White wax, spermaceti, castile and other soaps as bases are free from these objections, and recipes contain ing them are to be preferred when such ingredients can conveniently be obtained. In compounding recipes having these solid unguents as bases they are first melted slowly with gen tle heat, and while in melted con dition the other ingredients are They may also be " cut " or dissolved in alcohol and spirits. k Liquid Bases..–Certain toilet prepa rations, as emulsions, lotions, washes, and the like, omit the above solids or employ them only in small quanti ties, and in their place use certain oils and other liquids as bases. The principal liquid bases are almond oil, olive oil, glycerin, honey, and the like. These have a double value: they tend to soothe and also to feed the skin. They are, therefore, among the most deservedly popular of all ingre dients.
Other Bases.—Gum arable, quince seed, and white paste are also em ployed as bases when a certain de gree of adhesiveness is desired, as in the preparation of bandoline and pomades for the hair and beard. The quince seeds are prepared by simmering them gently in rose water until they form a stiff jell. This must then be strained through a fine sieve to remove the hulls. Gum arabic may be dissolved in warm water.
Bases of Powders.—Wheat starch is the standard base for homemade toilet powders, but other materials often employed are fuller's earth, French chalk, and pearl white. Al mond meal, like almond oil, has the double property of serving as a base and also as a remedial agent.
Remedial Agents.—This term is employed to describe certain ingre dients used in toilet preparations which have specific curative proper ties. Some of the bases already men tioned, notably almonds, fall also un der this heading. Among others of especial value may be noted sub stances which soothe and feed the skin, as the yolk of egg, honey, and cocoa butter; substances which are mildly astringent, as lemon juice, alum, spirits, and benzoin; and other specifics, as glycerin, camphor, and sulphur, whose action varies with dif ferent persons. These agents are in most cases of a harmless character except when otherwise stated.
Mineral Agents.—The use of min eral drugs in toilet preparations can not be too earnestly deprecated. In many cases they are immediately harmful, and defeat the very object for which they are intended, as in the case of bismuth, which frequently blackens the skin. All compounds and preparations containing lead in any form are positively dangerous and sometimes give rise to blood poi son. These mineral compounds are
often recommended as heroic reme dies, to be tried when other measures have failed; as, for example, for the removal of obstinate freckles, moles, pimples, and similar disfigurements. They are very common in hair dyes and pomades, and are too often em ployed under delusion, caused by the misleading statements of friends, beauty doctors, or others, and by publishers of otherwise reputable books.
Two statements we desire to ear nestly make and stand by: first, mineral drugs in toilet preparations are dangerous; and, secondly, they are not necessary. The simple and harmless remedies hereinafter given, if patiently and skillfully applied ac cording to directions, will, in due course of time, accomplish the results intended, and develop the most per fect complexion that the individual is capable of.
The use of mineral drugs, on the other hand, whatever the immediate benefits derived from them may ap pear to be, will in the end defeat its own object by producing after ef fects ruinous to the complexion, and the last state of the deluded indi vidual who employs them will indeed be worse than the first.
Diluents or Vehicles. — Distilled water, various perfumed toilet wa ters, as rose water, together with al cohol, rectified spirits of wine, and other spirits, are the liquids most often recommended for diluting toilet preparations to the consistency of creams, lotions, washes, and the like.
Distilled water may be prepared at home by attaching a tube to the spout of the teakettle, immersing as much of its length as possible in a basin of water shielded from the fire and kept cold, if convenient, with ice, and collecting the condensed steam at the opposite end of the tube in a fruit jar or other receptacle. The object of this process is to remove all impurities held in suspension, as lime and other minerals which are found in hard water; also vegetable and animal matter and other impurities. In winter clean snow, melted, is equivalent to distilled water. Rain water collected in a clean vessel is a good substitute. The ordinary wa ter supply, softened if necessary by means elsewhere recommended, will usually answer every purpose. Elder flower water, orange-flower water, and other perfumed toilet waters are often recommended, but rose water or plain distilled or soft water may be used as a substitute, if preferred, in all cases.