Days 5 and 6 - Teeth and Hair

Firstly I must apologise but the weather’s been so amazing over the past few days, that the last thing I’ve wanted to do is to sit in front of the computer.


Day 5 - Show your teeth - and how to turn household chores into exercise

Whenever you talk, laugh, smile or sing people are conscious of your teeth. They should be one of your real beauty points. Are they? Shining white? Immaculately clean, no stains?

Brush teeth at least twice a day, better still, three times or every time after eating, never skip bedtime brushing.

You need:

Two brushes: one for morning and one for night (why?) and ideally one for your handbag or office drawer. Toothbrush should be hard, once limp replace immediately.

Dental floss: one for your bathroom, another for your handbag

Powder, paste or liquid (I guess modern day toothpaste didn’t exist back then)

Mouth wash: An excellent mouth wash (or tooth powder) is bicarbonate of soda ground up with an equal amount of salt, this fights oral acidity (thanks but I’ll stick to my Colgate…)

General recommendations for healthy teeth:

Eat for teeth, your diet must include calcium, vitamins D, A and C.

Whilst you are brushing your teeth, pull in your stomach for a waist toning exercise.

Do not use your teeth to open safety pins, bottles, bobby pins, they are not made from stainless steel but enamel and enamel chips.

And finally see your dentist twice a year, they are not a madman with a riveting machine but your friend who wants to keep you from having cavities.

Ok, agreed I'll be making an appointment for a clean and check up asap all the other stuff I'm already doing.

Now that the teeth are covered, let's move on to stretching. For a busy working girl or a housewife, Mrs Colby recommends turning everyday chores into exercise:

1. When you make beds, do it the efficient way a nurse does, making up complete bed on one side first with hospital corners top and bottom for sheets and blankets and s-t-r-e-t-c-h to smooth everything across to the other side, I tried this and belly flopped on my super king size bed… My arms just aren't long enough, so unless you sleep in a single bed or have extremely long arms I think this stretch is a bit challenging, also I don't know what hospital corners are.

2. Crawl when you wash floors or scrub the tiles. Keep your back up not swasy backed you and your stomach pulled in, this is very good for your posture

3. Squat as you scrub the tub dust low places, or if you are a salesgirl straighten out stock and then twist and stretch to reach the things you are after

4. Push when you pick up the baby - or any weight. This way Bend your knees and make your legs push you back carrying the weight.

And for the working girl (no not that kind of working girl although I could think of a few on the job stretches for them too)

Stretch at the file cabinet, bend knees deeply and keep straight as you go through files stretching for the back ones. Sit with erect back and pulled in tummy as you type, pick up imaginary book on the floor by bending far over without moving hips from the chair.

Day 6 Your Crowning Beauty

Your hair’s character is formed as soon as it pushes out of the follicle, but you can always improve its looks by shining and vitalising it.

Wash your hair as often as it needs to be washed, oily or dry wash - repeatedly wash - until you have a clean scalp.

Before your shampoo dry hair and scalp you should give yourself an olive oil treatment, ideally the night before to loosen dirt and scale.

Hot oil treatment:
Heat some olive oil, section off your hair in inch wide parts all over your head, dip cotton swab in oil and scour parts with it covering every bit of scalp. Now wrap in a warm towel and let stand at least two hours, ideally overnight. When you take off the towel massage until scalp is loose and tingling.

Washing your hair:
Before washing your hair, look after the equipment, wash and sterilise your combs and brushes. A few drops of ammonia in a bowl of water ir a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda to a quart of water will lift off dirt. Rinse first with soapy, then with clean warm water, let dry. Never borrow someone else’s comb.


Hanging backwards over end of bed, arms and shoulders free (this is also an excellent exercise for your bosom apparently) work up from scalp, brush through your hair making sure you brush right out to the ends, when you get really good at this you can use two brushes simultaneously.

And now you are ready for, guess what! SOAP AND WATER!!!!

There are plenty of good shampoos made for your special hair type but bland soap shaved into a pint of warm water will do the same job

Wet your hair with warm water, then lather richly and wash off, repeat as many times as necessary long or heavily oiled hair may need up to three latherings. Your hair is clean when it squeaks.

For shine, rinse with vinegar or lemon juice.

Towel dry and then brush head down to improve circulation (next week we lean more about styling your hair)

If you cannot do a proper shampoo cleanse your hair with tonic or if you must with a dry shampoo but be careful, it’s really hard to get out of long or oily hair.

But whatever you do never ever let your hair smell bad, it is a huge turn off for men.

How to control various types of hair?

Coarse, wiry: This type is manageable if kept well lubricated and cut and shaped by a knowing pair of scissors. Use pomade to soften it. Give yourself regular warm oil shampoos.

Baby fine: This type of hair benefits from being cut quite short so it’s own weight won’t drag it down, lots of brushing up from scalp gives it shine and body.

Bushy, too curly: Use pomades to prevent kinking, use oil shampoos and lots of shaping brushing

Naturally curly: Oil shampoo keeps it getting too fluffy. Set it with the wave it has naturally.

Seems to me that conditioners and handheld blow driers were invented some time after The beauty book was published (according to Wikipedia modern day conditioner was created in 1980! Surely not?) All I can say is that I am happy to put olive oil in my hair, even rinse it with vinegar, although I'm not quite sure how this keeps it smelling nice, but I'm forever grateful for , Redken, TIGI, Paul Mitchell, Cutrin, John Frieda, Aussie and Pantene....and will not be swapping my products for soap shavings any time soon.



I am using images of the Hollywood beauties Mrs Colby refers to in these particular sections of the book, from the top Ann Blyth and Mary Martin (mother of JR Ewing, Larry Hagman).