These days, women have oodles of beauty products to keep us glowing, smelling nice, and looking pretty. This has always been a trend for women, even back in the 19th century, but those ladies seem to have had different ideas about going about it.
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You should take a bath (sometimes)
Most ladies should “take a sponge bath at least three times a week,” and often take it with a mixture of ammonia and water. Because nothing cleans you better than stinging chemical bleach water.
Instead…
Use a nice moisture rich soap; such as Olay’s Body Ribbons, or Dove body wash. Both smell great and wont burn your skin off.
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Wash your…eyes?
Beautiful blues and browns, gorgeous greens, and handsome hazels. It’s said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and what better way to clean windows than to “dash soapsuds into them,” or drop perfume into each peeper.
Instead…
Remove makeup at night with a gentle, oil-free cleanser. In the morning, you can dip cotton balls is cool rose water or light green tea and place them on your eyelids to get rid of dark circles and puffiness.
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Just sit by the window, sans clothing
Known as vapor bathing, 19th century ladies would lie next to the window naked and let the suns rays soak in, rather than taking a bath. Sometimes, if lounging about got too boring, one could dance or walk about the room instead.
Instead…
Take a nice hot shower, and then let your hair dry naturally outside in the sun. Just make sure you put clothes on after the shower, otherwise you might have some unwanted visitors. Or for girls here in Portland, take some Vitamin D supplements to make up for our lack of sun.
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Voluntarily submit to metal poisoning
Sure, most girls love makeup, and a good bit of eyeliner or mascara helps bring out your eyes. But according to our ladies here, eyeliner consisted of, “two drachms of nitric oxid of mercury mixed with one of leaf lard,” sounds pretty safe, huh?
Instead…
Pick up some eyeliner or mascara from your local drugstore, or even invest in Sephora, MAC, Clinique, or the like. These items are meant to go on your eyes, not to help machines run.
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Cut those eyelashes
Long eyelashes were seen as disorderly, and were often trimmed ““slightly every other day.” Not that they help you flirt with cute boys, and keep hair out of your eyes or whatever.
Instead…
Let those babies grow! From Spongebob to Kim Kardashian, eyelashes are very in (should they ever be out?). Mascara is helpful in amplifying these flirty assets, and there’s always the option of falsies or extensions!
As you can see, most of these 19th century tips were headed in the right direction, but they often turned off between the exit of “mildly hazardous to your health,” and “most likely socially unacceptable.” So learn from their mistakes, have a laugh, and keep taking good care of your beautiful face.
Quote credit: Adrienne Crezo