FEMININE REFLECTIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 328, 13 April 1928, Page 5

FEMININE REFLECTIONS

MAKE A FRIEND OF OLIVE OIL | By BERYL HARPER Gliv© oil has uses which are not known to everyone. For instance, a dessertspoonful taken twice daily in lemon juice, is a wonderful anti-wrinkle food, because it supplies the fat under the skin. The kame quantity taken three times a day with a small handful of raisins, well masticated, will cure the most stubborn case of constipation. Children should be given half that quantity. For dry, brittle and falling hair, a dessertspoonful of oil with the same quantity of a chemical food taken three times daily after meals, will make an amazing difference in a month. It provides exactly the properties an ill-nourished scalp requires. A little warm oil should also be massaged into the scalp until it tingles. Hands and Elbows For neglected hands nothing is so efficient as the oil bath. Put half a pint of oil in a bowl and stand it in a basin containing hot water. The hands should then remain in the warm oil for 15 minutes, when imaginary • washing of the hands in the oil makes them beautifully soft and white. The same oil will do for several applications. To make elbows rounded, dimpled and soft, massage warm olive oil into them every night. A very small quantity applied to the eyebrows before being crushed makes an arch that is very attractive. Eyelashes, too .become more ,'iiky and long if the treatment is persisted in. Just a teaspoonful added to the shampoo powder gives the hair the resilience it needs to make it amenable after a shampoo. No one can afford to be without a bottle of the oil in the medicine chest. If carron oil is not available it makes a satisfactory dressing for burns and scalds, by soaking pieces of rag in the oil and applying it to the wounds. For Massage Olive oil is wonderful to build up broken tissue which is the reason why it is an ideal dressing for a blistered heel or a broken chilblain. Any condition that causes contraction, such as burns or a fracture, benefit considerably by having warm olive oil massaged into the affected part. A few applications soon relieve the tightened skin, and render iz more supple. For rheumatism, or any muscular pain, a lotion of olive oil, methylated spirit, and turpentine (equal parts), well rubbed in soon gives relief. The affected part, however, should first be washed in hot water to open the pores, and prepare the skin for the lotion. By the way, always shake the bottle.

JAM AND JELLY WISDOM By PLAIN JANE Few people understand the value of orange or lemon pips when making jams and jellies. Covered with water and allowed to stand for three or four hours, the pips will give a gelatinous substance (pectin) which is invaluable where the right consistency of the preserve is concerned. A marble placed in the preserving pan keeps the preserve moving auto-

matically, and so saves stirring and prevents burning. Covering Jam Jars Here Is a hint for covering jam jars: Get some good grease-proof paper; dip it into very hot starch and cover the jam pots with it. When dry it will look like parchment and be equally strong. If you prefer to tie down the covers, damp the string before use. The knot will not then slip, and the string will shrink, and tighten when dry. Ways With Jellies When jelly will not set, add the juice of a lemon, or a slice of lemon, or a carrot peeled and scraped. None of these will interfere with the flavour of the jelly. Table jellies will turn out easily if you brush the mould round with the white of an egg, well beaten, instead of soaking it in water; or, if you prefer, paint the mould with a very little olive oil. When you need to set table jelly quickly, stand the mould in ice-cold water, in which you have dissolved a handful of table-salt.

A FASHION FABLE i l Queen Canute sat on the sand in her i brief two-piece crepe frock. She wore ; a plain little felt hat over her sleek j coiffure, her shoes were of one leather, her pearls a single string. “Motherl” a voice called from far up on the beach. “You’ll get wet.” It ; was the Princess Moderna Canute, who ! ; gave evidence of living up to the name, from her floue coiffure to her frilly j polka-dot frock. “Mother! The tide is j coming in.” “Impossible!” was the queenly xeply, | made with a regal scowl. And she meant what she said. She did not in- j tend to let the tide come in. She had been watching the approaching waves —rippling, ruffled, tucked, and tired, with veils of spray floating in the breeze like scarves and wings and panels. Cross-currents made pouffes and bow-like sweeps. They billowed toward the beach in gracefully curved, scalloped lines, falling in every kind of cascade. “The feminine mode is on the crest of the wave,” sighed the Queen, who had been growing steadily younger for ten years, aided by the garconne mode. Her gloom—and her determination —increased as she saw an ominous swell that was certainly a hip-line and a bust. The cries of the Princess brought courtiers and ladies. They gathered about their sovereign and pleaded with her to submit to the inevitable. But the Queen was firm. “I’m standing for a principle—siding for a principle,*l mean; the principle of simplicity in dress,” was the royal retort. “If other well-born women will sit by me, we can stem this tide of elaboration and so-called femininity. Besides, if it comes, I shall look too old.” (The last remark was made in an undertone.) But the tide came in, despite the divine right of conservative queens. First it lappeef about her ankles in a soft, swirling, tulle-like train of foam. Eventually, it poured cold water on the principles themselves. The court retired, leaving the Queen alone. It was evident that before she capitulated she would look ridiculous, and they discreetly withdrew while her voice still sounded commandingly. Fortunately, in a few moments, the court astrologer appeared. “Why does the tide come in, when I command it to stop?” she wailed, as he approached. The wise man led her towards a safer position. “It is guided by the stars, Your Majesty,” he said. “The stars of the fashion universe. Study the stars and learn, before you are dowdy, that chic and tide wait for no woman.” «— MAKING AN AVIATOR HAT If you have already bought as many hats as you can' afford, and yet feel a desire for one of the little “aviator” models, you may make one at very small cost. Out of a simple “flop” felt, a hat is to be made which will compare favourably, if your fingers he neat and your eye be sure, with a model from the salon of a fashionable modiste. The great point is to choose a felt which fits you snugly in the crown. The next thing is to mark, with a bit of tailor’s chalk, the line at which you mean to cut the brim in the front and at the sides in order to get the crescent piece that is to he lifted upward to form, the diadem. If you omit this chalking, the probabilities are that you will not get the whole even and your cap-hat will look lop-sided. When you have your crescent diadem raised to the crown of the hat and pinned there with some hat ornament, look in the glass and, taking in either hand the two little “ears” formed at the sides, hold them first straight out and then folded to the sides of the head, and decide which suits you better. If the former way is preferable, you must wire the edges, taking the wire right round the circle and bringing the back portion of the brim in a fold against the back of the crown. But-if you choose the other alternative, cut away the back of the brim close to the head and, bringing toward the back the front folds, cross them or lay them one above the other, as you please. If there are any creases in the felt, pin these into little tucks, for the great idea is to make the hat look hand-made to fit to the individual contours. No trimming beyond a dagger or a pin is needed.