Late Victorian-Era Beauty Secrets by Kristin Holt

Late Victorian-Era Beauty Secrets
by USA-Today Bestselling Author

of Sweet Romance

set in the Victorian-era America West,

Kristin Holt

19th Century Woman's Toilette

I continue in fascination as I discover more and more history of real life among average, working Victorian-American women. The wealthy may have bought pots and tubes from the burgeoning beauty industry, but what advice or methods circulated among the average Mary?

(Note: I've shared numerous links to related articles, below.) 

Cover image: Dr. Sloan's Cook Book and Advice to Housekeepers

The following image contains a snippet from Dr. Sloan's Cook Book and Advice to Housekeepers, published 1905.

Because reading from this image is difficult, I've carefully transcribed the content for you. Read on!

HOW TO KEEP YOUR BEAUTY.

The best way to keep the face free from wrinkles is to cultivate a serene disposition, take plenty of sleep, eat food that will digest easily, and when a wrinkle does appear erase it promptly by massaging well with a good skin food. Rub all the lines of the face upward as much as possible, as the face has a tendency to sag.

To have a good clear skin, the face must be kept free from dirt.

Cleanse the skin thoroughly with hot water, into which a little borax has been dissolved, and use a good pure soap.

Lather the face well with the soap and wash off with the hot water. Dry thoroughly and anoint with cold cream.

To whiten the complexion, take one-half pint new milk, one-quarter of an ounce lemon juice, and one-half an ounce of white brandy. Boil the whole, skin, and use night and morning.

If one's face is too red, be careful of the diet. Take no hot drinks, but cooling ones. Do not wash the face with cold water -- lukewarm water is better -- and try hot foot-baths before retiring at night.

To  keep your hands soft, rub them two or three times a day, after washing, with equal parts of glycerine and lemon juice. Let it stay on ten or fifteen minutes, then wash the hands quickly in lukewarm water, using a good soap, and dry thoroughly. If your hands are inclined to be moist, rub a very little lemon juice after drying.

For discolored or stained finger nails a teaspoon of lemon juice in a cup of warm water is invaluable. This is one of the best manicure aids. It will loosen the cuticle from the finger nails as well as remove discolorations.

Brittle nails may be cured by soaking them daily for a few minutes in blood-warm sweet oil. Polish the nails daily with the chamois-skin polisher to improve the circulation and make them clean and pink. No paste is needed.

Invitation

What do you think of Dr. Sloan's solutions and beauty regimen? Please scroll down and comment. The "conversation" part is extra valuable, especially now!

Related Articles

By Kristin Holt

Copyright © 2020 Kristin Holt LC

What is a Stalking Horse?

In today's society we don't hear much about stalking horses any more, but when it's used, most wouldn't know the meaning or the origin. Now when someone is called a stalking horse, it's a negative connotation. A stalking horse is someone who was used by another in order to get something bigger or greater. For example, if someone pretends to be friends with one person, because they really want to get to know a friend or relative of theirs better.

In the Sweet Americana time period, a stalking horse was used as a moveable blind to get closer to game -- ducks or deer, for example. Most wildlife didn't find the shape of a horse to be threatening on its own, not like the threat of the shape and shadow of a man. So using their horse, a hunter could get closer to their true goal.

The most famous stalking horse was used centuries before:

After ten years of trying to infiltrate the city of Troy on their own, the Greeks came up with the plan of using a horse shaped statue as a peace gift, when really they were concealing themselves inside. 

It seems that the horse is considered one of man's most useful and innocuous companions, no one thinks of them as being menacing or conniving. Instead they were easily used as a means from getting from one place to another, for working with farmers in their fields, for companionship, and even for hunting or treachery. Maybe we should learn from this to think about peoples intentions before allowing them to get too close. Sometimes it is better to look the gift horse in the mouth.

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Victorian America & April Fool's Day

 by Kristin Holt

APOSTROPHES... no April Foolin'!

Let's take a moment and put one thing to rest-- frustrating apostrophes.

Where does the apostrophe in April Fool's Day (as spelled in both of the newspaper articles from 1892 and 1896, below) belong? Before or after the s?

Yes, current, modern 21st century dictionaries offer the same spelling but also include April Fools' Day--the plural possessive. Why? Because there most certainly are multiple fools in the world for which April Fools is their holiday... and because The AP Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style call for the use of the apostrophe after the s. [Source]

Thus... today April Fools' Day is spelled for all the fools out there, and in Victorian American life, they pretty much consistently (from all my research) elected to spell it: April Fool's Day. I'll stick with the Victorian American spelling ('s) as that's my focus.

Let's get one more pesky little detail out of the way. Victorian-era American newspapers often spelled various words differently than we do today, used punctuation differently, and often did not capitalize words we do now. The abbreviation "sic" or [sic] stands for "spelled in context"-- okay, I admit it-- I made that up. It actually is a Latin adverb for "thus was it written" but that's too hard to remember. Essentially "spelled in context" means it appears precisely as it does in the original source (and hence my protection from pointing fingers and chuckles because readers think I can't spell).

April Fools' Day has long been a day for pranksters, troublemakers, and those simply looking for a bit of diversion. Tall tales evoke wide-eyed belief until the punch line, "April Fools!"

I'm forever fascinated by what our Victorian American ancestors saw as the standard for recognizing days like April 1st and celebrating various significant holidays throughout the year.

[You'll find easy links at the bottom of my article about Victorian Americans Celebrate Easter on my website, including: St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's... and... recognizing occasions such as Leap Year. Note: See the stick-figure magnifying glass in the menu--a search tool.]

