The History Ring

Foot Baths from Victorian Times

I've been doing a lot of walking lately and my feet are killing me! I decided to look up Fletcher's advice to see what she had to say on the matter.... Frequent bathing has much to do with keeping [the foot] trim and shapely, and as much attention should be given to house foot-wear as to that worn in the street, which should never be retained in the house. It is quite as demoralizing to the feet as to the character to indulge in going slipshod about the house. Those inclined to flat-foot should not wear slippers without heels or mule-slippers, nor walk barefoot, even about the bedroom. A frequent change of shoes is better for both feet and shoes, and will help to keep both in good condition. After a long walk the feet should be given a warm bath with soap, and then be rubbed with the rum or cologne. If there is pain in the soles or over the instep, bathing with a weak solution of carbolic acid will allay it. Shoes or slippers with heels of a different height from those used in walking should be donned. When there is acute pain in the insteps it will strengthen and rest the feet after the bath to lie down, turning upon the face so as to stretch the feet out on a pillow, soles upward. Hot sea-salt baths are very restful and a sovereign remedy for feet inclined to swell from long standing; and great benefit is gained also from dissolving in the foot-bath water two teaspoonfuls of this powder:  Alum 1 ounce  Rock salt 2 ounces   Borax 2 ounces  After the...

Foot Baths from Victorian Times

Sarah Bernhardt in a Coffin

"When Mme. Bernhardt is world weary she gets into this coffin -- a grewsome [sic] piece of furniture in her boudoir -- and, covering herself with faded wreaths and flowers, folds her hands across her breast and, her eyes closed, bids a temporary farewell to life. A lighted candle on a votary table at her left and a death skull grinning on the floor add to the illusion. It is only when dinner is announced that the tragedienne opens her eyes and once more takes a languid interest in things material." (She sounds like a typical teenage goth!)

Sarah Bernhardt in a Coffin

Beauty -- For The Young Woman

Do you worship at the shrine of beauty? Now, while in the heyday of youth, while the rays of life's sunshine are warmest and brightest, do you not yearn for comely proportions, for a clear-tinted complexion, for the grace, suppleness and vigor of glorious, exhilarating health? If so, now is the time to determine with a strong, inflexible will, that these marks of perfection shall be acquired. Now, while the body is still immature, still expanding and developing, your physical appearance can be changed in every outline, in every proportion. Remember that ugliness is a positive sin against Nature, and its possession indicates, beyond all chance of refutation, that you have grossly disobeyed laws controlling the harmonious development of vigorous health. To make posible 'The Life Beautiful' the body as well as the mind and soul must be cultured and made symmetrical in every curve. Life, in its aesthetic sense, with all its subtle magnetic force, cannot be even partially realized by the mere act of existence. To exist is not to live. It is the abundant vitality of a cultured body that gives to every action, to every word, that forceful spontaneity, that ease of perfect confidence, so essential to the successful accomplishment of the projects of life. Within physical training a woman has a power for beautifying, not only her physical proportions, but her eyes, her complexion, her very personality itself.  -- Bernarr A. Macfadden.

Beauty -- For The Young Woman

'Everyone but an Englishman knows that the cold bath does not cleanse.' 

"Everyone but an Englishman knows that the cold bath does not cleanse."  -- Lina Cavalieri

ca. 1913 Vintage Advertisement for Creme de Nuit

Hate to post two repeats in a row but this just seemed so appropriate... yes, today's my birthday, and guess how old I'm turning?

ca. 1913 Vintage Advertisement for Creme de Nuit

Blast from the Past! An Early Curling Serum...

This old post has a recipe for an early sort of hair curling serum  from Fletcher's The Woman Beautiful . We also now have recipes up for the type of aromatic vinegar called for, in case anyone wants to try it! Also -- anyone else notice that the hairdo I had used as the illustration for the hair serum post is apparently the same as on the Old Time Face Powders post ?

Blast from the Past! An Early Curling Serum...

To Add Luster to the Hair

(You might recognize the oils as those belonging to the popular Hungary Water again...) Combine: 3 ounces sweet almond oil 1 ounce rosemary oil 30 drops lavender oil "A little of the mixture is rubbed into the scalp every two or three nights."

To Add Luster to the Hair

Georgian Style in Edwardian Times

Throwback fashion is not a new thing. It was going on even 100 years ago. The costumes of the Georgian/Marie Antoinette era were some of the most elaborate and fantastic in history, and they've inspired looks in many periods since. Here are a few Georgian-inspired Gibson Girl pics. The Merry Widow, allegedly inspired by Georgiana Cavendish's hat . A colonial style bonnet hat. Colonial style buckled shoe. A whole outfit, very 1770s in style.

