Inventory Day

Day 8 - Inventory

All the way through this course and for as long as you are interested in being an interested person, which I hope is for life - use Sundays as your inventory day.
Check your assets and take out your liabilities and look them into face. Enjoy your progress, congratulate yourself on improvements, that’s your credit side. Make some definite plans about the debit side.

There isn’t an ugly woman in the world, there are undiscovered women, unrealised girls who have not had the drive and determination to create beauty within themselves, to uncover the hidden charms that every woman possesses.

There is a basis for beauty that cannot be manufactured - genuine peace with yourself. This is the most important thing I can ever tell you: Contentment is a woman’s best cosmetic. The look of happiness on your face will be worth all the make up tricks you can ever learn. Beauty and health shine from within. But the most beautiful look in the world is the glow on the face of a woman in love. You will have to take care of falling in love yourself, all I can do is help you to become lovable. Then even though I can’t guarantee a delivery of a man at your feet by the end of this course, I’ll be tempted to bet on it.
~Anita Colby~

Use your Sundays to actively cultivate your soul. Give it a good spiritual exercise. Relax during the day with a book of good thinking and do some reading (Mrs Colby recommends: Three Minutes a Day by Father James Keller or As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. Madame MG recommends Creative Visualisation by Shakti Gawain or anything by Dr Wayne Dyer).

Then take yourself outdoors or to somewhere else that inspires you; the fashion collection at Victoria and Albert Museum works for me every time. This is how you clear out cobwebs from your mind, eradicate worries and belittle your own troubles

And finally grade yourself from 1 to 10 for degree of accomplishment, be fair and honest.


My weekly score:

1. Have you followed the basic principles of the course - diet exercise, rest? 6/10
2. Have you intelligently done your daily 1,2,3 beauty routine? 7/10
3. Are your teeth, hair, hands and clothing well groomed? 6/10
4. Can you do your exercises well? 9/10
5. Do you practise good posture constantly and back it up with daily deep breathing sessions? 7/10
6. Can you relax completely to relieve tension of mind and body? 8/10
7. Are you breaking your bad habits, tidying up your mind? 5/10
8. Are you widening the horizon of you interestes, your friends, your hobbies and cultural pursuits? 8/10
9. Do you find your viewpoint, your effectiveness as person improving with your physical appearance? 7/10
10. Have you found a true, living, working faith? 8/10

Score: 71/100

I didn’t score too badly, I’ve stuck to the cleansing plan, but traded soap and water to some Lancôme cleanser and toner, my blackheads are disappearing even though the only major difference to my normal routine is cleansing my face with a cleanser in the morning too, previously I would have just used a bit of toner after shower and before moisturising, now I cleanse properly twice a day.

I have done my exercises, not every day but a good five times so far and tilt myself into Hollywood Slant at every opportunity, it feels great, you should try it.

But I have to come clean, diet wise this week has been a disaster… wine, beer, ice cream. pizza, cake and all sorts of other lovely things that you are supposed to enjoy in moderation - not daily! I seriously need to plan my eating a bit better. Wine is great and British summer so short (and often non-existent) that it seems a pity to say no to an ice cream when it’s really hot, but needs must.

So for next week I’m going to focus on the diet bit.

I took a sneak peek to what’s in store in the coming week and there’s manicure, sunbathing, hairstyling and towards to end of the week we are finally getting to my favourite part; make up!

Personal Habits - They Make or Break a Beauty

Day 7 - Breaking Bad Habits & Date Night

Use your Saturdays to collect yourself to restore order to your mind, your body and your belongings.

All the things your do from the moment you wake up until you shut your eyes at night form a pattern of your life, your self-portrait to the world. You are simply the sum of the million little things you do every day. So the way to change yourself is to check off bad habits and break them.

Stop picking on yourself:
Some of the things you say to yourself you would never say to someone you love. Be kind to yourself and stop comparing your looks to somebody else's. Learn how to look like yourself, but your very best, individual self. Analyse and study your face and body for their own special assets and then polish yourself from top to toe.

