Monday, February 17, 2014

How to Bathe in Snow, 1837

Edward Robert Hughes, Heart of Snow (1907)
"Many people who have not fairly tried it know not the value of snow for washing the face and hands. It is a genuine cosmetic prepared by Madame Nature without a particle of any poisonous vegetable, and offered to the public more from benevolence than any pecuniary motives, and particularly designed for the relief of all who are afflicted with an ugly skin. Try in the next light snow that falls. First rub the hands with a piece of bar soap till a sufficient quantity adheres, and then taking up a little snow, rub the hands with the snow and soap until the water drops so pure as not to stain the snow where it falls. Then proceed to the face, and if it does not procure the pure blush of health, you may rest assured there is nothing in the apothecary's shop... that will do it." 
New England Farmer and Gardener's Journal (1837)
Do you have an ugly skin? Are you worried about poisonous vegetables in your cosmetics? Do you have access to some snow? Then this snow cleanse is for you! Hypothermia is also for you.

3 comments:

  1. I am a hardy New Englander, and I am so tough I do not fear vegetables. Therefore, I can bathe happily in actual liquid water.

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  2. Of course you would have a healthy glow...right before the frost bite sets in.

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  3. Ha!! I always suspected vegetables were poisonous...

    Try in the next light snow that falls...

    What about the next heavy snow that falls like a giant soggy down quilt to a depth of 18-24"? Will that work, or will it simply clog the pores and pull the skin down?

    I like the way he closes with, "If this doesn't work, well, there's no hope for you."

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