More Lore: Toilet Beauty
Liz reads excerpts from Anna Kingsford's book Healthy, Beauty, and the Toilet so we can learn beauty tips from a Victorian lady doctor. We learn the answers to so many questions like - Should you put spermaceti on your face? What the hell is spermaceti? How did Victorian women make depilatory powder? How can you wash your face and get drunk at the same time?
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Transcript
Welcome to More Lore, where we give you more Lore.
Speaker A:I guess that's why it's called that.
Speaker A:So this is a continuation from episode two of season 12 and one.
Speaker A:I guess there's two.
Speaker A:Two.
Speaker A:Two episodes.
Speaker A:This applies to you.
Speaker A:And we're here to talk about Anna, Anna Kingsford and was a pioneer in women's medicine and just in general was, you know, an amazing.
Speaker A:She was suffragette, all the good things from Victorian ladies.
Speaker A:But she wrote a lot of books.
Speaker B:And a guinea pig enthusiast and a.
Speaker A:Hot guinea pig lover.
Speaker A:I don't think enthusiast is the word.
Speaker A:I think she was.
Speaker A:She loved her guinea pig Rufus and Piggy, and she carried them around in special baskets she had made for them, which I. I judge that in no way.
Speaker A:So what we're going to do is I wanted to give everybody some excerpts from.
Speaker A:From her book Beauty and the Toilet Letters to Ladies from a Lady Doctor.
Speaker A: And this was published in: Speaker A: ctorial between the autumn of: Speaker A:So these were letters she wrote to specific.
Speaker A:I don't know if they were like women, like she made up the women asking the questions.
Speaker A:And she was.
Speaker A:Because she's writing like there's different names, you'll be like dear Laura, dear blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:So I'm assuming at some point someone wrote in these real questions.
Speaker A:But first going to let you know from her preface why Anna thinks she is a perfect person to write such a book.
Speaker A:So the writer trusts that her name and medical diploma will constitute a sufficient guarantee of the good faith and serious intent with which the book is put forth.
Speaker A:No lady possessing any scientific qualification has hair through to.
Speaker A:Hair through to.
Speaker A:Is that that word?
Speaker A:Hitherto.
Speaker A:Hitherto.
Speaker A:So far she aware interested herself especially in the study of the cosmetic arts or attempted to instruct her sex on matters connected with the improvement and preservation of physical grace and good looks.
Speaker A:So she is saying that no woman, past, present or future, has written a book on the cosmetic arts.
Speaker A:And so she's really good for that.
Speaker A:Then she goes off about how she's both a woman and a doct.
Speaker A:Then she says advice on Beauty and the toilet would be impertinent and unbecoming in a member of the sterner sex.
Speaker A:While ladies who lack the advantage of professional education labor under considerable difficulties when dealing with questions which involve technical knowledge of anatomy, physiology, chemistry and hygiene.
Speaker A:So it would be impertinent to talk to men.
Speaker A:And if you're not educated, you're dumb.
Speaker A:I think Maybe what that's saying.
Speaker A:So I'm not sure that's the nicest way to put things.
Speaker A:She's Anna.
Speaker A:She goes through and talks a little bit more about herself.
Speaker A:Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:All right, so a partial list of the chapter headings in here.
Speaker A:That gonna help you on this.
Speaker A:Understand the scope of the book on obesity, on leanness, on the complexion, on the hair, on the figure, on the teeth, on perfumes, on baby, on the culture of beauty, grace and health in youth, nine chapters.
Speaker A:And on the hygiene and cuisine of the sick room, there are five chapters on that because remember, Anna was a vegetarian.
Speaker A:And love to tell you about how to be a vegetarian or how you should be as close to one as possible.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:But at least she was talking about keeping your sick room clean.
Speaker B:Like.
Speaker B:Like an early vegan crossfitter.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker A:She really is so.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So some highlights from her oh so thoughtful book on obesity.
Speaker A:My dear Julia, your account of your struggles with the demon of obesity is really amusing.