Do you flounder through life? Are you the kind of person who is always having accidents? Do you let things "just happen" to you, lose interest, or your grip or your man?
Coordinate yourself, keep your body in such poised and perfect alignment that it takes you beautifully through life. Keep your mind in balance too. Plan your life, your time, your budget, your pleasure and your duties, so that you make things happen as you want them to.

Do you get slipshod about being clean, clean, clean ,clean? There is no basis for beauty not even for self respect except scrupulous cleanliness.
Follow your cleansing regime religiously.

Do you gobble heavy, rich foods when your skin and your figure tell you you shouldn't?
Eat with sense, follow your diet, count your calories.

Do you let careless elimination habits (that's having a poo to you and me)cloud up your skin and vitality?
Try to establish regular daily hours for your body's elimination habits. Drink enough water if you're not regular - 6 to 8 glasses between meals - but no more.

Do you wave dry, wrinkled paws?
Moisturise your hands at every opportunity, after carefully drying every finger, every inch of palm, use lotion, keep a bottle in your bathroom, by the kitchen sink, on your nightstand... A daytime glove habit keeps your hands protected summer or winter (plus looks super elegant!)

Are you armadillo elbowed?
Oil a lot, at night, before baths. In the tub take a scrubbing brush and soap to work off tough outer skin. Dip elbows into halves of lemons after you've pumiced and oiled them.

Have you got fresh breath?
Even your best friend won't tell you if you smell bad, but stinky breath makes a girl about as uncharming as a girl can be. Do your proper tooth brushing after every meal or munch hard fruit and raw vegetables to clean the teeth. Keep a moutwash in you desk drawer at work, see a dentist regulardy and don't specialise in high smelling food or drink. (Now if only she had given advice on how to let somebody know they have a vile breath without upsetting them...)

How about BO?
Keep clean, fresh and fuzzfree, use deodorants and antiperspirants.

Do you allow underarm or leg fuzz to grow?
Don't! Shave regularly, at least two or three times a week and don't think stockings are going to hide unshaved legs, it's like putting your legs under glass.

Do you live with messy dressing table, bureau, drawers?
Tidy up your table tops, put underwear, stockings, gloves, scarves, bags and sweaters in proper drawers. Put sachets, scented lining paper or emptied perfume bottles in your bureau. At work keep a small space in the back of your drawer for your cosmetics, moutwash and comb.



Date Night

What do you do when you have got a date at eight but you are exhausted after shopping all day? (I hope you sneaked a look at yourself in the shop window - are you a better looking girl than a week ago? Did you have a posture so regal you could have put those parcels on the top of your head and carried them right back home?)

But your feet ache, your hair is stringy, you are tired all over and there's just an hour to go.

Start from the feet, rub and massage deeply with olive oil and then a quick shower or do a contrast bath like Betty Grable (picture above) used to do, stinging hot and then icy cold sprays, scrubbing with a brush and massaging.

Set your hair in cologne, it dries quickly and makes your hair smell lovely to the man you are dancing with.

Cream Clean your face, long and thoroughly, smoothing away the tired lines, then tone and lubricate (that's moisturise to you and me)

Make eye lotion pads and lay them on your lids (cucumber slices, teabags, table spoons that have been in the fridge for a bit or just a simple gel eye mask will also do the trick).

Now the Hollywood Slant, put those feet up and massage them if they are still giving you trouble, use a menthol foot cream. Before you put your shoes on sprinkle shoes and feet with talcum powder. Go limp, see black and lie there for 15 minutes with blood flowing to recharge your face.
Now then, refreshed and bright eyed, remove the cream from your face, put on your make up and perfume the pulse spots of your body, brush out your hair, slip into your date dress and shoes, comb your hair into shape, blot on some lipstick, check your reflection in the mirror and go and have fun.

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).

