Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis's Cook Book

Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis's Cook Book, (c)1914 — the great household encyclopedia: cleaning, curing, building, baby care, and a whole cookbook bound in.

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Toilet Preparations

TOILET PREPARATIONS-SIMPLE HOME PREPARATIONS-ALMOND MILK CREAM AND PASTE-COLD CREAM-AROMATIC VINEGAR- TOILET POWDERS-ROUGE-ESSENCES AND PERFUMES TOILET PREPARATIONS Recipes for the Toilet. - The enormous array of mixtures of all sorts for the toilet evinces equally the popular interest in these recipes, and the whims, caprices, and vagaries of their makers. At first glance the number and variety of recipes recommended by standard authorities is bewildering. A careful study of these preparations, however, and their tabulation in the form of charts for comparison, discloses the fact that the number of remedial agents contained in them is relatively small. The various forms in which these recipes appear are merely so many attempts to attract the notice of the public, whether by appealing to its taste or its convenience. The same ingredients, for example, may be compounded so as to form washes, lotions, emulsions, creams, or pastes, according to the degree of dilution preferred by the individual user.

Standard recipes differ also by varying the proportions of the same ingredients recommended. Very often these ingredients will be the same with the exception of the perfumes.

Needless to say the latter may be varied to suit the preference of the user.

There are, of course, certain standard types of toilet preparations. These vary according to the different bases, remedial agents, and the kind and amount of liquids employed for diluting them. A few words on each of these subjects will assist the reader in making a satisfactory selection. To Save Money. - Practical suggestions and instructions for preparing all kinds of toilet preparations are of universal interest and value. Many toilet preparations made according to recipes given in this section are widely advertised for sale. The cost of advertising these articles and placing them upon the market is usually from 50 to 80 per cent of their retail price. The purchaser has to pay all this in addition to the original cost of the ingredients and the labor of compounding. Moreover, it is impossible to tell what the ingredients are or whether they are of good quality.

Very often they are injurious and even poisonous. Adulteration and substitution are very common. Anyone can save from 75 to 95 per cent on the cost of these by compounding them himself. He will know exactly what the preparations are composed of, and also that the ingredients are fresh and of good quality.

To Make Money. - Some persons, however, have little skill in compounding, or have not the time or the proper facilities for the work.

While anyone can prepare these articles, it is, of course, true that a person may become very expert by giving special time and attention to them, and especially by the practice of making up prescriptions in fairly large quantities. Hence anyone who has an aptitude for work of this kind can make a good deal of money by preparing these articles in quantity, putting them up neatly in jars, bottles, boxes, etc., and affixing to them neat printed labels. These can be sold on shares at the local stores, or bought by friends and neighbors, or peddled from house to house by employing young people on a commission basis. Mail-order business can also be worked up for the sale of these preparations. The recipes are taken from the formulas of manufacturers of standard toilet articles. Such preparations also make a very popular bazaar at a church fair. The work of compounding them in such cases can be delegated to a committee.

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