Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

50 The Oldest Beauty Secrets in the World To acquire a lovely white skin like Claire Windsor's there is nothing better than a tonic used by the ancient Romans. three times. Then she lifted her legs from the hips, and relaxed them — at the ankles, knees, all the way. She then thought of her whole body, and relaxed it, till it was limp all over. "Now, do that every night when you go to bed," was the order. "Don't go to sleep with your mind working hard, thinking of what you've done all day, and what you're going to do to-morrow. And don't go to sleep with your body tense. Relax your body, and it won't be so hard to let your mind go. During the day, at odd moments, stop and ask yourself if you're too tense. For instance, right now your jaw is set tight. That's what is making those little wrinkles at either corner of it, and massage can't rub them away, because the reason for them is way beneath the skin. Old, dry, undernourished skin will wrinkle, but yours shouldn't. Let your jaw drop, as if a weight were attached Photo by Richard Burke to it. Do that whenever you find that you're holding it too tightly; pretty soon you'll get out of the habit of holding your face wrong." That was followed by a lesson in breathing. Now, we've all been told to breathe deep, and we know the importance of fresh air — but we don't know very much about breathing. If you have the money, you can learn to breathe ; there are people who teach the science of the Yogi breathing exercises, which is thousands of years old. I'm not going to try to do that — I couldn't; it's much too advanced for any one who hasn't studied it very thoroughly. But I can tell you enough about it to help you a great deal. This girl of whom I spoke had to learn to breathe, and she found that, by doing so, she not only learned to avoid fatigue — and when you're a motion-picture actress you think that no other profession in the world can tire one out quite so completely, day after day. Ask little Colleen Moore and some of the other girls who go to bed at seven o'clock every night when they're working hard on a picture ! The importance of correct breathing can't be overestimated, when you know that the stomach and other organs upon which digestion depends suffer from incorrect breathing. If they do not get enough oxygen they are undernourished, and before it can be digested the food must absorb oxygen from the blood. And you know what happens to people when their food is not correctly digested and assimilated ! The nervous system also suffers ; both bodily energy and mental energy will decrease if one does not breathe correctly. So here's a little lesson in correct breathing, in what is known as "the complete breath:" Stand erect near an open window, or sit up very straight, if circum• stances prevent your standing. Inhale slowly, first filling the lower lungs — the diaphragm will push the walls of the abdomen gently outward as you do this — ■ then the middle lungs, pushing out the lower ribs and chest, and then the higher part of the lungs, so that the chest is lifted, as are the upper ribs. The abdomen will be drawn in a little, and the shoulders may be slightly lifted, when you finish. Do this slowly, breathing continuously^ not in three separate movements, but in one long one. Hold the breath a moment, then exhale slowContinued on page 92 Cleansing the eyes with boric acid is an old, old practice, but the regular use of it is perhaps partly responsible for Allene Ray's lustrous eyes.