Part 43

«Detergent for Skin Stains.»—Moritz Weiss has introduced a detergent paste which will remove stains from the skin without attacking it, is non-poisonous, and can be used without hot water. Moisten the hands with a little cold water, apply a small quantity of the paste to the stained skin, rub the hands together for a few minutes, and rinse with cold water. The preparation is a mixture of soft soap and hard tallow, melted together over the fire and incorporated with a little emery powder, flint, glass, sand, quartz, pumice stone, etc., with a little essential oil to mask the smell of the soap. The mixture sets to a mass like putty, but does not dry hard. The approximate proportions of the ingredients are: Soft soap, 30 per cent; tallow, 15 per cent; emery powder, 55 per cent, and a few drops of essential oil.

If an extra detergent quality is desired, 4 ounces of sodium carbonate may be added, and the quantity of soap may be reduced. Paste thus made will attack grease, etc., more readily, but it is harder on the skin.

«Removing Inground Dirt.»—

Egg albumen 8 parts Boric acid 1 part Glycerine 32 parts Perfume to suit. Distilled water to make 50 parts

Dissolve the boric acid in a sufficient quantity of water; mix the albumen and glycerine and pass through a silk strainer. Finally, mix the two fluids and add the residue of water.

Every time the hands are washed, dry on a towel, and then moisten them lightly but thoroughly with the liquid, and dry on a soft towel without rubbing. At night, on retiring, apply the mixture and wipe slightly or just enough to take up superfluous liquid; or, better still, sleep in a pair of cotton gloves.

«TOILET CREAMS:»

«Almond Cold Creams.»—A liquid almond cream may be made by the appended formula. It has been known as milk of almond:

I.—Sweet almonds 5 ounces White castile soap 2 drachms White wax 2 drachms Spermaceti 2 drachms Oil of bitter almonds 10 minims Oil of bergamot 20 minims Alcohol 6 fluidounces Water, a sufficient quantity.

Beat the almonds in a smooth mortar until as much divided as their nature will admit; then gradually add water in very small quantities, continuing the beating until a smooth paste is obtained; add to this, gradually, one pint of water, stirring well all the time. Strain the resulting emulsion without pressure through a cotton cloth previously well washed to remove all foreign matter. If new, the cloth will contain starch, etc., which must be removed. Add, through the strainer, enough water to bring the measure of the strained liquid to 1 pint. While this operation is going on let the soap be shaved into thin ribbons, and melted, with enough water to cover it, over a very gentle fire or on a water bath. When fluid add the wax and spermaceti in large pieces, so as to allow them to melt slowly, and thereby better effect union with the soap. Stir occasionally. When all is melted place the soapy mixture in a mortar, run into it slowly the emulsion, blending the two all the while with the pestle. Care must be taken not to add the emulsion faster than it can be incorporated with the soap. Lastly add the alcohol in which the perfumes have been previously dissolved, in the same manner, using great care.

This preparation is troublesome to make and rather expensive, and it is perhaps no better for the purpose than glycerine. The mistake is often made of applying the latter too freely, its “stickiness” being unpleasant, and it is {236} best to dilute it largely with water. Such a lotion may be made by mixing

Glycerine 1 part Rose water 9 parts

Plain water may, of course, be used as the diluent, but a slightly perfumed preparation is generally considered more desirable. The perfume may easily be obtained by dissolving a very small proportion of handkerchief “extract” or some essential oil in the glycerine, and then mixing with plain water.

II.—White wax 1⁠/⁠4 ounce Spermaceti 2 1⁠/⁠2 ounces Oil of sweet almonds 2 1⁠/⁠2 ounces

Melt, remove from the fire, and add

Rose water 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces

Beat until creamy: not until cold. When the cream begins to thicken add a few drops of oil of rose. Only the finest almond oil should be used. Be careful in weighing the wax and spermaceti. These precautions will insure a good product.

III.—White wax 4 ounces Spermaceti 3 ounces Sweet almond oil 6 fluidounces Glycerine 4 fluidounces Oil of rose geranium 1 fluidrachm Tincture of benzoin 4 fluidrachms

Melt the wax and spermaceti, add the oil of sweet almonds, then beat in the glycerine, tincture of benzoin, and oil of rose geranium. When all are incorporated to a smooth, creamy mass, pour into molds.

