I would love to be able to poke fun of this 1911 beauty article on how to get perfect shoulders, but I just read up on the current trend of leg contouring. Will shoulder contouring be next?
Few Women Have Perfect Shoulders, Says Beauty Expert
Always Some Defect That Can Be Remedied
Not one woman in 20, I regret to say, is so fortunate as to own shoulders that require no beautifying. There is always some defect that needs to be remedied.
There are two types of shoulders, either of them bewitchingly pretty. One is the shoulder of the woman past 25 which, it is universally conceded, should be full and white, with a satiny skin.
The second type is called the girlish shoulder, because it is seldom seen after the twenty-fifth year is reached. It is sparingly covered with flesh, yet not a bone shows. In shape and color this shoulder is perfect.
Every woman should have satin smooth shoulders, as rough-skinned shoulders are abnormal. Bear well in mind that your shoulders will not be smooth as the petals of a rose unless they are given a thorough scrubbing night and morning with a complexion brush and quantities of hot, lathery water.
After you know that the skin is clean as clean can be, spray the shoulders well with scented, very cold water. This will prove stimulating to the skin and help to make it soft and smooth.
This beautifying treatment cannot be considered complete until a rough towel is see-sawed across the back and chest until every bit of moisture has been absorbed.
Yellow shoulders are abnormal, so we must contrive some way of banishing the saffron tints. What say you to this simple bleach? It is harmless, easily applied to the skin and, best of all, does sovereign work.
Pour three heaping tablespoonfuls of baking soda into a basin of hot water and lave [wash] your shoulders in this odd wash, rubbing it well into the pores of the skin.
After the bath is completed, rub in a liberal quantity of whitening cream.
Whitening Shoulder Cream
Cucumber juice 2 ounces
White wax 1 ounce
Spermaceti 1 ounce
Almond oil 4 ounces
Results will come soon if you repeat treatment every night for a week or two.
Employ massage if your shoulders are noticeably bony. Straightway buy a big cake of cocoa butter and after warming it, rub it gently over the shoulders until they are well coated with the nourishing oil.
The next step is to massage this emollient into the flesh, which is done by rubbing the kin very delicately with a rotary movement of the fingertips. This plumping massage should be given once every 24 hours, preferably at bedtime, and should extend over 20 minutes. I cannot promise rapid results, as flesh forms very slowly on the shoulders.
Very plump shoulders are always more of a beauty defect than shoulders that are frail to a fault. I should strongly advise those troubled in this way to declare war upon the fatty cells. Make it your aim to break them down.
How is this accomplished? [Wait for it…….] Simply by kneading the flesh heavily with the fingertips. Some authorities recommend massaging with a stringent wash, claiming that it helps to reduce the flesh, and I am printing formula for an astringent that will just fill your needs: [I do not recommend using any of the recipes in this article for health and safety reasons.]
Alum 60 grains
Thick almond milk 1-1/2 ounces
Rose water 6 ounces
Mix ingredients well and shake before applying to the skin.
Nothing could be uglier to my mind than the shoulder that is dotted with pimples. While it is not an easy matter to rid oneself of these blotches, yet can hope eventually to possess a smooth skin if you eat wisely and not too well.
If you wish to hasten matters, and I suppose you do, you might treat the obnoxious pimples externally, giving them a sulphur steam bath every third day. This treatment is generally efficacious, causing face as well as shoulder pimples to take a speedy departure.
Source: (1911, December 26). Few Women Have Perfect Shoulders. The Day Book, p. 16-17.
