A beauty calendar for brides

I wanted to share a snippet from a wonderful vintage book for "The Bride," published in 1937. I have a few of these newlywed books in my collection and just adore them. Even though I am long since a newlywed (we celebrated our 10 year anniversary last year :), there's something about the idea of a soon-to-be bride eagerly reading these books that is so precious. But then again, I'm a total romantic :) 

The book has chapters on wedding planning, entertaining, homemaking, grooming, and many more. One chapter includes a useful little "beauty calendar," a daily list of areas to concentrate on to keep your appearance lovely and becoming at all times. Looking well turned out requires a certain level of dedication,  along with balancing all our other responsibilities and chores. The calendar breaks down all the different beauty tasks into manageable chunks so beautifying doesn't seem so daunting a task.

 

It's far too easy to start telling ourselves the lazy ole story, "What does it matter if I'm home all day? If no one sees me?" How many of us have been tempted to let our legs grow out in the winter, hidden beneath a pair of trousers? No longer I say! Keeping up with your daily toilette will foster a home environment of beauty and contentment. Plus, someone does see you... the most important person in your life!  

 

I really adore this little section, and hope you find it charming too.

 

Monday: Hands, nails, and elbows. A once-a-week manicure should be sufficient if you do it properly, and are careful to push back the cuticle whenever you are drying your hands. On your "nails, hands, and elbows" day after you have filed your nails and removed the polish, cover your hands with a rich cream, paying special attention to the cuticle, then have a look at your elbows. Even if they are in fairly good condition, it will be a good plan to massage them for five minutes with a cream of which the base is lemon or peroxide. Then wipe them off, wash them in warm soapy water, and dry them. By this time your nails would have had a good oily soak as well, and you can finish your manicure.

 

Tuesday: Look around for incipient wrinkles - at the eye corners, between the brows, around the mouth. Pat in a nourishing skin food (today this would be akin to a vitamin-rich face creme). Let it remain for five minutes. Take it off with a pure skin lotion, and then pat some more of the lotion into the area.

 

Wednesday: Neck and skin. Apply olive oil or a skin food into the neck with an upward motion towards the chin. Remove this with warm water or tonic, rub in some more cream and leave this on the skin for at least five minutes. Tap along the surface under the chin and the jawline with fingers that have been dipped generously into skin food. When you remove the cream, take a piece of ice wrapped in a cloth and rub it upwards on your neck and around the chin and jaw.

 

Thursday: Face. Cover the face with a cleansing cream and leave it on for five minutes. Then remove it with a skin tonic (perhaps something like a toner or micellar water today). Now apply a beauty mask. You can make one with Fuller's Earth and Skin Tonic mixed to a thick paste, or you can dip cotton wool into the unbeaten white of an egg and apply this all over the face with an upward movement. Lie down flat on your back for half an hour. Keep your eyes closed and try to relax. Then take off the beauty mask with skin lotion, apple a good coat of skin food and leave this on for five minutes. After you have taken away all the traces of the cream, rub ice over your skin. Your face will feel fresh and renewed. 

 

Friday: Teeth and eyes. Look at your teeth in a good light and see if there are any discolorations. If so, try bicarbonate of soda worked into a paste and rub onto the teeth. Turn your attention to your eyebrows. If they are uneven, pull out the odd hairs with tweezers. Try to spare twenty minutes or half an hour for the eyes themselves. Dip pads of cotton wool into strong cold tea which has been strained. Lie down and cover your eyes with the pads, renewing them occasionally. This rests and refreshes the eyes and makes them brighter. 

Saturday: Very special bath and care of the feet. Make this a ceremonial bath. Don't just pop into the tub and out again. Wallow in that warm water. Put some of your favorite bath salts in it. After you have thoroughly dried yourself, use a spray with eau de cologne. Then have your weekly pedicure.

Sunday: Hair. Give your scalp a five minute massage, keeping the thumbs pressed against the head and moving the scalp with the fingers. Far from hurting your wave, this will help renew it. Then give your hair a really good vigorous brushing. Lastly, set it back into its normal shape, and if possible, cover it with a veil or net for half an hour. 

x Miss 1949