Leisure into Loveliness
The “lazy days of summer” may take on deeper meaning next month during this time of pandemic. I plan to continue to quarantine to a larger degree than most even though I live by the sea and there are many temptations for socializing.
I took a peek into my favorite pedicure spot only to jump back out when I saw that they weren’t using partitions between seats and they had a packed house. I’ll be doing all my pedicures at home this summer.
The charming picture above is of one of my favorite 1960’s models, Susan Van Wyck. She, of the era of homegrown beauty care, has motivated me. A quick perusal of my Seventeen Book of Beauty has reinforced that with few exceptions, most women through the ages took care of their own hair, nails and skin in the comfort of their homes.
It was unheard of for my sister and I as teenagers and young women to find money for hair and nail appointments at salons. Only mothers had weekly beauty parlor visits for a shampoo and set. And to have anything such as a massage or waxing was positively unheard of. So instead, we instituted our very own and very sacrosanct “Beauty Parlor” nights.
Usually on Friday evenings, we would lay out all our supplies: bowls of warm soapy water for manicures, Avon cuticle cream (we had an “Avon Lady” across the street), a row of orange sticks, nail files and nail brushes, a jar of drugstore-mint julep face mask, and an assortment of other little helpers we were able to abscond from our mother’s linen closet stash of sundries. We shared an electric razor gifted to us at Christmas and took turns with that. Our nail varnish was a girly bottle of frosted pink, a la Cutex with the dangerously pointed and long white handle, also purchased at the local drugstore. After washing our hair at the kitchen sink, we were off. Even today when I call to ask my sister what she is up to, she will often answer, “Playing Beauty Parlor”. And I know exactly what she means…
Vintage beauty books are chock-full of methods for at-home beauty if you are lucky enough to still have your old Jr. High tome. My favorite is the aforementioned Seventeen book but most any can easily be found online. But Youtube videos will show you everything you need to know about every beauty maneuver known to woman.
This spring and now summer, we seem to have a little more leisure than we perhaps want. We most likely miss the pampering at the hair and nail salon. I would love a professional facial right about now. But finding ways to recreate these experiences has been very fulfilling and it has taught me that I can soothe myself quite nicely with my padding peregrinations from bedroom to bath and back again. Soon, I will see my grey hairs off as my blond fairy is opening up shop again. But for everything else, I intend to turn this long leisurely summer into what I hope is loveliness…
~
And Anne, frequently relaxing in a warm tub redolent of some spicy oil, agreed. People who take showers…wriggling her pink-enameled toes through the froth…have no dreamy occupied hour, when, with Hebe-like curls, terry robe and raspberry scuffs, she disappeared into “her” bathroom to stand, one finger tapping the famous nose, in pleasant uncertainty before her shelf of colored bottles. Soon, she would be drifting on the warm waves of Quelques Fleurs.
~To Tell Your Love, Mary Stolz, 1950
I would love to hear about your quarantine beauty routines…
9 Comments
Beth M.
This made me go find the Seventeen book that my mother (who now has dementia and tested positive for covid this week in her nursing home) gave me in 2014 as a birthday joke, because I was such a Seventeen fan (the book of etiquette) — she wrote “from when there were rules!” and just seeing her handwriting brought tears. I had a mint face mask back in the day, that dried and peeled off, and I wish I could remember the name of it, because I’d go looking for some.
I guess I’ve never been a beauty parlor girl, because all my beauty treatments have been at home! I designate Sundays as beauty day, and do hair treatments (deep conditioning, rice water, vinegar rinse types of things) and cut my hair, do my nails, maybe a face mask or some kind of luxurious moisturizing — and then I get dressed up, too, because I work as a home health care aide during the week and am stuck in scrubs, so I truly miss wearing clothes that I love and that make me feel good. Some sentimental jewelry and a spritz of perfume and I’m good to stay right here and do very little, but at least it makes me feel like myself again.
Loved reading this post and the way your writing takes me back to times when it was much more pleasant to be around.
A Lovely Inconsequence
Hi Beth, I think the mask was just called Mint Julep. Best wishes and healing for your Mom and God bless you for your work as a home health aid – not an easy job! But I love the way you keep your personal style going even in scrubs. Yes, better times back in our true Seventeen years! But at least we can bring some of the principles forward to our current times – makes life worthwhile! Thank you so much for your readership.
Margaret Powling
I don’t know that model, Donna. In the 1950s Barbara Goalen (who was once described as the most photographed woman in Britain) and Jean Dawnay were the top models in this country (UK) and in the 1960s, Twiggy (Lesley Hornby) and Jean Shrimpton (aka the Shrimp). Being an only child, I didn’t enjoy the companionship of having beauty evenings as you mention, but I was always interested in beauty and from a very early age developed a skin care regime having read about it in magazines – cleanse, tone, nourish, were the three stages of skin care in the 1950s/1960s. Now we have so many things form which to choose, and really, what are these “serums” if not simply an oil for the skin, rather than simply a cream? Calling things “serum” tends to put them in the medicine cabinet for me; maybe the manufacturers will think that we will think they are medically approved and therefore are “bound to work”!
The magazine I loved in those dim and distant days was called Honey. It was for teenage girls and I loved it.
Karen
I had to look up your word “peregrinations”. Love that. It seems to embody a lot of the COVID lifestyle, circuitous journeys to nebulous destinations and then right back home. I remember many beauty parlour moments with friends in high school. Pouring over Seventeen magazine for inspiration – my favourite cover girl was always Cheryl Tiegs. I still always do my own manicures, pedicures, facials, etc. I find the activity itself is more soothing than achieving the final result. This is a lovely post. Thank you. xo karen
LA CONTESSA
SUCH GOOD ADVISE AND YES THAT IS HOW I GREW UP TOO………..ONLY MANICURE for a BIG EVENT like 8th grade graduation etc……..it is VERY SOOTHING TO ME to TAKE CARE and it does RELAX ME AS WELL!
XX
Donna Nance
Thanks for sharing the memories of beauty parlor night with your sister. What a great time of bonding. I love that you both still indulge in this special time. After reading this post, I decided that a time of grooming would be a good idea!
Christie McCann
Thanks for sharing. That’s a good quotation you found to complete your post. I have to agree with the character that baths are much better than showers. After enduring four years in shower only housing, a bathroom with a large bathtub was on the essential list as we went house-hunting!
Karen
I love this! I vividly remember the paraphernalia and the excitement of getting ready to do home version of facials, manicures, and pedicures. There was some thing exciting and relaxing at the same time about these rituals. And we had full confidence that we would be able to do it! We didn’t have to spend money for others to do it for us, did we? When we browsed the drugstore shelves for those scary looking cute texts nail polish bottles, or mysteriously granular scrubbers that promised a smooth skin from Natural Wonder, or lemon scented shampoo that guaranteed us silky, fragrant trusses, we knew, with a little effort, we, too, could emerge from our bathrooms and bedrooms as well turned out and beautiful as any Seventeen model. Well I’d like to write more, but I’m off to go care for my toes!
Cherre Henderson
Hi Donna.
I really enjoyed your description of your beauty parlor night with your sister. What wonderful memories.