Speaker A:And were it not that you might not consider.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And were it not that you might consider me heartless, I should be tempted to poke fun at you about the various and incongruous dietary experiment experiments you so GR and withal so dismally record.
Speaker A:Indeed, it is laughable to think of you in the character of a female Sancho Panza, compelled at the stem bidding of silence to relinquish the enjoyment of your favorite dishes.
Speaker B:Sounds very kind.
Speaker A:She is.
Speaker A:And then she adds empathetically, that you believe you are growing fatter than ever.
Speaker A:Obesity is, as no doubt you know, produced by the accumulation of fat in the cellular tissue of the body.
Speaker A:And it is usually to hereditary predisposition, often combined, as in your case, with a persistent and incorrigible placidity of temper.
Speaker A:First, my dear, you must.
Speaker A:My dear friend, you must resolve to become an early riser.
Speaker A:Yes, you must positively forego your extra hour in bed after the maid has called you.
Speaker A:You must take your early cup of tea while dressing, and not while reclining, delightfully inert among your pillows.
Speaker A:Who?
Speaker A:Who among us?
Speaker A:I'm sorry?
Speaker A:Like, if you have the opportunity to recline delightfully among pillows while drinking tea.
Speaker A:You do that every day.
Speaker B:Sounds lovely.
Speaker A:Does that sound nice?
Speaker A:I would like just one time of being able to recline a bed, drinking tea that my babe brought me.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So then she tells her not to sleep more than seven hours.
Speaker A:And then after you complete your toilet, you go out in the garden and you take a walk and You've got to walk for at least a half an hour or do some games such as Battle Door and Shuttlecock, or even undertake a serious bout with little Fanny skipping rope.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker A:So I think this is really funny.
Speaker A:Bear in mind that your mortal foes are, chemically speaking the carbohydrates, or more homely language, all sugary and starchy ailments.
Speaker A:Eat biscuits, rust, or toast rather than ordinary bread.
Speaker A:Avoid starchy dishes.
Speaker A:So nothing has changed.
Speaker A:Be keto was just the message of low carb.
Speaker B: you to be low carb since the: Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Dang.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:So, yeah, and she actually goes like.
Speaker A:Let me add a special word of warning against white bread, and particularly the spongy form of it known as rolls.
Speaker A:They were both indigestible and constipating.
Speaker A:Eat toasted brown bread.
Speaker A:No, thank you.
Speaker B:I just ate a roll, literally, for dinner.
Speaker A:It sounds delicious.
Speaker B:It was with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Speaker B:It was good.
Speaker A:I just ate tortillas, which is the flat roll.
Speaker B:Oh, that is a flat roll.
Speaker B:Mad at that either.
Speaker A:All right, so that's what she has to say on obesity.
Speaker A:Oh, one other thing in there.
Speaker A:She does also add that you should be drinking water, or if you prefer it, lemonade, which you've mixed in a small pinch of bicarbonate of soda.
Speaker A:Do not drink any more than a half tumbler full of liquid at any repast.
Speaker A:In fact, the less liquid you consume, the better.
Speaker A:Drinking notoriously increases corpulence, especially if indulged in between meals.
Speaker B:So dehydration.
Speaker A:Doctor.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And I will say that, like, a lot of the science about hydration.
Speaker A:I know, like, there's a book called Quinn that talks about.
Speaker A:They're really like, a lot of it was just made up science, right?
Speaker A:And people are like, yeah, eight.
Speaker A:Eight cups of water a day.
Speaker A:That sounds cool.
Speaker A:Like, there was really, never, like, anything behind that.
Speaker A:But it wasn't.
Speaker A:Drinking water makes you fat.
Speaker B:No, that's never been.
Speaker B:You know, that's not.
Speaker B:I've never heard that for sure.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But according to Anna, drinking water makes you fat.
Speaker A:So don't listen to Anna.
Speaker A:You should hydrate.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Don't listen to us.
Speaker A:Listen to your doctor.
