, six drops of orange-blossom tea, or apple-blossoms put in half pint rain-water and boiled down to one teaspoonful and strained, one pint of sherry wine. Bathe the face morning and night: will remove all flesh-worms and freckles, and give a beautiful complexion. Or, put one ounce of powdered gum of benzoin in pint of whisky; to use, put in water in wash-bowl till it is milky, allowing it to dry without wiping. This is perfectly harmless.
THE HAIR. Combs of tortoise-shell, bone, or rubber, with not very sharp teeth, should be used. Sharp teeth injure the scalp and produce dandruff. Two brushes, one hard, to clean the hair and scalp, and the other soft, to smooth and polish, are best. Clean brushes by rubbing them with bran, or wash with one part ammonia and two of water. Combing or brushing should be done in the natural direction of the hair, and never against it. In the proper way it can not be brushed too much. To keep the scalp clean wash in tepid soft water with a little pure soap in it, rinse in. pure water, dry with towels and then in the sun or by the fire. Oily hair may be washed once a week, light hair less often. Some occupations require that it should be washed much oftener. All preparations for the hair are more or less injurious. Healthy hair has enough oil of its own, and the application of foreign oil destroys its vitality. Preparations containing alcohol fade hair and make it brittle. The only time when oil is admissable is after washing. The best preparation is one part of glycerine to three of rose-water. Powders made of starch, when used, must be washed out of the hair to prevent injury. Those made of colored glass are very injurious, cutting and otherwise damaging the hair. At night, the hair should be loosened and left free. Night-caps are a relic of barbarism. Hair dyes are very injurious, as they all contain more or less sugar of lead, nitrate of silver, and other ingredients, which affect the brain, produce paralysis, inflammation of the eyes, and impairment of sight. Gray hairs are an indication that the hairproducing organs are weakening. When found they should be cut down to the healthy part, and the head should be exposed as much as possible, except in the middle of the day, to the sun and air. When hair falls out, it indicates a disease of the scalp. To cure, dip the head twice a day in cold water and rub with a brush until a glow is produced. In case the hair is too long to wet, brush until a głow is produced, and then rub into the roots a wash made of three drachms of pure glycerine and four ounces of limewater.
THE FEET. The largest pores of the body are located in the bottom of the feet. For this reason the feet should be frequently and thoroughly washed, and the stockings changed often. If great cleanliness is not observed, these great pores become absorbent, and the poisons given off are taken back into the system. The nails ought to be cut squarely. Blisters may be prevented by rubbing the feet, after washing, with glycerine. Bunions are caused by wearing shoes too tight or too short. They are difficult to get rid of, but may be alleviated by wearing easy-fitting shoes, poulticing and putting a rubber ring around the spot. Corns, which are caused by a continued pressure on the foot, may be prevented by wearing woolen stockings and shoes that fit well. They are known as hard and soft, but their difference is entirely owing to locality. If a corn is situated between the toes, where it is kept moist by perspiration, it is of the soft variety; but, if located on the outside of the toe, where it could get no moisture, it would necessarily be hard. They are produced by pressure or friction, and are simply a protective growth thrown out for the purpose of preventing the tissues being injured. They are sufficiently painful at all times, but they are the most unbearable when an accиmulation of pus takes place beneath them. The escape of this drop of pus is prevented by the hardened and thickened cuticle, which must be poulticed or soaked in warm water, and then removed by a sharp-pointed knife. The entire corn can be taken out with a little care and patient work, without drawing a drop of blood. The application of caustics should be avoided in the treatment of corns, especially in old people, as fatal gangrenous inflam mation may be the result. Temporary relief from a painful sore corn may readily be obtained by applying strong carbolic acid. Take the cork out of a small bottle of carbolic, and apply it (the cork) to the corn. Relief will come at once, and you will be enabled to walk with comparative comfort till you can find time to remove the corn with the knife. Hard corns may be treated as follows: Take a thick piece of soft leather or felt, cut a hole in the center. Upon going to bed at night, fill the hole in the center of the leather with a paste made of soda and soap; wash it off in the morning, and repeat the process for several nights, and the corn will be removed. Half a cranberry, or a piece of lemon, bound on a corn will soon kill it.