I think there’s something in facial exercises. I had a sheet of such exercises printed off from an Indian newspaper some years ago and, during the stretches that I remembered to actually do them every night, I did notice a difference to my face, to my surprise.
That was before kids entered by life and now with less sleep and in my 40s, I’m starting to think I could do with starting up again. Although it’s a lot more of a challenge this time. I’m going to try these ones from 1937, and I’ll report back. As long as I remember.
The Western Gazette, 1937
YOUR FACE NEEDS EXERCISE BY JOAN MAY
Most of us put in five or ten minutes doing our daily dozen every morning, but how many of us even think of exercising our faces? Yet facial muscles need exercise just like any other muscles, to keep them supple and in good working order.
The contours of the face depends largely on the muscles, and all the creams and lotions in the world will not fill out hollows or tighten sagging cheeks; you must strengthen the relaxed muscles behind them, under the skin.
One of the best exercises for filling out thin cheeks and getting rid of those ugly lines from nose to mouth is simply – blowing! Purse your lips, throw back your head, and pretend that you are blowing a feather over an imaginary line. Puff out your cheeks and blow hard, until you can feel all your cheek muscles pressing against the skin. Do this at odd moments during the day, and notice what a “lift” it gives to your face.
Our grandmothers were advised to murmur “prunes and prism” to acquire small and beautiful mouths. To-day we are told that whistling will make and keep our mouths well-shaped and flexible. Even if you cannot whistle, purse up your lips and then, whilst holding this position, pinch in the corners of the mouth with your fingers. This will prevent their drooping – a very common fault.
Exercise your eyes, too. Normally you move them very little. Try looking sideways, then look up, look down, roll them round and round. So simple; yet what extra life and vivacity it gives to them!
Your chin and throat come last but by no means least, for they are usually the first to show signs of age. Keep them young and firm by these movements. Drop the head forward, then with chin outthrust, lift the head, and let it fall slowly backward as far as it will go. Bring it gradually back to normal position, then turn the neck, looking first over the right shoulder, then over the left, so that the muscles are gently stretched. Each movement should always be smooth and rhythmic.
Oh, I can’t tell you the joy I felt when I saw this book, The Universal Home Doctor, on the shelves of of one of the few charity shops in town which still sells proper vintage books.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
At first I thought it was a copy of a book I already own and love, the first old book I ever bought, The Universal Book of Hobbies and Handicrafts, as the colour, size and bindings are exactly the same. When I looked closer I saw the different title, although it’s still under the “Universal” heading which told me that these two books were part of a series, something I never suspected. I wonder if there were any more books in this set?
Neither book is dated but I have found out the the Hobbies book was published in 1935. The Home Doctor is variously dated as having the first edition published between 1932-36. Therefore I’m going to say that this also dated from 1935, as it would make sense for companion books to be published at the same, or nearly the same, time. Abe Books dates the Home Doctor as being from 1950, but this is very evidently untrue. It’s definitely pre-war, the references, pictures and hairstyles are unmistakeably from the 30s. And there were only two editions, this first one, and a second in 1967 which was a completely different book in many respects, having been updated and changed in appearance.
Here we have 1930s man in (nearly) all his glory.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
The book consists largely of an encyclopaedia-format of medical problems and it enlightened me as to what Apoplexy actually was – it’s what we now call a Stroke. In addition to the alphabetical reference system, there’s appendices which give more in depth treatment to a number of subjects. There’s a section for new mothers on how to care for babies, and another section on the subject of Beauty.
I can’t resist a vintage beauty tip so this has been my first port of call. I was surprised, however, to see plastic surgery is not only mentioned but talked about as being rather commonly practiced. The most widespread form of this was evidently face lifting. The face lift operation was first performed in 1901, but became more popular over the course of the 1920s. “The only means of contracting a skin which has become too large is to remove parts of it by surgical operation, in which the procedure, to explain simply, is very like that of a dressmaker who “takes in” a dress that is too large for a customer.”
There are direct or indirect methods, either cutting the wrinkled skin out itself, with the skin over the area healing in more stretched manner, or by removing part of the skin at the edge of the face and pulling the skin tighter from there. Always remember to get both sides done though, they “…must always be performed on both sides, to avoid the grotesque effect of one side young and the other old.”
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
It wasn’t just face lifts – the book also mentions other “popular procedures”, including tummy tucks and breast reductions, filling collar bone hollows with fat, ears being pinned back and “little toes removed if the feet are thought too broad.” The latter was also the subject of scandalised reporting a couple of years ago, with women having so-called “stiletto surgery”, cutting off little toes for their feet to fit better in heels. It turns out it was nothing new.
