For months, I’ve been slowly chewing on Jeanne Rose’s Herbal Body Book.
It’s so lovely and just overflowing with excellent bath and body recipes for every skin type and issue known to man. If I may, it’s also kind of a homemade beauty bible – for those of us with the proclivity to go there.
The best part about this book, though, is that it’s peppered throughout with quotes from two very old manuscripts – The Toilet of Flora (published in 1779) and Delightes for Ladies (published in 1609).
Talk about generational learning!
Curiously, I searched to see if these books were online – and they are (for the most part). And after perusing what’s there, I picked out a few we might be able to translate to the year 2011.
These are just a handful of beauty/household tips that I found particularly curious (but the links to both texts are below – so browse through them and see if you can find more). Will they work in our lives today, without having to use pig’s lard and boil bones?
(Fingers crossed.)
Olden Day Recipes – How Weird Are They?
First up, from the small excerpt from Delightes For Ladies that I could find online:
16. To help a face that is red or pimpled
Dissolve common Salt in the iuyce of Lemmons, and with a linnen cloth pat the patients face that is full of heat or pimples. It cureth in a few dressings.
Does this translate today?: Heck yeah! One of the most well-known home remedies for getting rid of pimples is lemon juice, and even though salt is reported as comedogenic, I’ve read hundreds of reports from acne sufferers that this exact remedy works for them today. And I bet they didn’t even know how far back this wisdom went.
Crazy.
Now, from the Toilet of Flora:
115. A Simple Depilatory
Oil of Walnuts frequently rubbed on a child’s forehead will prevent hair from growing in that part.
Does this translate today? I have no idea. Do any of you want your kids’ hair to, um, not grow? That just doesn’t seem like a translatable cosmetic issue in this day and age. However! For the next few weeks, after I shave my legs, I’m going to slather on walnut oil (which I conveniently have and have never used) to see what happens.
Back to Delightes for Ladies!
35. Sweet bags to lye among linnen.
Fill your bags only with Lignum Rhodium finely beaten, and it will give an excellent sent to your linnen.
Does this translate today? Exactly! What the author is talking about here is what we know as rosewood (lignum rhodium). So … it’s very, very similar to closet and shoe cedarwood and redwood chips that you can buy in any dang store today. How cool is that?
And from Toilet of Flora:
174. Paste of dried Almonds to cleanse the Skin.
Beat any quantity you please of Sweet and Bitter Almonds in a marble mortar, and while beating, pour on them a little Vinegar in a small stream to prevent their turning oily: then add two drachms of Storax in fine powder, two ounces of White Honey, and two Yolks of Eggs boiled hard; mix the whole into a paste.
Does this translate today? Well, it helps to know what Storax is (it’s a resin from the Sweetgum tree, genus Styrax). It looks as though no one sells Storax any longer, so we can just toss that tiny ingredient out. Although, of note, it’s featured in MANY recipes within this book.
So if we toss out Storax, what do we get? A recipe that looks like something we’d call our own. Finely ground almonds, vinegar, honey, egg yolks?
Add a thing or two to the No-Nonsense Daily Scrub, and that is exactly what you have!
One last recipe from Toilet of Flora (because the end of it made me laugh:
190. A Yellow Lip-Salve.
Take Yellow Bee’s Wax, two ounces and a half Oil of Sweet Almonds, a quarter of a pint; melt the Wax in the OIl and let the mixture stand till it become cold, when it acquires a pretty stiff consistence. Scrape it into a marble mortar, and rub it with a wooden pestle, to render it perfectly smooth. Keep it for use in a gallypot, closely covered.
It is emollient and lenient; of course good for chaps in the lips, hands, or nipples; and preserves the skin soft and smooth.
A Crust of Bread applied hot, is an efficacious remedy for pimples that rife on the lips, in consequence of having drank out of a glass after an uncleanly person.
Does this translate to today? Well, it sounds like just about any easy homemade lip balm recipe you could find. So … yay us for keeping the wisdom alive through the ages!
The last part, though, about treating what sounds to be herpes simplex with a crust of hot bread … I dunno. I think I’ll just continue not drinking out of a glass after an uncleanly person, thank you very much.
The links to both of these incredibly wise books:
- The Toilet of Flora or, A collection of the most simple and approved methods of preparing baths, essences, pomatums, powders, perfumes, and sweet-scented waters : with receipts for cosmetics of every kind … for the use of ladies. – 1779
- Delightes For Ladies: to adorn their persons, tables, closets, and distillatories with beauties, banquets, perfumes and waters. (This is not a full text.) – 1602
Bonus From Stephanie!
Our very own Stephanie from Make It, Bake It, Buy It, Fake It emailed me this ad from a 1919 Indiana newspaper.