IV.—Sweet almonds, blanched 5 ounces Castile soap, white 120 grains White wax 120 grains Spermaceti 120 grains Oil of bitter almonds 10 drops Oil of bergamot 20 drops Alcohol 6 fluidounces Water, sufficient.

Make an emulsion of the almonds with water so as to obtain 16 fluidounces of product, straining through cotton which has previously been washed to remove starch. Dissolve the soap with the aid of heat in the necessary amount of water to form a liquid, add the wax and spermaceti, continue the heat until the latter is melted, transfer to a mortar, and incorporate the almond emulsion slowly with constant stirring until all has been added and a smooth cream has been formed. Finally, add the two volatile oils.

V.—Melt, at moderate heat,

By weight. White wax 100 parts Spermaceti 1,000 parts

Then stir in

By weight. Almond oil 500 parts Rose water 260 parts

And scent with

By weight. Bergamot oil 10 parts Geranium oil 5 parts Lemon oil 4 parts

By weight. VI.—Castor oil 500 parts White wax 100 parts Almond oil 150 parts

Melt at moderate heat and scent with

By weight. Geranium oil 6 parts Lemon oil 5 parts Bergamot oil 10 parts

By weight. VII.—Almond oil 400 parts Lanoline 200 parts White wax 60 parts Spermaceti 60 parts Rose water 300 parts

By weight. VIII.—White wax 6 parts Tallow, freshly tried out 4 parts Spermaceti 2 parts Oil of sweet almonds 6 parts

Melt together and while still hot add, with constant stirring, 1 part of sodium carbonate dissolved in 79 parts of hot water. Stir until cold. Perfume to the taste.

IX.—Ointment of rose water 1 ounce Oil of sweet almonds. 1 fluidounce Glycerine 1 fluidounce Boric acid 100 grains Solution of soda 2 1⁠/⁠4 fluidounces Mucilage of quince seed. 4 fluidounces Water enough to make 40 fluidounces Oil of rose, oil of bitter almonds, of each sufficient to perfume.

Heat the ointment, oil, and solution of soda together, stirring constantly until an emulsion or saponaceous mixture is {237} formed. Then warm together the glycerine, acid, and mucilage and about 30 fluidounces of water; mix with the emulsion, stir until cold, and add the remainder of the water. Lastly, add the volatile oils.

The rose-water ointment used should be the “cold cream” of the United States Pharmacopœia.

X.—Spermaceti 2 ounces White wax 2 ounces Sweet almond oil 14 fluidounces Water, distilled 7 fluidounces Borax, powder 60 grains Coumarin 1⁠/⁠2 grain Oil of bergamot 24 drops Oil of rose 6 drops Oil of bitter almonds 8 drops Tincture of ambergris 5 drops

Melt the spermaceti and wax, add the sweet almond oil, incorporate the water in which the borax has previously been dissolved, and finally add the oils of bergamot, rose, and bitter almond.

XI.—Honey 2 av. ounces Castile soap, white powder 1 av. ounce Oil sweet almonds 26 fluidounces Oil bitter almonds 1 fluidrachm Oil bergamot 1⁠/⁠2 fluidrachm Oil cloves 15 drops Peru balsam 1 fluidrachm Liquor potassa. Solution carmine, of each sufficient.

Mix the honey with the soap in a mortar, and add enough liquor potassa (about 1 fluidrachm) to produce a nice cream. Mix the volatile oils and balsam with the sweet almond oil, mix this with the cream, and continue the trituration until thoroughly mixed. Finally add, if desired, enough carmine solution to impart a rose tint.

XII.—White wax 800 parts Spermaceti 800 parts Sweet almond oil 5,600 parts Distilled water 2,800 parts Borax 50 parts Bergamot oil 20 parts Attar of rose 5 parts Coumarin 0.1 part

Add for each pound of the cream 5 drops of etheric oil of bitter almonds, and 3 drops tincture of ambra. Proceed as in making cold cream.

The following also makes a fine cream:

XIII.—Spermaceti 3 parts White wax 2 parts Oil of almonds, fresh 12 parts Rose water, double 1 part Glycerine, pure 1 part

Melt on a water bath the spermaceti and wax, add the oil (which should be fresh), and pour the whole into a slightly warmed mortar, under constant and lively stirring, to prevent granulation. Continue the trituration until the mass has a white, creamy appearance, and is about the consistence of butter at ordinary temperature. Add, little by little, under constant stirring, the orange-flower water and glycerine mixed, and finally the perfume as before. Continue the stirring for 15 or 20 minutes, then immediately put into containers.