I’d like to know more about the “various other “cosmetic” operations, more remarkable for ingenuity that common sense.” But you also need to be wary as legally “anyone – without any surgical training whatever – can set up as a “Beauty Specialist” and perform such operations under local anaesthesia.” This sounds like something that should definitely have been left in the past, and yet only a few weeks ago I read this, on unregulated cosmetic clinics in Australia, performing plastic surgery without any checks on their training.
Also like today, there are limitations and consequences to consider. “There are, however, two grave objections to the process of “face-lifting”. One is, that the natural expression is removed along with the superfluous skin, and the patient’s face becomes mask-like. A second, and perhaps more serious objection, is that these operations are not permanent in their effects….inevitably the time comes when the over-stretched skin takes its revenge, and the last state of the patient is worse than the first.”
I do love this line –
“It remains for the individual to choose between the necessity of “growing old gracefully” or growing old, as Mr E. F. Benson puts it, in the guise of a “grisly kitten.””
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
Wrinkles are tricky. First and foremost to help avoid their onset you need “a healthy life and contented outlook: worry and bad temper are fatal. It is noteworthy that it is not real troubles, but petty worries and all the nagging trifles of every day that are responsible for premature wrinkling!”
It’s quite right that bad eyesight can cause premature wrinkling, I’ve been slowly getting used to new gas permeable contact lenses for the past couple of months and my creased squint lines have depressingly got much worse in a short space of time as a result. For which I can thank Boots Advanced Protect and Perfect eye cream, which has incredibly restored things right back to normal (I am not being paid for this advert).
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
This is interesting, especially for someone who loathes high heels.
“Uncomfortable clothes are a cause of lines on the face, especially uncomfortable shoes. Women have wisely discarded two instruments of torture, the strangling collar and the squeezing corset, but they seem more reluctant about shoes. The discomfort of too narrow soles and too high heels still produces the frown of pain.”
Yes, this is still a thing. I bet this poor woman has the frown of pain alright.This reminds me of “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, Kimmy having developed “scream lines” from being abducted and forced to live in a bunker for 15 years.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y23dEyGaGlg
“Plucking the eyebrows seems to be losing its popularity…..brows that are no more than dark lines on the forehead seem to take away all “character” from the face.” Eyebrow fashion – whether it be plucking yourself bald like a chicken, or drawing in thick black beetling brows – remains a mystery to me still.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
There’s a lot of information about looking after the hair. For a start, who is doing this? “The hair should be well-brushed for five minutes night and morning, preferably in front of an open window, as air is necessary for hair health.”
Hats, in 1935, were all but compulsory. “As regards hats, the best kind for the hair would be none at all except in very brilliant sunshine; but, since one must be worn, it should be light and well-ventilated. The lining should be washed once a week.”
As the owner of an oily scalp, the advice on the frequency of hair washing baffles me. “Roughly, once a week in the town and once a fortnight in the country should be enough.” And oh, the faff of having to make your own shampoo out of melted shredded soap, glycerine and eau-de-cologne. Or olive oil, egg and lemon juice.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
Be careful about colouring your hair. An experienced hairdresser should bleach it for you as it “in unskilled hands may damage the hair seriously, as well as produce extraordinary effects.”
But hang on, X-rays are suggested as a means of removing superfluous hair. Seriously, X-rays? The book notes that its possible that the treatment may cause damage and changes to the skin, but hopes that “with further research, doctors may hit the happy mean and then this method of depilation will be by far the most satisfactory of the local treatments.” It’s true, it was noticed in the later part of the nineteenth century that X-rays resulted in hair loss and, before the terribly destructive effects of radiation were discovered, this was actually a method used by many women. Until 1946, that is. When the effects of radiation on the surviving inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made it quite clear that this wasn’t something to be trifled with. Many women in the meantime had had scarring to the skin, developed cancer and even died from what was later deduced to be radiation damage from X-ray hair removal. It was even given a name – North American Hiroshima maiden syndrome. There’s a fascinating post here about it.
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
How to deal with thin necks, fat necks, thin shoulders, fat shoulders, thin arms and fat arms.
Fat necks should be “patted sharply all over with cotton wool dipped in an astringent lotion; the cleansing lotion recommended for the skin may be used, with the addition of two tablespoons of eau-de-Cologne….home massage should not be tried or the condition will probably be rendered worse.”
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
I’m not entirely sure how this would help, but now I’ve got the Happy Monday’s song “Fat Neck” in my head, and, thanks to my husband, the unfeasibly thick neck of George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher from the band Cannibal Corpse. All the astringent lotion in the world’s not shifting that. George said, “A friend of mine once said, ‘You don’t have a head, you’re a neck with lips.‘”
I’m always interested in the dietary advice from other ages. Here, carbohydrates are recommended as the basic foodstuff which should make up the majority of our diet. The fact it transforms quickly into sugar is a plus here, rather than the cause of the demonization of carbs now.
