Old-Time Herbal Beauty Tips

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Some old fashioned herbal beauty tips are extremely simple. For example, to bleach your skin rub cucumber slices on your face.
Some old fashioned herbal beauty tips are extremely simple. For example, to bleach your skin rub cucumber slices on your face.
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Apply barley water and a few drops of balm of Gilead (aka balsam) to your wrinkles every day to smooth them.
Apply barley water and a few drops of balm of Gilead (aka balsam) to your wrinkles every day to smooth them.
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Rub a tea made from the leaves and bark of a willow into your scalp to prevent dandruff.
Rub a tea made from the leaves and bark of a willow into your scalp to prevent dandruff.

For centuries, herbs were the main source of beauty aids, then along came the big cosmetic companies and the world was swamped with (sometimes dangerous) chemicals. Lately, however–as we rediscover organic recipes–herbs, fruits, and vegetables have found their way back onto milady’s makeup table.

As a matter of fact, I recently read a magazine article in which a duchess and a princess (folks who can certainly afford “the best”) recommended the use of exotic plants for beauty care. About that same time–as I searched through some old family hideaways for my grandmother’s salve recipe–I came upon a list of herbal beauty tips that Grandma had once written out for her daughter (my aunt).

There wasn’t that much difference between royalty’s road to loveliness and Grandma’s either, except the old girl didn’t buy most of her materials–she grew ’em!

Here’s the advice that my grandmother wrote down for her daughter those many years ago:

IN THE MORNING: Mix a handful of oatmeal with enough spring water to make a paste, and put this mixture on your face and neck. When it dries, rinse the paste off with whey, then with water, and dry your skin with a soft rag.

  • Published on Jan 1, 1979
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