Speaker B:Well, that more.
Speaker B:More importantly, yes, your doctor, but also Anna is wrong that water does not make you fat.
Speaker A:It is very wrong.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, okay.
Speaker A:On complexion.
Speaker A:So this one's to my dear Laura.
Speaker A:I am entirely of your opinion that it is the duty of our sex to be beautiful.
Speaker A:I should indeed be sorry.
Speaker A:By the way, this Anna Anna was gorgeous and everybody said so.
Speaker A:Everybody always talked about how pretty she.
Speaker B:Was and so already posted her picture on our socials.
Speaker B:So you can look at her.
Speaker A:Yeah, you can go take a look at her.
Speaker B:She.
Speaker A:She was.
Speaker A:She was a looker for her day.
Speaker A:So I should indeed be sorry were the intellectual advantage now so widely extended to women to lead them to despise or depreciate the cultists of the laughter loving goddess.
Speaker A:Okay, for breakfast, because this again, you want to.
Speaker A:For you have a good complexion for breakfast.
Speaker A:She wanted to make sure that every kind of salted and pickled food is to be excluded from the meal.
Speaker A:Whether fish, flesh or foul, no raw or smoked meats can be tolerated.
Speaker A:And all such things as anchovies, bologna, sausage, every form of pork and ham, pat, pat de foie gras, and other greasy and rich compounds must be rigorously avoided.
Speaker A:So no pickled foods with breakfast.
Speaker A:Okay, I think I can do that.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And then no bacon, no foie gras.
Speaker A:I'm really sorry, Diana.
Speaker A:You've got to take your morning foie out of your routine.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:Do you have gout?
Speaker A:What the fuck?
Speaker A:So I wanted to give us swollen.
Speaker B:You would be swollen.
Speaker A:She would be very swollen.
Speaker A:This is why she needs this cream that she's going to rub on herself.
Speaker A:On going to rest at night, the face should be again washed in soft water.
Speaker A:She has this whole thing about hard water and how you can soften it using like this, like steric lye and just.
Speaker A:It's really terrifying.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:So she's really into soft water and she's like.
Speaker A:After and after you've been dry, cold cream must be rubbed all over your face from forehead to chin with the hand and then wiped off with a soft towel.
Speaker A:Do not go to bed with the face greasy.
Speaker A:It is better not to trust bought cold cream, but to prepare it oneself is possible.
Speaker B:You put the cream on and then you wipe it off.
Speaker A:You put the cream on, you kind of let it set.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:Because it's like a mask, it's like.
Speaker B:A moisture mask kind of.
Speaker A:It used to be kind of how you took your makeup off.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Like an oil.
Speaker B:Like people use like the oil now, like for that, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I can't remember the name of it.
Speaker A:There was a really popular brand name that.
Speaker A:It was still a thing when I was a kid, but anyhow.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:If you want to make your own, though, this is.
Speaker A:This is what you got to get.
Speaker A:You got to get one that is.
Speaker A:Yes, noxima.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:It's basically cold cream.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right, I'm excited.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker A:Okay, so you need 1 ounce of pure white wax, 2 ounces of spermaceti.
Speaker A:Where do you think spermaceti comes from?
Speaker A:I don't know if I'm saying that right.
Speaker A:It could be spermachetti.
Speaker B:That sounds like gross spermaci.
Speaker A:So it comes from the inside of a sperm whale's head.
Speaker B:Oh, it seems difficult to obtain.
Speaker A:Well, apparently it was not that difficult because it was just in her recipe book.
Speaker A:So you need two.
Speaker A:And you need two ounces of that.
Speaker A:So goosh from a whale's head and then a half a pint of almond oil.
Speaker A:And you melt these together by a gentle heat in a glazed earthenware pot.
Speaker A:Then you add 3 ounces of glycerin, 12 drops auto of roses.
Speaker A:You stir until nearly cold.
Speaker A:Then you let the mixture settle, and then you can add in your own perfumes or other things if you want.