I’m pretty sure than no one apart from possibly Gwyneth Paltrow is keeping tabs on their daily phosphorus allowance these days. Still, interesting to see that the, sadly neglected, foodstuff treacle is a source of both calcium and iron. Maybe treacle will be the next trendy superfood?
The Universal Home Doctor, 1935
Edit: inspired by Tasker Dunham’s comment below about the other books in this series, I went digging. I found this advert from 1940, beautifully illustrating the series, or, at least, some of them. Daily Herald, 2nd January 1940.
Gladys Cooper (later to become Dame Gladys Cooper) was an English actress with a long career in films, TV and the theatre. She was born in 1888 and got her start on the Edwardian stage, and pre-World War One silent movies. Here she was in 1913.
Gladys Cooper, 1913
I was familiar with her in one of her later roles from 1964 – that of Mrs Higgins, Henry Higgins’ mother in “My Fair Lady”, for which she received an Oscar nomination. But I never knew she’d had such a glittering career prior to that. Or been such a raving beauty.
In My Fair Lady, 1964
In 1929 she was 41, and still described in this newspaper article in the Gloucester Citizen as “England’s Most Beautiful Actress”. She did have an angelic look to her, like an cartoon of a perfect flapper come to life.
Gladys Cooper with her children
In the article, she gives her thoughts on the subject of beauty. Her assessment is to be aware that beauty is skin deep, and that charm, personality, developing your intellectual talents and maintaining your health are more important in being an attractive person all round. Which is sensible and hard to disagree with.
She considers children one of the best ways of keeping young – well, yes, I suppose they are in that they keep you in touch with the more youthful side of life, although the lack of sleep involved isn’t great for a non-haggard appearance. I like her line saying that “I don’t see how one can get old with so much mischief and such a diversity of young interests around her.”
As a fellow 41-year-old woman, I am pleased that to see that “Time was when a woman of 35 was old. Now many women of that age are still considered girls.”
Gloucester Citizen, 5th June, 1929
Gloucester Citizen, 5th June, 1929
Gloucester Citizen, 5th June, 1929
Beauty
By Gladys Cooper
(England’s Most Beautiful Actress)
“If I were only beautiful!” is the obsessing thought of countless women. To many of them physical attractiveness would mean the consummation of all their worldly aspirations and longings.
Does physical beauty really mean as much as all that however? I think not. Beauty ought to be as asset to any woman – it is, but only under certain conditions.
To the woman who is content to rely upon physical attractiveness alone, without attempting to make herself intelligent, clever, or amusing, and too lazy to develop whatever intellectual qualities she possesses, beauty is a handicap. Middle-age will find her very sorry for herself, and in old age she will suffer complete disillusionment.
The qualities which cause the world to acclaim a woman as beautiful are elusive, and I should think that three-fourths of the beautiful women of the world are as much in spite of their physical attractions [as] because of them.
Perfect features alone do not make a woman beautiful: expression means almost everything in a face, and since expression springs from thought, it follows that perfect beauty comes from perfect thinking.
So it is that many women whose features could be “torn to pieces” by a critic, achieve great attractiveness through beauty of expression. On the other hand I know women whose features have set in a permanently petulant cast purely as a result of their unbeautiful disposition. And I know few things more unpleasant than an ugly expression on fair features.
The more beautiful a woman is, the earlier should she look to her future. By developing her intellectual self she can face without fear the time when she will be no longer physically beautiful.
For that is a time that every woman has to face – we grow old soon and our looks go.
WOMEN WHO NEVER GROW OLD
Some women, of course, never grow old, and are beautiful to the last. Such was Ellen Terry, who was as gracious a figure in her old age as in her extreme youth. It was not physical beauty, however, which made Ellen Terry a loved figure. She had not perfect features, she was not a perfect type. But she had a charm that transcended any sort of physical beauty.
Charm! That is a word that ought to mean everything to a woman, that is the secret of three-fourths of the so-called beautiful women of the world.
They may, some of them, be physically beautiful, but that is only incidental. Many of them, as a matter of fact, are not beautiful, but are women of pure and beautiful thought which finds its physical refection in beautiful reflection. And they go on being beautiful forever.
A plain woman with the quality of charm will find herself a centre of attraction where a score of so-called beauties would be almost un-noticed.
Beauty does not get one far in any walk of life, unless it has something behind it. It may help in the first instance – in the theatrical profession it certainly does. But it is a slender reed upon which to lean unless there are brains and understanding behind it.
