Health--
Face
Many are ignorantly injuring their health and endangering their life by using cosmetics. They are robbing the cheeks of the glow of health, and then to supply the deficiency use cosmetics. When they become heated in the dance the poison is absorbed by the pores of the skin, and is thrown in to the blood. Many lives have been sacrificed by this means alone.
The following selection we here insert hoping that it may arrest the attention of some of the votaries of fashion, and excite their fears, if it does not arouse their consciences, to put away the pride and sin which produces such dangerous results:--
"THE FATAL EFFECTS OF PAINTING.
"NO ONE CAN RIDE OR WALK THROUGH THE FASHIONABLE PORTION OF NEW YORK CITY, ATTEND ANY PLACE OF AMUSEMENT, OR GO TO ANY EVENING PARTY, WITHOUT BECOMING AWARE OF THE HORRIBLE FACT THAT MANY WOMEN OF WHOM BETTER THINGS MIGHT BE EXPECTED, HAVE FALLEN INTO THE PERNICIOUS HABIT OF APPLYING TO THEIR SKINS THE ENAMELS WHICH, UNDER VARIOUS ATTRACTIVE NAMES, ARE ADVERTISED AND SOLD IN ALL PARTS OF THE LAND.
"NOT ONLY FADED FACES, BUT COUNTENANCES SO YOUNG, PLUMP AND PRETTY IN OUTLINE THAT THEY MUST IN THEIR NATURAL CONDITION BE ATTRACTIVE, ARE LACQUERED OVER WITH AN UNNATURAL POLISH OF FINE PORCELAIN, WHICH PRODUCES AN EFFECT SUCH AS ONE MIGHT IMAGINE IF A CHINA DOLL WERE AFFLICTED WITH THE CONSUMPTION.
"THIS PRACTICE IS AS PERNICIOUS AS IT IS DISGUSTING--THE SEEDS OF DEATH OR PARALYSIS BEING HIDDEN IN EVERY POT AND JAR OF THOSE MIXTURES, WHICH ARE SUPPOSED TO BE NOT ONLY INNOCENT, BUT ALSO TO POSSESS THE VIRTUES OF THE UNDISCOVERED FOUNTAIN OF PERPETUAL YOUTH.
SOME WHO USE THEM WILL SUDDENLY HAVE A SEVERE ILLNESS; AND RECEIVING A PRIVATE WARNING FROM THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN, WILL CEASE THE USE OF THE CAUSE OF THEIR DISORDER, AND RECOVERING, GO THROUGH LIFE WITH AN EXTREMELY BAD COMPLEXION, AS A REMINDER OF THEIR FOLLY.
"OTHERS WILL DROP SUDDENLY, WITH THEIR FEATURES TWISTED ON ONE SIDE, AND PERHAPS DEPRIVED OF THE USE OF THEIR LIMBS. OTHERS WILL DIE OUTRIGHT, NO ONE GUESSING WHY. THE EFFECT ON ANY PARTICULAR PERSON CANNOT BE CALCULATED. WHAT ONE SUFFERS PARALYSIS FROM, MAY KILL ANOTHER OUTRIGHT. THE ONLY SAFETY IS IN HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THESE BANEFUL PREPARATIONS."
If God had required of society so great a sacrifice for his sake, what mourning we should bear of the terrible burdens imposed upon those who follow Christ. But the slaves to fashion take these burdens upon themselves, and make their own life very wearisome with needless care, in their anxiety to keep pace with fashion. They lay upon the altar of fashion, health, happiness, life and Heaven.
Christians cannot afford to make this great sacrifice. They cannot afford to sow to the flesh and reap corruption. That which ye sow ye shall also reap. Now is the sowing time. The reaping time hasteth. What will the harvest be? The inspired apostle addresses us, " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
After completing the foregoing, I found the following. I have had some experience in using Mrs. S.A. Allen's World's Hair Restorative, also Hall's Vegetable Sicilian Hair Restorative. I have made applications of these preparations upon the head of my husband, to prevent the falling off of the hair. I observed that when using these preparations, he frequently complained of giddiness of the head, and weakness and pain of the eyes.
In applying these preparations, my eyes, that were naturally strong, grew weak, and twice seemed to be greatly inflamed. Eruptions appeared upon the lids, and continued for weeks. I was convinced that I was poisoned by applying these preparations to the head of my husband. We discontinued the use of these altogether, and I have had no weakness of the eyes since. My husband has been free from the peculiar sensations he experienced while using these preparations, and my experience has been for twenty years, that pure soft water is best for my head and hair.
The Health Reformer
October 1, 1871