It may be a little hard to read the text, but basically it’s telling the people of the day NOT to use soap in their hair (because it’s drying and bad) and to, instead, use emulsified coconut oil.
Again, wisdom from 1919, my friends.
We’ve come a long way (to get back to what we knew to be true in the first place).
Phew, it’s a long trip full-circle, but it’s worth it.
Don’t you think?
This Month, You INTEND to … !!!
I kept reading the excerpts from the books with an English accent in my head -.- This article is really cool though, I mean to think that the beauty tips we know today were used back 400 years ago. That, is so much more interesting than learning about the systems of the Puritans.
I find the best way to use coconut oil is to rub it in to dry hair, throw on a baseball cap and go ride ur horse, walk the dogs, house/ yard work ( anything that doesn’t involve meeting people u know!) Then shampoo out when u take your shower. I have straight very fine hair and this works perfectly for me, split ends an frizz disappear its magic 🙂
i heart u guys n i heart this discussion. ive gone no poo before but because i have curly hair and there is a book for ppl w curly hair which suggests not to was with poo or conditioner bc we have natural oils etc that do the moisturizing, just rinse w water. it takes getting used to, like a week or two, but then ur hair is always good. for ppl with straight and/or fine hair idk. the more and more i read of this blog, the more n more i wana go crunchy but i love make up n coloring my hair too much right now to abandon everything. step by step man step by step
I have a really high forehead, and I’ve always been self-conscious about it, and it’s actually really encouraging to hear that people used to do this intentionally 🙂
Ooh, this is really interesting!
I wonder if the walnut oil thing is related to the Elizabethan high forehead ideal. Women used to pluck their hairlines to make their foreheads look bigger, so I can imagine trying to prevent the growth altogether would be an attractive option. I’ve no idea if it was effective, though.
so does the walnut oil help prevent hair growth?
I found another (less greasy haired) possibility for the coconut oil shampoo. This website (no affiliation, just bought some awesome coconut oil on sale a few days ago and happened to see this product) sells plain old saponified coconut oil soap:
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/organic_natural_soaps.htm
I just ordered some so I’ll try washing my hair with it and report back!
Forgot to add – My husband thought of a great reason for wanting to put walnut oil on a child’s forehead to keep hair from growing in a certain spot: preventing unibrow. I could have seriously done with a remedy like this in my preteen years.
If the “emusified” coconut oil made a lather as the old advert says, I’d be willing to bet that the product is actually coconut oil soap. You can still find some soaps made with just saponified coconut oil in health food stores; I was going to try some once I use up my stash of Dr. Bronners & Chagrin Valley soaps. Especially since so much of the palm oil comes from plantations that exploit indigenous peoples & destroy rainforests. Which sucks. 🙁
I’ll bet the coconut oil was emulsified into a non-alkaline shampoo base.
http://www.americanartarchives.com/mulsified.htm
I tried the emulsified coconut deal – it sucked. Maybe my ratios are bad. I did 30% liquid soy lecithin and 70% pure unrefined organic virgin coconut oil (not cheap). It did NOT lather, it did NOT wash away dirt and dust and my hair is NOT fresh, bright, or fluffy.
I think that ad was from some snake oil sales man or something…..
Anyone else have any luck?
Oooo, after reading Michelle’s comment above, I’m now hesitant to try using lecithin as the emulsifier. But I did find this website that uses coconut oil to make homemade conditioner:
http://www.easy-aromatherapy-recipes.com/natural-hair-conditioner.html
Maybe the key ingredient is the emulsifying wax? I don’t suppose anyone knows any actual stores that carry that, I can only find it online.
Great post! I’ve been researching the emulsified coconut oil – it seems to be used today as an additive to cattle feed, to aid digestion I think. That might explain why it was cheap and easy to find locally back than, or maybe people even took it orally for health reasons, as today. As for the emulsifying agent, I’ve read in a couple sites that coconut wax and possibly coconut milk act as emulsifyers, but I’m not sure how exactly. However, in addition to egg yolks lecithin comes from some animal organ tissues, so maybe that’s the lecithin they used in the long long ago. BUT why bother with all that fuss when you can buy organic liquid soy lecithin?
If it really is as easy as stirring two liquids together, this sounds like the homemade shampoo for me! I’m going to try it this afternoon… wish me luck!
Welp, I tried 50/50 coconut oil and soy lecithin and it was nothing short of an unqualified disaster. I couldn’t even spread it through my hair, and it took several washes with sulfate shampoo (which I NEVER use anymore) to get it out. Back to the drawing board for this betty.
This is just so awesome!!! Definitely updates on the walnut oil….I am very interested!!! I think it was meant for facial hair and such….and searching for books and reading them right away!!!