Speaker A:So that's a recipe if you want to make it.
Speaker A:I don't know where you get some sperm whale.
Speaker B:Probably illegal now.
Speaker A:Pretty sure it's highly, highly illegal.
Speaker A:And that's why we don't have any sperm whales right now is because Anna.
Speaker A:Thanks, Anna.
Speaker B:Her cold cream whales.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:So she has a chapter on superfluous hairs, moles, and warts.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:The methods by which.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, I have to say it again.
Speaker A:Superfluous hair of these two variety.
Speaker A:She says there's four varieties of, like, hair.
Speaker A:The first, and there's four ways that you can remove it.
Speaker A:The first and more general way is applying a chemical depilatory debilitary powder.
Speaker A:The commonest being composed of sulfide of arsenic or of caustic lime.
Speaker A:And they're used with the purpose of burning off the hairs.
Speaker A:But the roots always remain unerradicated and the hairs reappear.
Speaker A:So basically, you take some caustic line, you rub it on your hoo ha, then you wait till it burns, and then you don't want it to burn too much, and then you wipe it off, and then you don't have any hair on your hoo ha.
Speaker A:You may not have any skin, but you also don't have any.
Speaker A:You don't have any hair.
Speaker B:Is that what.
Speaker B:What's in there now?
Speaker B:I want to know.
Speaker A:Last thing I want to put on my hoo ha.
Speaker A:I'm just saying.
Speaker A:All right, so on the hair.
Speaker A:In order to keep the hair and scalp in a healthy state, it is of course necessary that they should be scrupulously clean.
Speaker A:But beware of using irrigations of cold water with the intention of thereby cleansing or straining the hair.
Speaker A:Nothing causes the hair so soon to thin and become gray and scanty as the frequent use of shower baths of cold water.
Speaker A:Wrong, Anna.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker A:Every beautician would tell you that is fucking wrong, Anna.
Speaker A:That cold water is really good for your hair.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:No, because I have to sit in cold water as I get my hair done and they're washing out my.
Speaker A:The horrible chemicals that I'm putting on my head.
Speaker B:I don't think they were color treating like we do now, though.
Speaker B:But also a lot of other things.
Speaker A:Well, some.
Speaker A:I think there may be something in here about that.
Speaker A:Okay, so the best wash for cleansing the hair and scalp that I can recommend is by putting it into a quart of hot rain water, a piece of lump ammonia about the size of brazil nut, and two tablespoonfuls of solution of soft soap.
Speaker A:By the time the ammonia has dissolved, the water will probably be cool enough for use.
Speaker A:If you prefer carbonate of soda instead of the soft soap solution, a piece about the same size as a lump of ammonia will suffice.
Speaker B:I've never seen solid ammonia.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:Yeah, get it, put it in your hair.
Speaker A:That'll smell great.
Speaker B:I mean, no.
Speaker A:She also says to dry your hair well after washing with a rough towel.
Speaker A:Not quote unquote Turkish.
Speaker A:However, else you will get your hair filled with cotton fluff than which nothing is more troublesome to extricate.
Speaker A:It knots and rolls in the meshes of the hair and can only be forcibly dragged out with a comb.
Speaker A:The wash, as mentioned, is particularly suitable for fair hair because both ammonia and soda tend to produce and preserve an auburn or golden hue.
Speaker A:Bark haired person should use the yolk of an egg beaten up with little subcarnate of potash or borax and warm rain water.
Speaker A:Some bruins use red wine, the ordinary vin rouge of continental countries, mixed with an egg and very small quantity of soda.
Speaker A:Red wine owns much of the coloring to the skin of the black grapes from which it is made, and it contains therefore a large amount of tannin which is an excellent tonic for the skin and hair roots.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:If hair is skin.
Speaker B:Natural tinting interesting.
Speaker A:If.
Speaker A:If hair is scanty from hereditary tendency or becoming thin through constitutional ill health, I advise the use daily of the following tinctures of cat.