The Hollywood Slant

People of the theatre have always known this simple fact, that you have to help your heart circulate. Blood flowing into the brain up into the neck and face. Myself for a few minutes each day , I stand on my head, I have been doing it for fifty years.
~Elsie Mendl~

A woman starts aging from the head down, so you must learn to give face, neck and shoulders more circulation, but luckily this doesn't mean you have to do headstands, although by all means do if you can.

Lean an ironing board against a low bed, put pillows under your bum and and heels on wall, reverse your angle on sofa or chaise longue, head down, feet up. Do anything to put your body on about a 30 to 45 degree upslant. Start off with 10 minutes at a time, work up to 20, then to a half hour a day.

Lie this way when talking on the phone, while waiting for your nail polish to dry, while you give yourself a facial or simply whilst daydreaming. But do it everyday, get a fresh supply from your own fountain of youth. All the delicate muscles of face and neck slide back up into positions that make a lovelier face. Jaw and cheeck contours firm up, down drooping lines disappear, chins undouble and you’ve fought off old age a bit.

Apparently everybody in Hollywood does it, to freshen themselves in the short breathers on location, to relax after a long day's shooting and to restore their looks and minds.

Ginger Rogers used to drop off for fifteen minute naps with her heels hung up over the head of her bed. Olivia de Havilland went over her lines with her head on the floor and her feet on the side of a couch. Eve Arden rested between scenes with her feet propped on the wall.

Old Books, New Tricks

As I mentioned in my first post, my years of rummaging old dusty book shops weren’t in vain, it was a fun and educational journey.

I have learned many wonderful, timeless, practical, fun and sometimes just downright weird ideas about how to look your best.

One of my favourite crazy tips is the instant facelift that you do yourself with bits of sticky tape and elastic bands.
You cut the tape into small pie shaped wedges and sew a piece of elastic to the narrow end of the wedge. Then stick the bits directly in front of each ear, pull the elastic bands tightly together and tie them together at the back of the head. Cover with hair... et voilà! 10 years younger!
I can't help but wonder what would happen if the elastic snapped half way through a tête-à-tête with a new lover, it could take his eye out and would definitely leave you lopsided and dying of embarassment.

Apparently the legendary Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper was a fan of these quick pick me ups.


Another priceless tip from the same book (The Masters Way to Beauty, George Masters 1977) is for married women.

This is how you keep the magic in your marriage past the wedding day. Each night before bed cleanse your face and apply fresh natural looking make up so you look enticing at bedtime. Hide a tiny alarm clock under your pillow and set it to wake you 20 minutes before your husband. Sneak out of bed, wash off your bedtime make up and apply your "fresh as a daisy" wake up make up (still keeping it natural), brush your teeth and get back to bed before your husband's alarm clock goes off....


In another book I found a 3-day grape juice diet. I needed to look good in a strapless ballgown and thought a couple of days would be just enough to flatten my tummy and make me feel thinner. I was very disappointed to discover that wine does not count as grapejuice and after 3 days of starvation and dizzyness I realised that all the weight had gone from my boobs, disastrous when the dress needs to fit like a glove in order to stay on.



Day 3 Beauty Habits

How to cream clean your face
First tie your hair back with a ribbon, remove lipstick and mascara with cream so you won’t push them back in your pores.
Apply cream generously with both hands so you don’t favour one side over the eother. Make sure every pore is covered, especially around nostrils, mouth corners, underlip and back of neck. Practice stroking with an upward-outward motion, gently so as not to stretch the skin.

1. At base of throat use right hand on left neck and vice versa, increasing pressure on up strokes

2. Repeat same motions from chin to ear

3. Repeat from nose to temples

4. Stroke up between eyes and out over forehead.

Finish by circling in under eyes and out over lidps very gently, This area where wrinkles show first needs constant soakiing with lubricating cream, eye cream, vegetable oils (!!) after you’ve passed thirty. Gently pat into eyelids
Let cleansing cream sink into your face a few seconds before removing with a tissue.
After you have cleaned off make-up your face should breathe overnight.