I should not like to be thought that I disparage physical beauty. In a reasonably-minded person, it ought to be a glorious thing, and it is the duty of every woman who is beautiful to do all she can to remain so.
There are many ways which she can preserve her attractiveness. First she must preserve her health, for I do not think an ailing woman can be beautiful. “Delicate” beauty does not mean ailing beauty. By living a health life and thinking healthily, a woman may do much to preserve her freshness. These are days when women look younger than ever.
Time was when a woman of 35 was old. Now many women of that age are still considered girls.
“MAKE UP”
Present day fashions offset beauty much more effectively than the fashions of our forebears, and the athletic life of present-day youth also helps considerably. Present day “make up” too, by its naturalness, is infinitely better than the artificial fashion of former generations. No right-minded woman need fear age, and I think the most pathetic spectacle is that of the woman who, driven to desperation by the first grey hairs, tries to look young and succeeds in making herself into a freak. Middle-age can have beauty and dignity if taken complacently; it is a tragedy to the woman who gets into a panic because she detects signs of its approach.
My own view is that children are one of the best things for helping to keep a woman young. I don’t see how one can get old with so much mischief and such a diversity of young interests around her.
That may not be a popular view, but I give it as my own experience.
GOOD LOOKS – AND DUTY
A beautiful woman has a big responsibility to her home. If she cares she can make its whole atmosphere reflect her personal charm. If she is vain and empty, her good looks will avail her less than nothing, and will probably be a curse to all with whom she comes into contact.
It would be a happier world if every good-looking woman would look upon her beauty not as a personal asset about which she had reason to be proud, but something towards which she had a duty – the duty of sharing her gift with the world.
An article highlighting the effects of the smoggy atmosphere in the towns prior to the Clean Air Act of 1956, which was brought in following London’s “Great Smog” over 4 days in December 1952, and which is estimated to have caused the deaths of 4000 people initially, with 8000 more dying in the months following.
However, a lesser-known effect of air pollution, apparently, was greying, smoke-tinted skin. This article from The Portsmouth Evening News in 1935 aimed to help the problem. By bleaching your skin.
Portsmouth Evening News, 23rd March 1935
Beauty Tips
Winter smoke and fog have imperceptibly darkened our complexions by several tones, even through the protective film of vanishing cream and powder we have used.
To restore ourselves to our original dazzling charm, we need an intensive course of bleaching treatment.
Intensive, yes, but very gentle. A good bleaching mask is made by mixing a tablespoonful of honey, a tablespoonful of almond meal, and a teaspoonful of peroxide of hydrogen.
Spread the cream thickly on face and throat, leave for at least a quarter of an hour and wash off with warm milk.
The treatment, given twice a week, will restore smoke-tinted skins.
Beauty hints from 1914. I might try the “drying your face upwards” one, my creases could do with being smoothed out.
Rinsing your hair in cold water is still said to help promote shininess, but I haven’t heard the rainwater tip. I suppose I could go and fill a bucket from the rain butt to wash my hair but it’s a bit too much like doing a regular ice bucket challenge, especially at the time of year. Also, when my hair gets rained on it turns into a frizzball although maybe the soap would prevent that?
The Portsmouth Evening News, 14th November, 1914
Beauty Hints
It is not generally known that washing the hair in rainwater and soft soap, and rinsing in cold water, makes the hair soft and silky.
Finger nails should always be cut the last thing at night. By the morning the cut portion will have hardened, and be unlikely to break or split.
When drying the face after washing, always rub upwards towards the nose. This helps to smooth out those creases on each side below the nose, and also prevents wrinkles. The eyes should be rubbed from the side of the face towards the nose.
Natural teeth, even when filled and preserved, are much better than artificial ones. Therefore visit your dentist once or twice yearly, and let him fill up any cavity that exists, and so arrest decay. When choosing a tooth-powder avoid any that contains gritty, acid or irritating substances. These not only act injudiciously on the enamel of the teeth, but are also bad for the gums.
From the Gloucester Citizen, June 26th 1933, comes this little piece – “Beauty Tips by Katherine Hepburn (The Film Star)”. (Spelt wrong)
Gloucester Citizen, 1933
“Make a point of going to bed at least once at week at 9.30 or before…” – oh, I so need to start doing that.
In fact, it all sounds good to me. Sensible stuff. And anyway, who am I to argue with the mega-cool original Hep-Kat? (Is that already a nickname for her? It should be.)
This is one look she had in 1933. Dressed as a moth for the film Christopher Strong. I’ve never seen the film, but now I feel I need to see this costume in some kind of context.