Speaker A:Two fluid ounces.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:That is the betel toxin known as Spanish fly.
Speaker A:So you want two and a half ounces of Spanish fly, then you want two and a half ounces of rum.
Speaker A:We're having a good time party.
Speaker A:A half an ounce of glycerin, two drocks drachmas.
Speaker A:I don't know if that's some sort of, I don't know, some doctor term of basically more ammonia.
Speaker A:Put some more ammonia in there.
Speaker A:Then 20 drops of oil of rosemary, you mix it.
Speaker A:Then you add in 9 ounces of distilled water and you shake the whole thing well together.
Speaker A:And then you put the butyl toxin and the rum in your hair.
Speaker A:You add the lime and the coconut.
Speaker B:And then it's a party on your head.
Speaker A:And then it's a party in your head that you have not dried with the towel that has the cotton fluff in it because then you can't get it out.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So those are just some of the highlights from.
Speaker B:I mean, there's little nuggets in there.
Speaker B:Like, I mean, I've heard about, like, using, you know, things with like, you know, the, like, baking soda to kind of strip your stuff down or like, using egg to kind of help moisturize.
Speaker B:There's, like, little things there that they've.
Speaker A:Carried over borax in your hair.
Speaker B:Not that one, but, like, little things like that to kind of, like, help.
Speaker B:Like.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:It's kind of interesting hearing some, like, the little pieces that have carried on, like, oh, no, that's real, you know, whereas, like, a lot of it.
Speaker A:Yeah, but some of it is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And also, how much of this, too, though, is coming from a quote unquote, medical doctor?
Speaker A:Like, and.
Speaker A:And I get the.
Speaker A:Like, it's not like they were teaching how to make cold cream.
Speaker A:No doctor school.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So she was.
Speaker B:She was sharing what her lived experience was of things she created and did or were handed to her.
Speaker B:And she just happened to also be a doctor, and it worked for her, so she was sharing it.
Speaker A:Yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker A:Obviously, there's so much more of this book that I left, you know, did not share with you guys.
Speaker A:There's, like, you know, it's hundreds of pages long.
Speaker A:The baby chapter is particularly fascinating.
Speaker A:And it's, like, about how you should, like, be, like, she was childless, and it was about how you should, like, be when you have a baby and, like, after.
Speaker A:And raised them and stuff.
Speaker A:But she was childless.
Speaker A:And so it's an interesting perspective.
Speaker B:She might not be as equipped to give a ton of feedback on that.
Speaker A:She may just have been coming from a very narrow point of view.
Speaker A:But also it's, you know, she was still a woman's rights activist, too.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But it's, it is also interesting thinking about this just from the perspective of, of that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:You know, like, you can't talk to, you can't talk to men about cosmetics because it's impertinent.
Speaker A:You know, you can't bother Dr.
Speaker A:So and so with questions about your nipples, you know.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The, the, the, the, the overall perspective shift is still pretty big.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I do, I do appreciate someone who was a Christian mystic who, you know, had tons of visions, whether or not they were driven by chloroform or not, you know, but, but who also took the time to, you know, write about, you know, what you should put in your cold cream and whether or not you should eat rye bread, you know, and how long you should be sleeping.
Speaker A:And also the fact that we're still like, good God, like, you're still.
Speaker A:That's the same goddamn advice we get today.
Speaker A:Like, nothing's changed.
Speaker A:Nothing ever changes.
Speaker A:Just right.
Speaker B:I don't know if that's reassuring or infuriating or both.
Speaker A:Just kind of.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:Time is circular, and I'm trying to, to get, to get with that.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker A:All right, cool.
Speaker A:Well, this.
Speaker A:We don't, we don't generally cheer jerk.
Speaker A:We just, we, we always awkwardly end more lore.
Speaker B:So there we go.
Speaker B:Y.
Speaker A:Thanks, guys.
Speaker B:Devil's Trap Podcast is a don't get it production.
Speaker A:Meow.
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