«Chappine Cream.»—

Quince seed 2 drachms Glycerine 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces Water 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces Lead acetate 10 grains Flavoring, sufficient.

Macerate the quince seed in water, strain, add the glycerine and lead acetate, previously dissolved in sufficient water; flavor with jockey club or orange essence.

«Cucumber Creams.»—

I.—White wax 3 ounces Spermaceti 3 ounces Benzoinated lard 8 ounces Cucumbers 3 ounces

Melt together the wax, spermaceti, and lard, and infuse in the liquid the cucumbers previously grated. Allow to cool, stirring well; let stand a day, remelt, strain and again stir the “cream” until cold.

II.—Benzoinated lard 5 ounces Suet 3 ounces Cucumber juice 10 ounces Proceed as in making cold cream.

«Glycerine Creams.»—

I.—Oil of sweet almonds 100 parts White wax 13 parts Glycerine, pure 25 parts Add a sufficient quantity of any suitable perfume.

Melt, on the water bath, the oil, wax, and glycerine together, remove and as the mass cools down add the perfume in sufficient quantity to make a creamy mass. {238}

II.—Quince seed 1 ounce Boric acid 16 grains Starch 1 ounce Glycerine 16 ounces Carbolic acid 30 minims Alcohol 12 ounces Oil of lavender 30 minims Oil of rose 10 drops Extract of white rose 1 ounce Water enough to make 64 ounces

Dissolve the boric acid in a quart of water and in this solution macerate the quince seed for 3 hours; then strain. Heat together the starch and the glycerine until the starch granules are broken, and mix with this the carbolic acid. Dissolve the oils and the extract of rose in the alcohol, and add to the quince-seed mucilage; then mix all together, strain, and add water enough to make the product weigh 64 ounces.

III.—Glycerine 1 ounce Borax 2 drachms Boracic acid 1 drachm Oil rose geranium 30 drops Oil bitter almond 15 drops Milk 1 gallon

Heat the milk until it curdles and allow it to stand 12 hours. Strain it through cheese cloth and allow it to stand again for 12 hours. Mix in the salts and glycerine and triturate in a mortar, finally adding the odors and coloring if wanted. The curdled milk must be entirely free from water to avoid separation. If the milk will not curdle fast enough the addition of 1 ounce of water ammonia to a gallon will hasten it. Take a gallon of milk, add 1 ounce ammonia water, heat (not boil), allow to stand 24 hours, and no trouble will be found in forming a good base for the cream.

IV.—This is offered as a substitute for cucumber cream for toilet uses. Melt 15 parts, by weight, of gelatin in hot water containing 15 parts, by weight, of boracic acid as well as 150 parts, by weight, of glycerine; the total amount of water used should not exceed 300 parts, by weight. It may be perfumed or not.

«Lanolin Creams.»—

I.—Anhydrous lanolin 650 parts Peach-kernel oil 200 parts Water 150 parts

Perfume with about 15 drops of ionone or 20 drops of synthetic ylang-ylang.

II.—Lanolin 40 parts Olive oil 15 parts Paraffine ointment 10 parts Aqua naphæ 10 parts Distilled water 15 parts Glycerine 5 parts Boric acid 4 parts Borax 4 parts Geranium oil, sufficient. Extract, triple, of ylang-ylang, quantity sufficient.

III.—Anhydrous lanolin 650 drachms Almond oil 200 drachms Water 150 drachms Oil of ylang-ylang 5 drops

Preparations which have been introduced years ago for the care of the skin and complexion are the glycerine gelées, which have the advantage over lanolin that they go further, but present the drawback of not being so quickly absorbed by the skin. These products are filled either into glasses or into tubes. The latter way is preferable and is more and more adopted, owing to the convenience of handling.

A good recipe for such a gelée is the following:

Moisten white tragacanth powder, 50 parts, with glycerine, 200 parts, and spirit of wine, 100 parts, and shake with a suitable amount of perfume; then quickly mix and shake with warm distilled water, 650 parts.

