Vintage Beauty Tips

 Do you ever have those days
when you're a bit...









...And you'd rather be like...



Yesterday was one of those days for me.  So I consulted some of the wonderful beauty hints and tips I've collected over the years to see if there was anything there that might just pep a gal up a bit!
Perhaps try some of these, from the early 1900's!


                                                               HONEY SOAP

Just the things for sore, chafed and cracked hands in winter.  Shred one pound (approx 500g) of pure soap into an old saucepan with just enough water to prevent burning, add a quarter of a pound of honey (approx 250g), one ounce of glycerine (approx 30g), 2 tablespoons of fine oatmeal and a few drops of perfume.  Stir until soap is dissolved, and boil for 3 minutes.  Pour into wet moulds (old tobacco tins are just the thing!). Store until hard.
                                                                  
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The white of an egg has many uses. Rub blistered heels with it and feel it remove the soreness.  Prevent further trouble by rubbing the heels nightly with methylated spirits; this tends to harden the skin against blistering.

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For tender feet, mix equal parts of methylated spirits and olive oil and rub well into the feet at least twice a week at bedtime.  Helps the nails as well.

                                                                          ***

One teaspoon of sugar mixed with a small quantity of olive oil and rubbed well into the hands will remove stains and soften nicely.

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To promote the growth of hair take equal quantities of olive3 oil and spirit of rosemary, and a few drops of oil of nutmeg.  Mix the ingredients together.  Rub at the roots of the hair every night with a little of this liniment and the growth will very soon noticeably increase.  When illness is the cause of the loss of hair, brandy should be applied three times a week and cold cream on alternate nights.

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If you suffer from dandruff, gather a good handful of leaves from the lemon tree, cover with water and boil the mixture for half an hour.  Strain and bottle.  When it is cool, run the liquid into the scalp.  Even the most stubborn dandruff will respond to this.  It's a natural remedy.

                                                                          ***

Salt will clean teeth just as effectively as a high-priced toothpaste, and also prevents gumboils and heals ulcers of the mouth.

                                                                          ***

A cupful of vinegar added to a bath after strenuous exercise will be found to be very refreshing; it takes away all stiffness.

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Every housewife knows the value of soaking the feet in Epsom salts.  It is especially good for smoothing fingertips roughened by housework, and also improves the texture of the skin.

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If hair has begun to turn grey, it my be darkened to its original colour by the use of sage leaves.  Simmer a handful of sage leaves in a saucepan with about 2 cups of water for approx 20 minutes. Strain the mixture. When cold, brush it daily into the hair until the greyness disappears.

                                                                          ***

To make a refreshing bath tonic-gather a handful of pine needles and boil in a pint of water for 20 minutes.  Strain the liquid and add it to the bath.

                                                                          ***

A good face pack for early wrinkles is egg white.  After cooking with eggs, smooth the residue left in the shells all over face and throat.  Quickly you will begin to feel the skin begin to tighten.  Give yourself a little rest while the pack does its work.  Later, rinse off with warm water and apply a little vanishing cream.

Let me know what you think of these!  I'd love to read your comments on what else you'd like to see on my blog!

Til next time,

Vintage Tips of the day Part.2

Ok, so I was asked if in my little collection were any hints and tips on stain removal and clothing storage.

Here are a few tidbits I found:

Storing Clothing:
 -Make sure cotton is thoroughly dry after washing to prevent the danger of mildew in storage.
-Wrap white cottons and linen in blue tissue to stop yellowing, and store clothing where strong light    will not fade it.
-Rinse synthetic fabrics in cool water to prevent wrinkles
-Allow permanently pleated fabrics to drip dry into shape before folding them for storage
-Silk should be kept in a cool, dry, dark place. Strong light can yellow silk or fade the dye.
-Store suedes and leather in a cool, ventilated area, never in plastic bags.

Crease-free storage:
 Fold freshly ironed shirts and t-shirts by placing the garment face-down.  In the case of a shirt, do up the buttons.  Lift one sleeve and place at a right angle across the shoulder, then lay the sleeve in alignment with the outside seam.  Repeat with other sleeve. Fold up the tail of the shirt, then fold again from the middle so that the shirt butts up with the yoke. In the case of t-shirts, line up the bottom of the T with the shoulder seam. Turn over and store face up. Garments folded in this way travel well, too.


Correct Hanging:
 Cull the wire hangers from your closet and replace them with a selection of quality hangers for specific garments; padded hangers for jackets, knits and delicate shirts and dresses, wooden hinged hangers with felt lining for hanging suit pants and trousers, wooden tailors' hangers for coats and heavy garments, spring-clip hangers for summer pants and skirts.  Do not hang garments by their belt loops.  Centre garments on the hanger, do up the buttons and zippers, and when hanging them in the closet, try to keep garments separate from each other so that the air can circulate.

Cleaning collars:
Apply hair shampoo directly to the dirty mark around collars, then launder in the usual way.

Woolens care:
When drying knitwear, slip an old stocking through the arms and peg this to the line to avoid marking the garment.

Yellowed clothing:
Restore yellowed clothing by adding a teaspoon of turpentine to the water.
For clothes that cannot be bleached, cream of tartar helps restore whiteness. Add 1-2 teaspoons to 4 litres of hot water and soak overnight.

Scorch marks:
Light scorches respond to a paste of borax and glycerine. Cover the mark completely and let the paste dry for 12 hours before brushing off. Wash gently and rinse well.
On some fabrics the juice of a freshly cut onion will remove scorch marks. Rub the mark with the onion and keep moist with onion juice for a few hours in sunlight. Rinse well.

