Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2008

1804 Mix 8 ozs. of elder-flower water, 4 ozs. of distilled vinegar, 2 ozs. of good rum, 4 drs. of glycerine, 4 drs. of tincture of bark well together, and apply the lotion every night;

Note.—Loss of hair is often occasioned by a weak state of health, and tonics taken in those cases will do more towards restoring the hair than any washes.

Pour 1 pint of boiling water over 1 pennyworth of borax and a pint of olive-oil; let it cool; then put the mixture into a bottle. Shake before using, and apply with a flannel. Camphor and borax, dissolved in boiling water and left to cool, makes a very good wash for the hair; as also does rosemary-water mixed with a little borax. After using any of these washes, when the hair becomes thoroughly dry, a little pomatum or oil should be rubbed in, to make it smooth and glossy.

Dissolve a piece of soda in some hot water, allowing a piece the size of a walnut to a quart of water. Put the water into a basin, and after combing out the hair from the brushes, dip them, bristles downward, into the water and out again, keeping the backs and handles as free from the water as possible. Repeat this until the bristles look clean; then rinse the brushes in a little cold water; shake them well, and wipe the handles and backs with a towel, but not the bristles, and set the brushes to dry in the sun, or near the fire; but take care not to put them too close to it. Wiping the bristles of a brush makes them soft, as does also the use of soap.

If it can be avoided, never wash combs, as the water often makes the teeth split, and the tortoiseshell or horn of which they are made, rough. Small brushes, manufactured purposely for cleaning combs, may be purchased at a trifling cost; with this the comb should be well brushed, and afterwards wiped with a cloth or towel.

Rub well with celery or parsley.

Paraffin is the most efficacious remedy for this.

Put a pinch of powdered alum into a basin and break into it the white of an egg. Mix this up and spread over the hands just before retiring. The hands should have been previously washed in hot water and thoroughly dried. A little borax in the water used for washing the hands is an excellent thing, as also is dry oatmeal rubbed on after washing.