A transparent slime will form immediately which can be drawn off at once.

«Mucilage Creams.»—

I.—Starch 30 parts Carrageen mucilage 480 parts Boric acid 15 parts Glycerine 240 parts Cologne water 240 parts

Boil the starch in the carrageen mucilage, add the boric acid and the glycerine. Let cool, and add the cologne water.

II.—Linseed mucilage 240 parts Boric acid 2 parts Salicylic acid 1.3 parts Glycerine 60 parts Cologne water 120 parts Rose water 120 parts

Instead of the cologne water any extracts may be used. Lilac and ylang-ylang are recommended.

«Witch-Hazel Creams.»—

I.—Quince seed 90 grains Boric acid 8 grains Glycerine 4 fluidounces Alcohol 6 fluidounces Carbolic acid 6 drachms Cologne water 4 fluidounces Oil lavender flowers 40 drops {239} Glycerite starch 4 av. ounces Distilled witch-hazel extract enough to make 32 fluidounces.

Dissolve the boric acid in 16 ounces of the witch-hazel extract, macerate the quince seed in the solution for 3 hours, strain, add the glycerine, carbolic acid, and glycerite, and mix well. Mix the alcohol, cologne water, lavender oil, and mucilages, incorporate with the previous mixture, and add enough witch-hazel extract to bring to the measure of 32 fluidounces.

II.—Quince seed 4 ounces Hot water 16 ounces Glycerine 32 ounces Witch-hazel water 128 ounces Boric acid 6 ounces Rose extract 2 ounces Violet extract 1 ounce

Macerate the quince seed in the hot water; add the glycerine and witch-hazel, in which the boric acid has been previously dissolved; let the mixture stand for 2 days, stirring occasionally; strain and add the perfume.

«Skin Cream for Collapsible Tubes.»—

I.—White vaseline 6 ounces White wax 1 ounce Spermaceti 5 drachms Subchloride bismuth 6 drachms Attar of rose 6 minims Oil of bitter almonds 1 minim Rectified spirit 1⁠/⁠2 ounce

Melt the vaseline, wax, and spermaceti together, and while cooling incorporate the subchloride of bismuth (in warm mortar). Dissolve the oils in the alcohol, and add to the fatty mixture, stirring all until uniform and cold. In cold weather the quantities of wax and spermaceti may be reduced.

II.—Lanolin 1 ounce Almond oil 1 ounce Oleate of zinc (powder) 3 drachms Extract of white rose 1 1⁠/⁠2 drachms Glycerine 2 drachms Rose water 2 drachms

«Face Cream Without Grease.»—

Quince seed 10 parts Boiling water 1,000 parts Borax 5 parts Boric acid 5 parts Glycerine 100 parts Alcohol, 94 per cent 125 parts Attar of rose, quantity sufficient to perfume.

Macerate the quince seed in half of the boiling water, with frequent agitations, for 2 hours and 30 minutes, then strain off. In the residue of the boiling water dissolve the borax and boric acid, add the glycerine and the perfume, the latter dissolved in the alcohol. Now add, little by little, the colate of quince seed, under constant agitation, which should be kept up for 5 minutes after the last portion of the colate is added.

«TOILET MILKS:»

«Cucumber Milk.»—

Simple cerate 2 pounds Powdered borax 11 1⁠/⁠2 ounces Powdered castile soap 10 ounces Glycerine 26 ounces Alcohol 24 ounces Cucumber juice 32 ounces Water to 5 gallons Ionone 1 drachm Jasmine 1⁠/⁠2 drachm Neroli 1⁠/⁠2 drachm Rhodinol 15 minims

To the melted cerate in a hot water bath add the soap and stir well, keeping up the heat until perfectly mixed. Add 8 ounces of borax to 1 gallon of boiling water, and pour gradually into the hot melted soap and cerate; add the remainder of the borax and hot water, then the heated juice and glycerine, and lastly the alcohol. Shake well while cooling, set aside for 48 hours, and siphon off any water that may separate. Shake well, and repeat after standing again if necessary; then perfume.

«Cucumber Juice.»—It is well to make a large quantity, as it keeps indefinitely. Washed unpeeled cucumbers are grated and pressed; the juice is heated, skimmed and boiled for 5 minutes, then cooled and filtered. Add 1 part of alcohol to 2 parts of juice, let stand for 12 hours or more, and filter until clear.