This completely confirms what I believed to be true sine I went crunchy. I always thought, “what the heck did people do before mass produced commercial beauty products?! I don’t believe that everyone had horrible acne and other skin issues before benzoyl peroxide and salicyclic acid were sold to the masses”. This just confirms that I don’t have to waste my money on “conventional” (fabricated and full of chemicals) beauty products when natural remedies work better and have for centuries.
I’m pretty new to the site but saw this and had to post. I sometimes wish I could go back a hundred years(or maybe a few hundred) and see how people lived then and what they used for washing, cleaning, and everything else. I think coconut oil in it’s natural state will leave the hair pretty greasy if you use too much. I use coconut oil as a leave in conditioner since my hair tends to be dry at the ends. I just use a little amount and rub it in my hands and then put it on the dry ends. Sometimes my hands need it more than my hair. I am unsure how mixing it with lecithin will get it to wash your hair. It might be better to try it on a day your not going somewhere just in case. I really enjoy reading everything on the site! Thanks!
OMG…one of my favorite things in the whole world is to find a vintage homemaking or cook book. Anytime I’m anywhere they sell old books, I’m on the hunt. Once I find one…DON’T BOTHER ME FOR THREE DAYS…I must devour. Best thing? When you find the original owner’s notes in the margins.
These recipes are both precious and useful! Loved this 🙂
I love reading wisdom from old books! This reminded me that I saw somewhere a couple of old cookbooks at my mother’s. I should really get them and scan them, to preserve what could be a wonderful treasure.
Also, I’m in the camp of people who have faith in science and future. I don’t think that in the next 400 years people will no longer know what an egg is or won’t be able to get them. They’ll also probably cost the same as now in comparison with the money they will get in the future. The difference will likely be that they’ll have a lot more new food at much lower prices, so eggs and other common products today might become a bit “expensive” compared to future common products.
Actually, I think egg yolk is an emulsifier, too. I am going to try that mixed with coconut oil as shampoo and see what happens.
Very interested in how this turns out!! No poo has been my only natural beauty fail so far. Would love to even the score for natural beauty!!!!
If you use the egg yolk or the whole egg, be sure and rinse with cooler water than normal. If you use hot water to rinse, you will have scrambled eggs in your hair which is very hard to get out. I know this from experience 🙁 You could try mayonnaise mixed with coconut oil since the majority of mayo is eggs.
I checked on egg yolks being emulsifiers, and you were right. Also, this is probably much more likely to be used seeing the date of the article. I’m thinking of trying this today too, will share results (even if they’re a horror story).
And thanks, ladeedah. I would have probably used hot water, since I lack some common sense in simple things. I believe you just saved me. 🙂
I mixed 1 tbsp coconut oil with 1 egg yolk yesterday. In the time that it took to get from kitchen to shower, the mixture had already formed a thick, aerated paste.
I applied it, rubbed it in and let it sit on my hair while I showered. Then, I rinsed out with pretty warm water (regular shower temp) – no scrambled eggs. I felt like I got the mixture out of my hair. I towel dried, combed and went to bed. This morning, I woke up with soft, curly hair. It looked fine. Then I wet it down and blow dried it (mea culpa).
Blowdried, you could see how incredibly greasy my ‘do was.
I am wearing a pony tail today.
I wonder if you added some non-fat item, like apple cider vinegar to the mixture, whether it would produce better results…
Looked up emulsifiers and honey and mustard are also listed… May try to coconut oil plus honey today… We’ll see how brave I get!!
good luck 😉
I tried a mixture of less than a tablespoon of coconut oil and over two tablespoons of honey. Almost a combination of 1:3.
I put it in my wet hair, while in the shower and washed it out at the end of showering. Then tried to let it air dry for a bit before blow drying. I have straight fine hair and this coconut oil and honey mixture left my hair too oily for even putting in a ponytail. I ended up having to wash it again. Even after a wash with shampoo the hair is still greasy, but at least it’s now in a sort of wearable state. So at best, this could be a rather nice mask for hair before washing it.
I wonder if I would get different results if I used pure lecithin and not honey.
I wonder if the grade of coconut oil makes a difference?
Actually, it was probably a product that would be shelf-stable… which egg is not. It says it is available (ready made) from the drugstore, and a few ounces will last the family for months. It may not have been emulsified with lecithin, but I don’t think that egg would have been used for this reason.
Hm, good point. Just because it’s the start of 20th century, doesn’t mean all people enjoyed or had time to make things from scratch every day.
I should really look up more emulsifiers like Beth and try one that sounds best. Yesterday I couldn’t try this out since I had very little time left to go to uni and going outside without knowing first what I might have on my head is a bit daunting for me.
I just want to say I LOVE this site and WOW… I need to try all of these. Like now. Today. 🙂 So much fun to be had!!! Thank you Crunchy Betty for such a fantastic blog. I haven’t known about it for long but look forward to every new post.