Georgian Style in Edwardian Times

White Rose Glycerine Soap

Used by the Emperor of Russia! Check out the Vintage Beauty Shop for some other old time soaps used in the days of the Gibson Girls .  And remember -- you can use the same bar of soap for your shampoo, your skin, your dishes, your laundry and anything else you need soap for. They sure did.

White Rose Glycerine Soap

Saving Your Hair

2 weeks worth of hair combings saved up. Surely this shall one day become another magnificent hair rat ...

Saving Your Hair

The Old Fashioned, Hand-Heated Curling Iron

A few years ago I happened upon an old hand-heated curling iron at a flea market. I think I paid $2 for it. I have seen virtually identical ones available from Sears catalogues in the 1900s, so I assume it dates to that era.  I've written before about the trouble with old time curling irons  -- that is, they tend to burn your hair off because there's no way to effectively test how hot it is. Familiar with the problem, I wasn't about to dare testing this thing on my own hair... so I got out a piece of Kanekalon to use as the victim. Kanekalon, supposedly, can be styled like normal hair with hot irons (in fact, it's the only way to style it -- it doesn't take water like real hair) and I've dealt with ironing Kanekalon before so it does hold up to a point. I heated the iron over the stove for, I'd guess, about 15 seconds.  I used a piece of paper to test the iron -- I'd heard of this trick being done in the era. The idea was that if it doesn't scorch the paper, it won't scorch your hair either. When the paper came out clean, I went to work on the Kanekalon. The first effort was burned immediately. Second section came out a bit better -- the extra few seconds of cooling time seemed to make a difference. From what I read, Kanekalon is a little more sensitive than real hair, so perhaps 15 seconds of heat wouldn't ruin natural hair the same way... but do you really want to find out?

The Old Fashioned, Hand-Heated Curling Iron

An Edwardian David Garrick

While scouting for information in an old issue of Vogue, I came across a brief theater review of a play that's of special interest to me, David Garrick . A still from the production in question David Garrick was written in the 1850s, based on a story that had been circulating since the 1830s about the famous British actor David Garrick being hired to cure a girl of her love of the theater and/or theater actors. In Thomas William Robertson's version -- which is at times directly translated from the French play Sullivan -- Garrick is requested by a wealthy businessman, Mr. Ingot, to cure his daughter Ada of a crush... a crush on Garrick himself. Ingot thinks that it is Ada's romantic interest in Garrick that is causing her to reject an arranged marriage he's set up for her. Garrick agrees to Ingot's request sympathetically, since he's also recently found himself with a crush on a girl he doesn't really know. To his horror, Garrick arrives to meet Ada and discovers that she is that very girl. But Garrick is a man of his word and so he is obligated to go through with the show of his life -- trying to disgust the girl he's in love with.  Several film versions of David Garrick were made during the 1910s. The play was actually pretty popular right until about the 1930s. I suspect that changing morals (arranged marriages were no longer normal, actors were no longer seen as scumbags) were responsible for its downfall.  I'm personally a huge fan of these corny old stories so ...

An Edwardian David Garrick

A Hand Wash for Beauty

Put powdered borax, 5 ozs, into a bottle with water, 1 pt. If this all dissolves, put in enough to always keep some borax undissolved, at the bottom. When the garden work is done for the day, put enough into the water in which the hands are washed to make it soft or slippery as suds. 'It is very cleansing,' says Prof. Beale, of the Michigan Agricultural College, Lansing. 'and by this use of it the hands will always be kept in excellent condition, smooth, soft and white.' Of course, a little of this in water to wash the head will cleanse the scalp as nicely as the hands. -- Dr. Chase

A Hand Wash for Beauty

High End Haircare

From the 1900 Sears Catalogue.

High End Haircare

Edwardian Hair Coloring

Edwardian Promenade has an interesting article about a surprising fashion of the Edwardian era -- punk colored hair! Indeed, for a brief moment during 1914, the most daring leaders of Society and Fashion shocked the columnists of the day by adopting a trend created by Parisian hairdressers at the end of 1913 for the 1914 social season... This article from the era was linked by Edwardian Promenade, in which the apparent creator of the colored hair fashion discusses the correct way to approach it. She assures: "Of course, all dresses do not need it, nor would it be good taste for a woman to go anywhere and everywhere so tinted." With technology being primitive as it was as far as hair dyes, it seems the bright hues were actually, for the most part, achieved by dusting the hair with colored powder . Wealthier women might also get wigs made in the correct colors -- the idea behind the fashion apparently being to wear hair in the exact same color as one's gown. The fashion was short lived (though as I recall, it was briefly revived in the 1920s) and it was evidently so disliked that some hostesses refused to even admit guests if they were to come with colored hair.

Edwardian Hair Coloring