«Glycerine Milk.»—

Glycerine 1,150 parts Starch, powdered 160 parts Distilled water 400 parts Tincture of benzoin 20 parts

Rub up 80 parts of the starch with the glycerine, then put the mixture on the steam bath and heat, under continuous stirring, until it forms a jellylike mass. Remove from the bath and stir in the remainder of the starch. Finally, add the water and tincture and stir till homogeneous.

«Lanolin Toilet Milk.»—

White castile soap, powdered 22 grains Lanolin 1 ounce Tincture benzoin 12 drachms Water, enough.

{240}

Dissolve the soap in 2 fluidounces of warm water, also mix the lanolin with 2 fluidounces of warm water; then incorporate the two with each other, finally adding the tincture. The latter may be replaced by 90 grains of powdered borax.

«Jasmine Milk.»—To 25 parts of water add gradually, with constant stirring, 1 part of zinc white, 2 quarts of grain spirit, and 0.15 to 0.25 part of glycerine; finally stir in 0.07 to 0.10 part of jasmine essence. Filter the mixture and fill into glass bottles. For use as a cosmetic, rub on the raspberry paste on retiring at night, and in the morning use the jasmine milk to remove the paste from the skin. The two work together in their effect.

«SUNBURN AND FRECKLE REMEDIES.»

I.—Apply over the affected skin a solution of corrosive sublimate, 1 in 500, or, if the patient can stand it, 1 in 300, morning and evening, and for the night apply emplastrum hydrargyri compositum to the spots. In the morning remove the plaster and all remnants of it by rubbing fresh butter or cold cream over the spots.

For redness of the skin apply each other day zinc oxide ointment or ointment of bismuth subnitrate.

II.—Besnier recommends removal of the mercurial ointment with green soap, and the use, at night, of an ointment composed of vaseline and Vigo’s plaster (emplastrum hydrargyri compositum), in equal parts. In the morning wash off with soap and warm water, and apply the following:

Vaseline, white 20 parts Bismuth carbonate 5 parts Kaolin 5 parts

Mix, and make an ointment.

III.—Leloir has found the following of service. Clean the affected part with green soap or with alcohol, and then apply several coats of the following:

Acid chrysophanic 15 parts Chloroform 100 parts

Mix. Apply with a camel’s-hair pencil.

When the application dries thoroughly, go over it with a layer of traumaticine. This application will loosen itself in several days, when the process should be repeated.

IV.—When the skin is only slightly discolored use a pomade of salicylic acid, or apply the following:

Acid chrysophanic, from 1 to 4 parts Acid salicylic 1 to 2 parts Collodion 40 parts

V.—When there is need for a more complicated treatment, the following is used:

(_a_) Corrosive sublimate 1 part Orange-flower water 7,500 parts Acid, hydrochloric, dilute 500 parts

(_b_) Bitter almonds 4,500 parts Glycerine 2,500 parts Orange-flower water 25,000 parts

Rub up to an emulsion in a porcelain capsule. Filter and add, drop by drop, and under constant stirring, 5 grams of tincture of benzoin. Finally mix the two solutions, adding the second to the first.

This preparation is applied with a sponge, on retiring, to the affected places, and allowed to dry on.

VI.—According to Brocq the following should be penciled over the affected spots:

Fresh pure milk 50 parts Glycerine 30 parts Acid, hydrochloric, concentrated 5 parts Ammonium chlorate 3 parts

VII.—Other external remedies that may be used are lactic acid diluted with 3 volumes of water, applied with a glass rod; dilute nitric acid, and, finally, peroxide of hydrogen, which last is a very powerful agent. Should it cause too much inflammation, the latter may be assuaged by using an ointment of zinc oxide or bismuth subnitrate—or one may use the following:

Kaolin 4 parts Vaseline 10 parts Glycerine 4 parts Magnesium carbonate 2 parts Zinc oxide 2 parts

«Freckle Remedies.»—

I.—Poppy oil 1 part Lead acetate 2 parts Tincture benzoin 1 part Tincture quillaia 5 parts Spirit nitrous ether 1 part Rose water 95 parts

Saponify the oil with the lead acetate; add the rose water, and follow with the tinctures.