Vintage Beauty trick taken to a New level. Sensory Deprivation the ultimate in relaxation

Evelyn relaxing at her new home in West Los Angles, California, 1938.

Relaxation is a Beauty Secrets.

After Evelyn and Bill followed Tom Lyle to California he bought them a little bungalow in West Los Angeles, a few miles from the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills where he and Emery lived. Tom Lyle gave Evelyn a nice allowance and told her to rest and enjoy the California sunshine. She took his advice about relaxing but never ever allowed the sun to touch her perfect alabaster skin for more than 10 minutes, just enough to soak in a little vitamin D. 

Speaking of soaking, I remember one of Nana's most famous beauty secrets, was soaking in a hot tub with three cups of Epsom salt and sometimes even a cup of baking soda to soften her skin. She told me there was nothing in the world better for relaxing tense muscles after a game of badminton than a half hour in the tub with Epsom Salt. She believed that a good soak erased a multitude of sins and kept her looking young all her life.

When I became a teenager I soaked in an Epsom Salt bath before getting dressed for a Saturday night date. I believed it slimmed me down so I could fit in my "skinny pants" in 1964, and it was so relaxing that I felt like a million bucks and looked fabulous. Try it yourself and see if it doesn't make you feel relaxed and look beautiful too. 

Today I've taken relaxing in an Epson Salt bath to a new level. Sensory-deprivation-tank, or floating, is the ultimate in relaxation and meditation.  My grandmother would probably have one in her home if she were alive today. Read about on this link and try it for yourself . It's worth it.

www.healthline.com/health/sensory-deprivation-tank

Vintage Maybelline Beauty trick, homemade mud pack for healthy skin

Nana in 1917 at 16 years old.

   All my young life, Nana preached about having beautiful skin.  "Sharrie," she'd say "the first thing people notice is your eyes and your skin, and you only get one chance at a first impression."  Nana believed that your skin was your "calling card," and either draws people to you or sends them away. 

      I can still see her mixing up a batch of  "mud" as she called it, while I sat in wonder as a little girl.  She'd mix a couple of tablespoons of rice flour, a capsule of vitamin E, a little rosewater and enough yogurt to make it the consistency of putty.  Next she'd smear it all over her face and neck, lay on the floor sometimes on her hydroculators and rest her legs on a chair so the blood would flow in reverse, and relax her tired muscles.

Now this wasn't a Kodak moment and few people ever had the pleasure of witnessing this "secret of the Harem," but I never forgot it. To this day I refuse to buy over the counter skin masques, because there is nothing better than Nana's Mud.  It brings the blood to the surface and feeds the skin with nutrients.  By the way it's funny that her son, my dad Bill, called his mother MUD!  Give it a try and let me know what you think.  If you want to know more about Nana, buy my Book right now onAmazon, kick back and enjoy the full spa treatment, while reading "The Maybelline Story."

Miss Maybelline's Beauty Secrets taught to me as a child

When Nana was a young girl, in 1915, she like most young ladies of her time, read a movie magazine called Photoplay, that revealed Beauty Secrets of the Harem, so to speak.  The secrets were homemade beauty tricks passed on from one generation to the next and were built upon as the ages unfolded. Nana and her sisters,Verona and Bunny learned the tricks, to make themselves as glamorous and alluring as the silent screen stars.

Nana's little protegee

I was indoctrinated into the Harem when at 5 years old, when Nana  made my eyes up and paraded me around my great uncle Tom Lyle's living room for applause.  From that time on, Nana became my mentor and I her little protege.

 
One of her delicious little secrets for depuffing your eyes "after a late night romp with Valentino" she'd wink, was TEA BAGS.

1953, Nana, my dad, my sister, Donna, Me and my Mom

Yes, just plain old black tea bags.  But there was more.  First you place two tea bags in a half cup of boiling water for about 30 seconds, just to get the tea moving.  Next, you  gently squeeze out the excess water and place them on a small plate.  Now stick them in the freezer until they are ice cold.  Lay down for half hour if possible but at least 15 minutes and meditate on how gorgeous you are going to look with your Maybelline eyes tonight.  Let me know what you think, I bet you will be begging for more of Nana's fabulous Secrets of the Harem.

