Glycerin for the Hands.—Glycerin may be used pure or scented with any essential oil. Rub on the hands at night with the same motion as when washing them, either before or after the hands have been chapped, or apply immediately after they have been chilled by exposure. Soft cham ois-skin gloves worn at night will prevent this and other preparations from making grease spots on bed linen.
To soften and whiten the hands, use a mixture of two thirds glycerin and one third rose water.
Or, to prepare glycerin paste for toilet use, put 1 ounce of any good transparent toilet soap in 4 ounces of soft water or rose water, and add 5 ounces of glycerin. Dissolve all with gentle heat, stir in N ounces of ad ditional glycerin, pour into a glass fruit jar, and when nearly cold per fume with a few drops of any essen tial oil.
Or simmer with gentle heat in a double boiler 1 ounce of glycerin, 2 ounces of olive oil, and 2 drams of spermaceti. Apply to the hands night and morning.
mix 3 ounces of glycerin, 1 yolk of egg, and 30 grains of carbolic acid, and beat up to an emulsion with an egg beater. Rub into the skin several times daily.
Or simmer 1 dram of quince seed in 4 pint of boiling water for 10 or 15 minutes; strain out the quince mucilage through a piece of cheese cloth, and to it add 1 ounce of glyc erin, 1 ounce of borax, and 6 ounces of soft water or rose water. Apply to the hands two or three times a day.
Bran for the Hands.—Boil a small quantity of bran in a linen bag. Put both the juice and the boiled bran in the washbowl, add warm or hot wa ter, and wash the hands with or with out soap. This is perhaps the best and simplest treatment for the red ness, dryness, and roughness caused by housework and exposure. After washing, the hands may be rubbed with a few drops of honey or a lo tion composed of pound of honey, pound of sal soda, and 1 pint of water. Mix well and heat without boiling.
Linseed Oil for the Hands.—This is good for chapped hands, and also for burns and sprains. It has the advantage of being cheap and almost always available.
Honey for the Hands.—This may be used when the skin is dry, hard, and rough. Moisten the hands and rub the honey in well. After a while wash them thoroughly in bran water or some other liquid preparation, and \ they will be perfectly clean and soft.
Camphor for Chapped Hands.— Camphor cakes or balls, to prevent chapped hands, may be made as fol lows; Melt 3 drams of spermaceti and 4 drams of white wax. Add 1 ounce of almond oil. Moisten 3 drams of camphor with spirits of wine,. and mix up all together. Run this into molds or make up into balls in the same manner as butter balls are made.
Or, for an ointment, melt together gum camphor, 3 drams; beeswax, 3 drams; olive oil, 2 ounces. Apply at night, and wear chamois - skin gloves.
Other Remedies for Chapped Hands.—Mix white wax, 4 drams; olive oil, 2 drams; spermaceti, 18 grains.
Or unsalted butter, pound; rose * water, 1 wineglassful; yolks of eggs, 2; honey, 1 tablespoonful. Mix and stir in finely ground oatmeal to make a paste of the consistency of butter. Apply at night and wear gloves.
Or use almond paste instead of oatmeal in the last.
Or mix equal parts of white mut ton tallow, unsalted butter, beeswax, and stoned raisins. Simmer until the ( raisins are dried up but not burned. Strain into molds to cool. This prep , aration smarts chapped hands, but quickly heals them.
Camphor Ice. — Oil of sweet al monds, 1 ounce; spermaceti, 2 ounces; white wax, 1 ounce; cam phor, ounce. Melt these ingredi ents in a double boiler, and pour in molds of proper size and form.
Powder for the Hands.—Common starch reduced to powder by grind ing with a knife or in a pestle is a good substitute for talcum powder for the hands. This is always at hand. When taking the hands out of suds or dishwater, or after washing them when they have been chilled by exposure, rinse them thoroughly, wipe them, and apply the starch while they are still damp, covering the whole surface. This is cheap, convenient, and easy to try.