Grass Stains:
 Rub stains with methylated spirits or glycerine. Leave for 1 hour, then wash as usual.  Treat old stains by saturating with glycerine. Wash out well.

Flannelette:
 New flannelette sheets can be defluffed by washing first with a little salt and vinegar added to the washing machine.

Hem Marks:
 To remove old hem marks, make a solution of 1 cup of hot water, 1/2 teaspoon of Borax and 1 teaspoon vinegar.  Wet a cloth in this solution, wring it out and press with a hot iron on the wrong side of the garment. Brush when dry and the marks should have gone.

Hope these were helpful!! Next time I'll bring you some vintage beauty hints and tricks :)

If there's anything you'd like to know, please leave me a comment! Hello to my two newest followers too :D


      

Vintage tips of the day Pt.1

I have a nice little collection of vintage style home-help books...I collect them. I simply cannot walk past one if I see it for sale. Thus, I thought I'd make a new segment of Vintage Tips, to share some of these practical domestic gems with you all :)

#1 To protect stored linens and clothing...

Add a small piece of felt or cloth sprinkled with lavender oil to the final rinse when laundering items to be stored.  Not only will the laundry have a delicate fragrance but the lavender odour helps repel insects such as silverfish and moths.


#2  To deodorise your home...

Deodorise refrigerators, wardrobes and bathrooms with a dish or open box of bicarbonate of soda.  Saturate a cotton ball with vanilla and place inside the refrigerator or car.  Place dishes of white vinegar in the kitchen to help destroy odours.


#3 Nifty pincushion...

Use a bar of soap as a pincushion. The soap lubricates the pins so they are easier to insert.



#4 Clever clothes pegs...

Clip a peg onto each end of a hanger to stop sleeveless items from slipping off.



#5 Sealing wooden spoons...

Soak overnight in apple cider vinegar to seal wood before initial use.

Any tips you'd like to see on here? Leave me a comment! :)

Gayware, Art Deco and other wonderful things...

A few months ago I acquired some lovely Art Deco and vintage pieces from my great uncle who passed away. Some of them belonged to my great grandmother. I've had them sitting in my garage for a little bit until I knew where I was going to put them. They were in dire need of cleaning after sitting in a smoky house for years.

First up, was this set of Gayware canisters. I squeed when I saw these in the back of the kitchen cupboard!! I'm really lucky that apart from a crack in the lid of the flour canister, and the fact that they were pretty grubby, they scrubbed up beautifully. I'm so pleased that they all have their letters intact on the fronts, as sadly if you do manage to come across any these days, quite a lot of them have letters missing or partially cracked off.

                                                           Don't they look fantastic?!

Next is this cute little clock. I wasn't sure if it even worked, but after giving it a good polish it started ticking again...and then the alarm went off before and scared the bejesus out of my husband. Oops! Sorry honey ;)

 I also got these beautiful art deco cups and saucers. I'm not sure if they're uranium glass or depression glass? How do you tell the difference? Either way, I love them:)

How awesome is this old Astor "Quality Five" radio?  It too was pretty dirty and sitting in the corner of the kitchen. I wasn't sure if the casing would be stained or if would clean up ok, but it's come up as good as new! It still works but unfortunately the tuner is broken so it doesn't actually play anything :(  I wonder if I could get it fixed?

 This beautiful hand mirror belonged to my great grandmother. It was still sitting on her dressing table in her room which looked like it had remained virtually untouched since she died in 1987.  I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the mirror is made from an unusual peach coloured glass. Apparently great-nanna didn't like looking in it because the colour made her feel ill!

 I have more things to show from that day, but I might leave it for another post.


I will, however, show you some things I've picked up over the past couple of months:

THIS>  omg, I have always wanted an Art Deco mirror shaped exactly like this! I picked it up, along with another scalloped rectangular mirror for $15 each!!

I picked this little beauty up from a garage sale last weekend. Art Deco pink depression glass dish and lidded trinket bowl. It didn't have a price on it, and I was expecting the worst when the lady said, "Well, this one's quite old, so..." until she finished with, "...so it's $5."  Ha!

 And last but not least this absolutely adorable 1930's teapot and sugar bowl set. If it had cheeks I would bloody pinch them!  I got these from a Geelong-based store called "Ittso Retro" you can check out their fb page here :)

 Lastly, I finally got my blog to co-operate  -my sidebar kept appearing down the bottom instead of where it was supposed to be, but it's all fixed now! For some reason though, old posts of mine are springing up as new posts...so..erm..whatever. That'll do for now :D

Look what I've got!

This beautiful book arrived from my lovely in-laws in the UK the other day. Absolutely gorgeous!!   On another note, does anyone know how I can get my info bar that's supposed to be here --> back there, and not at the very bottom of my blog? It's doing my head in! :(

H-h-hello? Anybody out there?

I'm dipping my toe back in the blogging pool...it's been awhile! Like, a couple of years!

Whew!

An awful lot has happened in that time, so let's cut a long story short: separated, moved house, divorced, fell in love, moved house again, remarried...and here I am today, renewed and the happiest I have ever been. I've grown a lot and learned a lot, and am grateful for (mostly) all of it :D

I don't know how often I'll be back blogging, so I'm making no promises. I do plan on blogging about things that are interesting to me, which include but are not limited to: vintage fashion (of course), perhaps some outfit posts, my family and my little shop, Candi's Closet.

This post is short and sweet, but I'll leave you with a couple of photos of our wedding day. It was only a month ago! We eloped, at home, and had an Art Deco theme. My dress was a replica of the green dress Keira Knightley wears in Atonement:) You may have noticed, if you used to follow my blog-the kiddies have grown up SO much!

For now,

xxx