Modern Screen (Jan - Nov 1940)

to the finger-tips can be a reality if you'll follow closely the way of the stars the dfying immediately with your favorite cream or lotion, again pushing back the cuticle and massaging up from the finger-tips. Creams and lotions not only soften, but protect your skin against sudden changes of temperature, overly dry houses and damp outside air. If your hands already are rough and chapped, wash them as seldom as you respectably can, cleanse them frequently with a good cream or lotion and, every night after massaging them with a particularly rich emollient, put on a pair of those inexpensive, soft white cotton gloves especially made for the purpose. The gloves help keep the cream not only on your hands but off the bed linens. Keep an orange stick near your hand brush, soap and lotion, so that you can clean under each nail tip and push back the cuticle every time you put your hands into water. You'll find this practise not only makes your weekly manicure much simpler, but also gives your hands that constantly well-groomed look. Stains on your hands sometimes need a special remover. Usually, though, if you'll give them a double scrubbing, followed by a double creaming, with the possible addition of a tomato or lemon rubbed over the discolored areas, you'll have very little worry on that score. A cake or bit of ground pumice stone always comes in handy for rough places on fingertips and beside the nail edges. There are special bleaches for discolored hands, too. Most lotions contain a mild, safe quantity. Cucumber, lemon or buttermilk creams are also mildly whitening. Hands need a lot of exercise and massage to keep them graceful and supple. There is nothing quite so pathetic and unlovely as tense, tight, nervous hands on an otherwise attractive girl. Try to keep yours open and relaxed and break them of short, choppy, unrestful gestures. Keep them still when you're out among people. Save the mannerisms and gesticulations till some time in front of your own mirror. You may be astonished to discover that they aren't nearly ag devastating as you'd thought they were. In these days of stress and hurry and high-powered tension, nothing so charms a man and puts him in a receptive mood more quickly than quiet, graceful, restful hands — and the poise that inevitably accompanies them. Hand massage should be a part of your daily routine. While you're drying them, massage your wrists and fingers as if you were putting on a tight pair of new kid gloves. That's an excellent motion to slim and supple your hands, too. Always begin at the fingers and massage back toward wrists and elbows. Open and close your hands as often as you think of it "during the day and evening, bending the fingers backward as far as they'll go. IMAGINE you have water all over your hands, then try to shake it off — not too hard, just gently. Pulling on a towel or tough piece of paper as if it were taffy is another good exercise. Pretend for a few minutes that you're wringing out clothes dripping with water. Use a piece of paper or a heavy old towel for this one. It's a grand exercise for suppling the hands. It also firms the muscles of your upper arms. Wrinkled hands can be warded off for literally years if you'll devote ten or fifteen minutes daily to massaging, twisting and otherwise stimulating the circulation in them. Of course, always use a cream with massage. Otherwise you'll stretch and irritate the skin and do a lot more harm than good. It is remarkable how much can be done toward reshaping stubby fingers, too, if you're really in earnest and willing to keep everlastingly at it. If you will take the thumb and forefinger of one hand and pull and press the fingers of the other constantly, as often as you think of it, in time you actually can narrow the tips to a certain extent. Remember your arms, too. What's the use of having alabaster-like hands if all the loveliness stops at the wrists! It's like a beautifully madeup face on top of a dirty neck. Arms should have their daily brushing too, all the way up to the shoulders, followed by a kneading massage with your favorite cream or lotion. Top off the massage with a rub-down of alcohol or cologne whenever you can. That helps to keep the flesh firm and speedily revives neglected muscles. Of course you know how important it is to keep elbows soft and immaculately clean. Why is it that so many girls seem to think that just because they can't see their own elbows that nobody else is going to? You'd be surprised how many girls have lost good dates because the stag line approached from the rear and caught a glimpse of their unsightly elbows! Every day — at least oncescrub those elbows of yours with a medium to soft brush and a rich warm soap lather. Dry them well, then massage in some extra rich cream or lotion, whichever you like best. You'll get a grateful response from even the most recalcitrant pair of elbows, and you'll look and feel like a different person. Do you ever bite your finger nails? We sincerely hope not. The causes seem to be many and varied. It may be nervousness, self-consciousness, just plain carelessness in correcting a childish habit, or some other evidence of insufficient poise. Whatever the cause, though, there is one remedy which, simple as it may sound, almost always succeeds. That is a perfect manicure. Devote extra time and care to making your nails as enchantingly beautiful as you know how, keep this up faithfully in spite of even repeated setbacks and we'll wager that, before very long, pride in your new found beauty will overcome your erstwhile slovenly habit. Think this over too, next time that you're tempted: it takes at least six weeks to grow a nice, long, correctly shaped nail — often longer. Isn't that enough said about that? As for your manicure itself, by all means have one at least once a week, and touch up your nails between times as often as necessary. Fine, smooth, well-groomed hands give you a poise and self-confidence that nothing else can replace. Keep a little kit of manicuring tools always ready. You'll need an emery board, orange wood stick, cotton and a pair of nail scissors (for extreme cases of unruly cuticle and. hang-nails only). Have on hand a supply of oily polish remover, cuticle remover, cuticle oil, a special nail softener, several shades of polish, either liquid, cream or powder, a bit of powdered pumice, nail bleach, (Continued on page 69) Liquid polish must be applied quickly with long, bold strokes. Creams and lotions are especially impor+ant in wintry weather. I Buff noils in one direction only fa strengthen and smooth them. A L _K 45