Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/285

 *a-days we do not hear of any nuns who continue the usage.

For our part, we disagree with the reverend fathers (if they entertained the notion we have ascribed to them), the judicious use of innocuous powders being not in the least hurtful to the hair, and adding unquestionably, in some instances, to its beauty.

The powder usually employed is simply potato starch, ground very fine, passed through a gauze sieve, and scented. It is not, however, the most elegant. To obtain this, the fashionable world levies a contribution upon the icy North, in order to scatter over the heads of its favorites the simulated snows of age. The moss which the reindeer feeds on is dug from under the drifts, assorted and pulverized. It yields a fragrant, grayish-white powder, which is mingled with an equal part of finest starch, and sold under the name of "Cyprus powder." This is prized beyond any other in the boudoirs of Europe.

Whenever the hair is powdered, the following morning it should be carefully washed, and the scalp cleansed with soap and water. Attention should be given that none of the powder remains in or behind the ears, or on the skin, as the secretions of the body soon change it into an irritating mass. In placing it on the hair, if the latter is dry, a very small quantity of glycerine should be used to moisten it, and no more powder be added than will cling to the hairs, as it is exceedingly