 
Read more about my life as Nana's little protege, click onto Amazon right now and buy The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It. 

Vintage Beauty Secret: Ponds Vanishing Cold Cream and Witch Hazel, is older than Maybelline

 Nana in 1978, 77 years old.

When Nana was a teenager during WW1, she was already a fan of the miracle cream that kept her skin moisturized while also removing her Maybelline.  As more expensive moisturizing creams became available through the years, Nana continued her nightly routine with Ponds Cold Cream.  In fact she made a science out of it until she perfected it into a facial as good as it gets.


Here's Nana's secret to flawless dewy skin, a trick that kept her looking 20 years younger than her actual age, until the day she died at 77.  

As a girl, I'd sit in her bathroom at night watching her apply ice cold Ponds Cold Cream, which she kept in the refrigerator right next to the tea bags she had ready to depuff her tired eyes. 

"Darling, first you remove all your Maybelline, face makeup and lipstick with Ponds," she'd say, washing her ponds off with a hot  towel, holding it on her face for a minute until it cooled down.  

Next she'd reapply the Ponds, but this time, sitting down in her chair in front of a magnifying mirror where she could study every line on her face.

"Always stroke up, never down darling," she'd say as I followed her example for the next two or three minutes.  She'd stroke her neck 100 times, then do the same thing with her face, using quick strokes from the chin, to the cheeks, around the temples and up to the forehead.  

"It takes practice," she'd say making sure I did it correctly.

"Do it again darling, but this time start at the chin, go around the nose and up to the forehead until your skin is bright pink from the blood coming to the surface."

Once she was satisfied with the results, she'd apply a hot  towel several times until all traces of the Ponds were removed, then wash her face with Neutrogena skin soap.  


Once this labor of love was finished, she'd apply her home made mud pack (Check out the recipe for Nana's Mud, by scrolling down through my blog), apply the tea bags to her eyes (also found in past blogs), lay on her hydroculators (this too, just scroll down) and relax listening to classical music for the next half hour. 


When she washed off the Ponds, or the mud pack, she'd soak a cotton ball with Witch hazel, wipe it over her face and neck as an astringent, than apply eye cream, face cream and hand lotion. She'd top it all off by brushing her hair 100 times, looking radiant when she finally went to bed. 

To this day I still practice most of Nana's beauty tricks and I must say my skin looks pretty good for my age.  Give it a try once a week or more if you have time and experience a facial as good as any professional could give you.

Ponds Vanishing Cold Cream ad in 1917

Ponds Cold Cream

Original Maybeline in the red box with little  brush 1917

Read more about Nana's obsession to perfection, read about her in my book, The Maybelline Story.  Purchase a signed copy from my website today!  

Maybelline Queen, Evelyn Williams 5TH Beauty Secret, Epsom Salt.

Evelyn relaxing at her new home in California, 1938.


        After Evelyn and Bill followed Tom Lyle to California he bought them a little bungalow in West Los Angeles, a few miles from the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills where he and Emery lived.  Tom Lyle gave Evelyn a nice allowance and told her to rest and enjoy the California sunshine.  She took his advice about relaxing but never ever allowed the sun to touch her perfect alabaster skin for more than 10 minutes, just enough to soak in a little vitamin D. 

      Speaking of soaking, I remember one of Nana's most famous beauty secrets, was soaking in a hot tub with three cups of Epsom salt and sometimes even  a cup of baking soda to soften her skin.  She told me  there was nothing in the world better for relaxing tense muscles after a game of badminton than a half hour in the tub with Epsom Salt.  She believed that a good soak erased a multitude of sins and kept her looking young all her life.

      When I became a teenager I soaked in an Epsom Salt bath before getting dressed for a Saturday night date.  I believed it slimmed me down so I could fit in my "skinny pants"  in 1964, and it was so relaxing that I felt like a million bucks and looked fabulous.  Try it yourself and see if it doesn't make you feel relaxed and look beautiful too.  