Ditto! Well done, Betty!
Kinda a sobering thought.
Makes you wonder what our books are gonna look like to our Great great .. so on generations in 400 – 500 years. Are they even going to know what an egg is, what coconut oil is…? Stop and think for a minute how much our ancestors left us that we are able to go back to. Now I wonder what we have to leave to our future generations other than a mucked up planet and synthetic chemicals, oil spills and global warming. Will they be able to look back at what we commonly use now and know what these ingredients are? Will they still have them, in any form? Will they KNOW that natural products are healthier for them or will we have killed everything natural by then? I hope people like us, those on this site and others like it, can help reform the world and to bring understanding that processed isn’t best, what nature provides is what we NEED. A “Natural” movement. Its coming. Lets push… HARD!
RAWR
This is so weird. I just saw walnut oil at the grocery store and thought “I wonder what that would be good for?” Now I know!
FYI, the beauty trend back then was to have high foreheads, so the upper class would remove an inch or more from their natural hairlines, and I guess they did it to their girls, too.
Margie, this is not weird but completely natural and how it should be for everyone on every day, I call it cosmic synchronicity. Simply put, when one wants something, the universe supplies it, in this case information. In a very general sense I guess, that’s what the christianity teaching means, “ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find”. This synchronicity happens when we send out a thought through our hearts to the universe (not through our usually overrated and unbalanced brains). I’ve read that the more balanced and healed a person is, which I understand as the more the chakras are open and aligned, the stronger the signal the person can send to the universe and also receive from the cosmos, and not necessarily in that order b/c the universe is constantly sending signals to us. We humans and quite possibly other beings too have this ability built-in when we are born, although conventional and mainstream opinions (science, religion, education) keep making it seem downright ludicrous. You can look up Dolores Cannon or Gregg Braden and others on youtube, they can explain it much much better. And David Icke too.
Love and peace 🙂
I’m so curious if the walnut oil thing works on leg hair! I happen to have some walnut oil too… I wonder if I could be consistent enough with applying it to see if it works. Although I have been putting coconut oil on my legs before and after showering, so I guess I could just switch to walnut oil for a while and see if my legs need shaving less. Sounds like a fun challenge.
I’m interested in trying out that coconut oil hair recipe (I’m addicted to all things about coconut oil), but am wondering what is the difference between normal coconut oil and the emulsified ones. I guess I can only get the normal version locally.
The history buff in me loves this!
I have actually used that recipe (not knowing how old it was either) for “Yellow Lip-Salve.” I love it! It is not greasy or too thick, just smooth and moisturizing.
I assume the emulsifying part is essential to the whole lathering part, but where would I get that/how would I make it? I already have regular coconut oil.
Lecithin is an emulsifier: http://www.ehow.com/how_5747047_emulsify-coconut-oil.html Just looked it up and a pound of lecithin at Mountain Rose Herbs is $10. I bet that pound would last for-ever!
I found lecithin in bulk in a local health food store and purchased a small amount for pennies. I’ve used it several times and still have plenty left. Mine, though, is not liquid. I’m searching for a method with lecithin granules….
I am curious to where you find emulsified coconut oil or how you make it? I think I would like to give it a try!
Pop by the health food store (or other natural store) and get some lecithin. Here’s a tutorial on how to do it (not sure how well this works, as I’ve never tried it before): http://www.ehow.com/how_5747047_emulsify-coconut-oil.html
So…… are you gonna try it? 🙂
Have you tried using coconut oil as “shampoo” before? I’ve been meaning to do it, but haven’t yet. I’m gonna get on that, though.
Hi! Long time lurker, first time commenter. I’d been no ‘poo for about 3 weeks with my scalp still being incredibly itchy with awful dandruff the day after a wash with BS & ACV. I got desperate so I tried mixing some tea tree oil into a couple teaspoons of coconut oil. It felt wonderful on but I couldn’t get it out. After 2 hours of more ACV rinses, another BS wash, and grabbing my bar of sulfate & paraben free soap I was still left with a greasy, tangly mess. I had no choice. I had to be at work in an hour so I broke down & washed twice with my step-daughter’s shampoo (didn’t have any Ivory soap) followed by another ACV rinse. Now I’m itchy again & feel I’m back to square one on my trek into no ‘poo land. Those of you thinking about using just coconut oil, do you have any tips for getting it out of your hair?
Ouch! I tried to deep-condition with olive oil once after going no ‘poo. It took a week to come out.
Emuslified coconut oil is different from plain coconut oil. The emulsifier (soy lechthin or similar) makes it lather and not greasy, so it washes right out.
Fascinating! I have oodles of coconut oil and lecithin. How does one make emulsified coconut oil?
Never done it, but there’s probably tutorials in the internets. 🙂