The Fine Art of Bathing

When I stepped into the bathtub last week for my first nightly bath, I found myself a little at ends. What to do with myself? For most of my life, a bathtub has strictly been about relaxation. Soaking in hot water on a cold winter's night, filling the tub with bubbles, setting the stage with candles and soft music. Now, I suddenly have to make the bathtub a functional place. I've got work to do in there! Washing, exfoliating --- where to begin?

The next day, I found myself reaching into the past for some vintage advice on bathing. Here are two descriptions of the ideal bath from 1940s beauty experts. They're strikingly similar.

...The next clue to relaxation is a tepid bath with a dash of your favorite bath oil, salts, or bubbling bath added. Swab your face with cold cream and into the tub with you. Rest your head back, close your eyes, apply eye pads of cotton dipped in alcohol and witch hazel, and rest for at least 10 minutes - before you even think of scrubbing…

Now remove the eyepads, take your bath-brush and work up a grand lather with pure, mild soap. Let the water out of the tub and refill again with clean, cool water for your refreshing rinse.

“Be Lovely If He Comes On Furlough" by Antoinette Donnelly
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 31, 1944

A bath should be a nerve tonic and a beautifying treatment as well as a matter of cleanliness. A morning bath is to invigorate and awaken, while a bedtime bath is to induce sleep…

BEDTIME BATH - Hot, of course, and add bath salts - pine essence will help draw out that achy feeling. (2) Pat Three-Purpose Cream into your face to let it do its good work while the steam opens the pores. (3) Into the water. Lie back, with eyes closed. (4) Wash leisurely - avoid hurried movements. Have a lazy soak afterwards, with eyes closed and cotton-wool soaked in witch hazel resting on them. (5) Dry with gentle massage movements. (6) Cleanse face, rinse with cold water, then re-apply cream if you wish it to remain on overnight.

“Make the Most of Your Bath!” by Barbara Lynn
The Coaticook Observer And Stanstead, June 14, 1940

Isn't it interesting how they both mention treating the face with cold cream during the bath? Both writers also recommend spending a little time just soaking with cotton pads treated with witch hazel on the eyes. (And what's the witch hazel thing about anyway?) The idea of applying cold cream at the beginning of the bath and rinsing it off afterward is actually right in keeping, too, with the brief description of bathing in the 1946 grooming routine I've been adopting:

Coat yourself thoroughly with a susdy lather, and don't spare the elbow grease. Rinse well, doing face separately with water from the faucet.

So it's cold cream twice a day now for me... once in the a.m. (which is helpful in feeling wide awake - without a shower) and once in the p.m. during my bath. I am cutting myself a little bit of slack at this point when it comes to shampooing and conditioning my hair and shaving my legs and underarms. After I've finished washing up, I drain the tub and take a brief cool-ish shower in order to give myself a little time to do the kinds of things not attended to on a daily basis in the '40s routine. I may very well get to a place someday when I'm happily washing my hair once a week, but that's certainly not going to happen overnight!

And I'm not sure whether I'll do the nightly baths on Friday and Saturday nights. With those super sweaty morning walks on Saturdays and Sundays, it's really tough not to be able to jump in the shower when I get home. Could I do both? Sure, but that seems a little wasteful on the water/soap/shampoo/conditioner front.

One thing I am loving is the sensation of being squeaky clean when I crawl into bed. (I'm also grateful to have lost enough weight to fit a bit more comfortably in my bathtub!) And you know how you can kind of get into a rut when it comes to the things you hit in the shower --- well, I've probably given my legs and feet a better scrubbing in the last few days than they've had in a long time! My skin feels softer and better exfoliated than it usually does.

Just a few more chores and it'll be time to draw this evening's bath. Sweet dreams!

She's Engaged!

Eek! I think I've been using my cold cream improperly!!!

I've been doing a little research in preparation for my next vintage beauty mission and came across a 1947 magazine advertisement for Pond's. You know the type: She's Engaged! She's Lovely! She uses Pond's! The bride of the moment was Priscilla Thompson, "one of Chicago's fashionable young set" and soon to be the wife of a Navy veteran. Along with a close-up shot of Priscilla's engagment ring, the ad describes in detail her twice-daily cold cream regimen:

Rouse face with warm water. Dip deep into Pond's Cold Cream. Swirl it on your receptively moist, warm skin in little creamy "engagement ring" circles up over your face and throat. Tissue off... Swirl about 25 more creamy Pond's circlets over your face. Tissue well. Tingle with cold water. Blot dry.

How come nobody told me all these years that the secret to landing Mr. Right was swirling cold cream onto my face twice a day in creamy engagement ring circlets?

In all seriousness, I had no idea you were supposed to "tissue off" the cold cream! I've been rinsing it off my face with warm water all this time... All that bridal freshness down the drain.

