Beauty, What It Is, and How to Retain It

by A Lady

"At night the teeth should be cleaned with a very soft brush of badger's hair."
"Hair should be brushed for twenty minutes night and morning."
"Paint is used, we believe, by some absurd women, on the lips—we need scarcely say to their ultimate injury and and always at the user's peril."

These are a just a selection of the many wisdoms given in the essential guide for women, Beauty, What It Is and How to Retain It. First published in 1873, the book rejects any notion that beauty of the physical body should be treated with indifference for fear of moral corruption, and sets out to celebrate beauty and to teach women how to achieve and retain it. All aspects of body shape, the face, complexion, health, and dress are covered in this delightful book. Much of the advice still has relevance to the modern reader, such as the comment that "perfect cleanliness is essential to the preservation of the teeth," whilst other parts serve as a reminder of the age in which the book was written: "The water used for washing the skin should be rain-water, but if London rain-water, it must be filtered to clear it from smuts." Recipes for hair tonics and face creams using such ingredients as beef marrow, lard, and borax also highlight how this was still the era of the homemade beauty product.

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1873

About the author

See also Anonymous.

Reviews

[Livia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like in a weird way, this book is kind of progressive for something written in 1873. Of course, by today's standards it would be considered in many ways problematic, however I was really surprised that some of the advices were relevant even for today. For example, it's strongly against starving for losing weight, it gives proper exercise techniques and it even hopes that in the future no one will ever have to wear a corset again. Also, I did enjoy the poems that were written to exemplify the author's statements. So before reading this, please keep in mind that it's a beauty book from the 19th century

[Liselotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I was surprised. The Victorian era is known for being very anti makeup and the likes, thanks to Queen Victoria (she thought makeup was for prostitutes and so no “respectable” lady should wear it). This book, however, was very positive. It gave some really solid advice that you could still use today (I mean, the rain water tip is a legit one guys, just don’t try this at home unless you live out in the country or like Australia), and it wasn’t as racist as I thought it would be, it gave some advice for darker skin ladies as well. The writing style was a bit boring, but I did really enjoy this little book.

Now, if you aren’t interested in beauty or the Victorian era, than this wouldn’t really be a book for you, but then again, you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t even slightly interested! It isn’t a perfect book, but it is definitely an interesting book and I would recommend this!

[Oana-Maria Uliu · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the beginning I was rather amused and also slightly annoyed by certain misconceptions that were the result of the limited knowledge of the time, but then I became amazed at the details the author actually got right. My respect to this anonymous Lady.

[Ipek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and easy to read, but one should keep in mind that this is truly an old-fashioned book which is a product of its own time. Very much focused on the ideal type of "English Rose", claiming that no other nation has achieved the ideal beauty as much as the English did. (I know...) The beauty advices are often common sense. They come with some old recipes to attend certain problems, most I wouldn't advice recreating. It was interesting to see the "rules" of beauty in the Victorian era. Oddly enough, some seem to remain the same.