Read more about Nana and her obsession with perfection in the Maybelline Story.

Miss Maybelline's fourth Beauty Secret.

Who would have guessed that Nana's beauty secrets would become so popular.

Take Ponds Cold Cream for example. When Nana was a teenager during WW1, she was already a fan of the miracle cream that kept her skin moisturized while also removing her Maybelline.  As more expensive moisturizing creams became available through the years, Nana continued her nightly routine with Ponds Cold Cream.  In fact she made a science out of it until she perfected it into a facial as good as it gets.


Here's Nana's secret to flawless dewy skin, a trick that kept her looking 20 years younger than her actual age, until the day she died at 77.  

As a girl, I'd sit in her bathroom at night watching her apply ice cold Ponds Cold Cream, which she kept in the refrigerator right next to the tea bags she had ready to depuff her tired eyes. 

"Darling, first you remove all your Maybelline, face makeup and lipstick with Ponds," she'd say, washing her ponds off with a hot  towel, holding it on her face for a minute until it cooled down.  

Next she'd reapply the Ponds, but this time, sitting down in her chair in front of a magnifying mirror where she could study every line on her face.

"Always stroke up, never down darling," she'd say as I followed her example for the next two or three minutes.  She'd stroke her neck 100 times, then do the same thing with her face, using quick strokes from the chin, to the cheeks, around the temples and up to the forehead.  

"It takes practice," she'd say making sure I did it correctly.

"Do it again darling, but this time start at the chin, go around the nose and up to the forhead until your skin is bright pink from the blood coming to the surface."

Once she was satisfied with the results, she'd apply a hot  towel several times until all traces of the Ponds were removed, then wash her face with Neutrogena skin soap.  


Once this labor of love was finished, she'd apply her home made mud pack (Check out the recipe for Nana's Mud, by scrolling down through my blog), apply the tea bags to her eyes (also found in past blogs), lay on her hydroculators (this too, just scroll down) and relax listening to classical music for the next half hour. 


When she washed off the Ponds, or the mud pack, she'd soak a cotton ball with Witch hazel, wipe it over her face and neck as an astringent, than apply eye cream, face cream and hand lotion. She'd top it all off by brushing her hair 100 times, looking radiant when she finally went to bed. 

To this day I still practice most of Nana's beauty tricks and I must say my skin looks pretty good for my age.  Give it a try once a week or more if you have time and experience  facial as good as any professional could give you.  If you want to read more about Nana's obsession to perfection, read about her in my book, The Maybelline Story.  Purchase a signed copy from my website today!  


The 1910s

Pond's vanishing cream print advertisement, 1910

                                                                  Maybelline, 1917

Sharrie at 60 years old, using her Nana's Beauty Secrets.

3rd,Beauty Secret from the Harem!

When Nana was a young girl, in 1915, she like most young ladies of her time, read a movie magazine called Photoplay, that revealed Beauty Secrets of the Harem, so to speak.  The secrets were homemade beauty tricks passed on from one generation to the next and were built upon as the ages unfolded. Nana and her sisters,Verona and Bunny learned the tricks, to make themselves as glamorous and alluring as the silent screen stars.

I was indoctrinated into the Harem when at 5 years old, when Nana  made my eyes up and paraded me around my great uncle Tom Lyle's living room for applause.  From that time on, Nana became my mentor and I her little protege. 


One of her delicious little secrets for depuffing your eyes "after a late night romp with Valentino" she'd wink, was TEA BAGS. 


Yes, just plain old black tea bags.  But there was more.  First you place two tea bags in a half cup of boiling water for about 30 seconds, just to get the tea moving.  Next, you  gently squeeze out the excess water and place them on a small plate.  Now stick them in the freezer until they are ice cold.  Lay down for half hour if possible but at least 15 minutes and meditate on how gorgeous you are going to look with your Maybelline eyes tonight.  Let me know what you think, I bet you will be begging for more of Nana's fabulous Secrets of the Harem. 


Read more about my life as Nana's little protege, click onto Amazon right now and buy The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.