ALL IN GOOD FUN

This newspaper article is clipped from The Kearney Daily Hub, of Kearney, Nebraska, dated 28 May, 1892.

The Kearney Daily Hub, Kearney, Nebraska, 28 May, 1892.

The Kearney Daily Hub, Kearney, Nebraska, 28 May, 1892.

In Honolulu, Hawaii, the 9 July, 1896 edition of Evening Bulletin reported quite an April Fool's hoax regarding discovery of a race of pygmies.

[Note: this transcription of a partial paragraph has everything spelled in context, including the era's choice of spelling pygmies thus--pigmies.]

"Once the BULLETIN, when under the ownership and editorship of its lamented founder, Walter Hill, perpetrated a grand April Fool's Day joke by publishing a minute account of the discovery of a race of pigmies living in a cave of one of the triplet mountains of Hawaii, employing a name assonant with that of Mr. Baker's as the name of the heroic discoverer." [sic]

 

 

Despite the 1896 report (immediately above) that April Fool's is a Druidical remembrance, an 1833 article, directly below, argues April Fool's is the holiday of St. Francis--

The following article appeared in the Boston Post, in Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 April, 1833. Note the wry humor, the use of the familiar to poke fun at other country's traditions and celebrations-- which to Victorian Americans would appear highly scandalous (without pants?).

"Who invented April Fool's Day?-- It is the holiday of St. Francis, the founder of the order of Minims, and canonized by Leo X, for his....austerities! The more fool he!-- There was a religious society in Paris by the touching appellation of Fools, founded in 1198, which flourished 240 years, holding their Festival on the 1st of January, in which all sorts of absurdities and indecencies were committed. The French alone are able to throw any light on the subject; and that little is less brilliant than the corruscations** of a dead cod's head: They call mackerel, poisson d'Aeril; and um poisson d'Aeril, an April fool. They have a proverb of "Donner un poisson d'Aeril," to make one an April fool. They have so frequently been governed by "Fools," since they established the Salique Law, which excluded the fair sex from the throne, that they aught to be canonized with the honor of originating April fool's day. [sic]

"Shakespeare is silent on the subject, probably there was no "fool's day" in his day.-- And yet possibly the French  might have stolen this "day," as they did "Twelfth-day," or Epiphany, from the English during the Revolution of 1792, calling it "la fete des sans culottes," a festival without breeches! Horace Smith, in his Fooleries and Festivals, leaves the paternity of the "day" in as much obscurity as that of Romulus and Remus, but is inclined to swear it upon the Hindoos! because they hold the festival of their Huli fooleries the day before! With all due deference to Horace, if the Hindoos are not more ancient than the Israelites, we suspect Esau was the first "April Fool" when he sold his birthright, unless his father was fooled first, when he heard the voice of Jacob, and mistook a goat's skin for the hand of Esau; and like a goat with more beard than brains, bestowing his blessing upon the head of a hypocrite.*" [sic]

-----

* However the second son is always the smartest; from Jacob down to "Brother Jonathan;"--Don't he beat John Bull? [appears as is in the original]

** [added because I couldn't stand not to] definition of corruscations-- or at least the most similarly spelled modern word: coruscation: A sudden gleam or flash of light; a striking display of brilliance or wit.

Why do you suppose the author of this 1833 newspaper article (tradition/practice holds newspaper article writers were never identified by name) spelled "Hindoos" phonetically instead of properly, Hindus?

1833

Did you notice the humorous article, immediately above, was published in 1833? That's

early. Technically five years before the Victorian Era began (Queen Victoria's coronation).

 

Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838. Public Domain.

1833 predates the Victorian Era (as just said in a few more words)... but... as far as my newspapers.com access currently offers (though not every single newspaper from the history of the United States), 17 years earlier, in 1816, the earliest documented (per my current access-- who knows? this will likely change) use of "April fools day" appeared in The Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, Maryland, 11 July, 1816.

Nothing more than a fun bit of trivia, given we know the French used the phrase/term before the Revolution of 1792.

The Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, MD, 11 July 1816.

APRIL FOOL'S IS AN ANNOYANCE

As are Christmas Gifts one isn't amused with.

The Sun, Chanute, Kansas, 24 December, 1896.

Ultimately, no matter that 115 years have passed since the conclusion of the Victorian Era, some things remain the same. No matter the quantity of vintage newspaper articles I perused, it seems April Fool's Day in the Victorian-Era United States was tolerated much the same as it is currently. Kids have fun with it. Adults cringe. Any news (especially the sensational or the happy) is viewed with distrust. Just yesterday, I heard the story of a brand-new father who called the extended family members to announce the birth of their son (everyone knew the wife was about to deliver...) and no one believed him the child was actually born. Unfortunately the birth was 28 years ago when cell phones and digital images were futuristic flights of fancy.

What is the most spectacular, or amusing, or embarrassing, or fantastic tale / prank / trick you've heard or seen in conjunction with April Fool's Day?

Hi! I'm Kristin Holt.

I write frequent articles (or view recent posts easily on my Home Page, scroll down to mid to lower) about the nineteenth century American west–every subject of possible interest to readers, amateur historians, authors…as all of these tidbits surfaced while researching for my books. I also blog monthly at Sweet Americana Sweethearts (first Friday of each month) and Romancing the Genres (third Tuesday of each Month).

I love to hear from readers! Please drop me a note. Or find me on Facebook.

 

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