Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/239

 the honey. Take the pipkin off the fire, and stir constantly until it is cool, adding the scent.

Another most excellent preparation for the same purpose, which contains a portion of that valuable cosmetic, gum benzoin, is what is known in pharmacy as the benzoinated oxide of zinc ointment, with the addition of two drachms of strong spirits of camphor to the ounce. It should be applied in the same manner as the last. One or the other of these will often by a single application relieve the disagreeable sensation, and after a few nights disperse the disfiguring redness. When neither is at hand, the face should be smeared with cold cream—not the artificial but the natural article—on retiring to bed. It often answers very well.

Some persons burn red much easier than others, and it is popularly regarded and with justice, as a sign of good health. The same difference in individuals is observable in tan. This is the brown discoloration rapidly produced on some skins by the solar rays. Here as elsewhere, the dark hue is owing to a minute layer of carbon which is deposited on the under surface of the epidermis. There are many recipes given for removing tan. Washing the hands frequently in buttermilk is a domestic suggestion, which proves satisfactory after a day or two. Or vinegar in which fresh-grated horse-radish has been soaked, may be