Powder Puff

Has cleansing and powdering my face every morning made any improvements in my appearance? It's hard to tell. What I can tell you is that I'm getting to know my face in a whole new way. I had no idea that I had so many blemishes! My nose and the center of my forehead have large pores and there's a furrow starting between my brows. Yikes! When did that appear? So this is what comes of spending all this time looking at myself in the mirror!!! Well, I guess I would have discovered these blemishes sooner or later. Better to find them now and get cracking on repairs. :)

I started my new mission yesterday morning with a container of Maybelline New York Shine Free Loose Powder. (Maybelline was around in the '40s, but only as a brand of eye cosmetics. They didn't expand to the face until the '70s.) I don't think I've ever purchased loose powder. I usually have a compact of pressed powder on hand, but am continually frustrated when the powder starts to harden and I can't get any more on the puff. When I was growing up, my older sister - whom I idolized - had a little vanity in her bedroom. She was still too young for most cosmetics, but she did have a container of loose powder and I can remember sitting at her vanity when she wasn't home and dusting myself with that wonderful, fluffy powder puff. Loose powder still holds the same fascination for me. It seems so luxurious. Just like a great makeup brush.

My new powder is in a shade called "light" and I immediately noticed that it was a little too light for my southwestern complexion. I've always been very fair - not ivory - but fair. I've spent so much time lately walking outdoors, though, that I've got quite a bit of color. I'm hoping the color will fade as I become more careful with a hat and sunblock, but for now the face powder is just a smidge lighter than my skin tone. 1940s beauty experts cautioned against buying face powder in too late a shade. Women were advised to change their face powder with the seasons. A summer tan called for a darker tint of powder than did a pale winter complexion.

Remember, powder shades lighter than the skin tones will be very unbecoming to you. The lighter the shade of powder the more it highlights the lines and wrinkles. Always choose face powder that is one shade deeper than your own skin tone. ("Plan for Your Beauty," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 18, 1940)

Apparently, there's also a technique for using face powder. Max Factor, Jr. outlined the process in his syndicated newspaper column, "Hollywood Beauty Parade," during the summer of 1947.

The powdering should be started at the lower part of the cheeks. From there it should be gently patted toward the center of the face. The nose should be powdered last of all. Then with the powder puff the powder should be pressed lightly into all the little lines which almost invariably exist around the eyes, nose, mouth, and chin… Finally, all surplus powder should be brushed away with a powder brush. Face powder is the only one of all the make-up materials which must and should be applied with a non-sparing hand… Never use a soiled puff. And never scrub your powder on. Always pat it on. (St. Petersburg Times, August 3, 1947)

Who knew? I'm glad I have some tips to help me face down my blemishes in the mirror tomorrow morning.

My dear readers convinced me two days ago to listen to my stinging skin and substitute some cleansing cream for the soap, so I picked up some Pond's Cold Cream at the drugstore and tried it out this morning. The sting is gone --- and I was very happy with the list of ingredients on the container. But I was dismayed to read online that Pond's is made by a company that still tests its products on animals. Not cool at all. Especially when cosmetics company after cosmetics company has proven that this is unnecessary. Well, I've already purchased this container, so I'll use it up - but I'm also going to use this time to find some alternative cleansing creams. Any product suggestions?

Come to think of it, I think the mystery to all these ingredients in cosmetics and cleansers is part of the reason I stopped spending time in the mirror. Learning how to figure out which of the ingredients with umpteen syllables is an animal by-product and which is not was really tough. When you're a vegetarian, you spend a lot of time reading labels and extending that to your cosmetics is a pain. So I gave up - and for years used very few beauty products. Well, it's still a pain, but there are lots of resources online now to help you understand what's what on a label. And once I pinpoint some good products, it won't be so hard. I'll just have to be extra vigilant for awhile.

I spent so much time (for me!) shopping for cosmetics this week, and one of the things that struck me is how smooth the plastics are that are being used for containers for these products. It's like night and day compared to the plastics in which household cleansers or food are packaged. Face creams and ointments in particular are packaged in these incredibly silky smooth plastic containers. I guess that's part of the marketing. "Pick me up and I'll make your skin just as smooth as my packaging!"

One of the nicest surprises this week was at the breakfast table on Tuesday morning. Rice Krispies! I'd forgotten just how fun they sound - like a party in your bowl! - and how good they taste. One of the things I've loved about The Experiment is getting reacquainted with some of these cereals I loved as a child. Modern cereals are so --- complicated. There's a little bit of everything in cereal these days. I even saw some cereal the other day with crunchy clusters flavored with pomegranate and dark chocolate. Oy. Who needs dessert at the breakfast table?