Deep Breathing

Remember every tissue and cell of your body need oxygen, be sure you take ime out once a day to get plenty of fresh air. Take at least 40 deep breaths.
Don’t be a sissy about outdoor sports. In winter dress warmly and ski, skate or walk. In summer don’t lie about exposed just to catch a male eye or a good suntan, play, swim, exercise.

Diet and Exercise 1950's Style

Day 2: Today we will take up caring for your body


During this course we're going to peel off a whole layer of tired you...find that smoother, better functioning skin that lives beneath your present one.

Mrs Colby then progresses to explain the benefits of daily showers and/or baths over 5 pages!

All so obvious and a boring that I won't repeat it. Tomorrow will be a bit of a dull day too, all about cream cleansing your face and proper breathing.
In fact the first few days of this course are not particularly entertaining. But later we'll learn about hairstyles, make up (we'll even measure our faces to figure out whether our faces are diamonds, oblongs, pears or something else...)how to talk to a man and all sorts of other wonderful things.

So while we are waiting for the interesting bits to start, let's talk about diet and exercise.


Watch those first three pounds and you’ll never be overweight

Sound advice, but for those of us who didn’t watch those first three pounds Anita Colby gives a 14-day eating plan….

You should eat every day:
A pint of milk
1 egg
A serving of meat and fish
Tomatoes or citrus fruits
Leafy green vegetables
Yellow vegetables
Other fruit and vegetables
Cereal, bread
Small amount of sugars
Small amount of fats
Eat 3 meals a day, following the low calorie diet <1400kcal

Diet combined with exercise will make you lose faster, If you are overweight you are overeating. Exercise alone won’t make you lose but it tightens and tones your muscles and can change proportions of you figure. I am giving you Special Exercises for Special Places, pick two of each of your spots that need attention and do them daily just before you go to bed.
Plus a 10 minute posture tone up and deep breathing before breakfast and a brisk walk during the day will improve your outlook and benefit your face and figure


The Special Places mentioned above are: bosom, waist, hips, legs

As I'm happy with my boobs and hips I picked waist and legs, these exercises should be repeated every night, no matter how tired you feel as apparently it is not so much physical tiredness as nerve tautness and these exercises will not only slim you but will also unravel nerves and make you sleep better.

For Joan Bennett's waistline: Apparently Joan Bennett's (see below) waistline is what we all should aim for, and this is how:
Stand up on your knees arms streched overhead. Stretch upward, puling your middle high and taut, now shove your right hip out as far sideways as you can pulling upward with clasped hands over your head. Roll body forward and down, then toward right, on around to the back, keeping your back straight, stomach muscles pulling for balance. Roll clear around to the left side, then front and up again in your right hip out position. Come to centre, relax on your kneese, repeat on left side. 6 reps per side. ???? I have no idea what I just typed means?
Joan Bennett

The Hollywood Fling: this move was devised by Jim Davies, exercise coach of Paramount Studions to make star's waists longer and supple.
In a sitting position, set legs wide apart, with toes pointing outward. Stretch arms out from shoulders in T formation , swing body forward and down twisting it to bring the right hand clear across and down to left foot, return to starting position and repeat to the other side, repeat 6 times in total. (can be also done from standing position)







Now some exercises for better legs. Fatty knees will will imporove with this: Lie on back, legs together, hands clasped behind neck. Now raise right leg, point toe, stiffen knee and at 45 degree angle draw circles in the air with your toe. 6 reps per side

For lovely slim calves: hold onto back of chair, with feet held together slowly lower yourself to a deep knee bend keeping on the balls of the feet with a straight back. Do not squat on your heels.








As a bonus I'm giving you Walking on hips, just because it looks funny and my husband nearly died of laughter when I bumwalked up and down the hall this morning. (Now that I've mastered the move my next goal is high speed!)

This exercise is so simple but effective that New York's most famous models as well as Hollywood stars swear by it.

Legs straight in front of you, stretch first your right then left heel as far ahead as you can edging your hips forward at the same time. After four weeks of this one your measuring tape will show a dramatic difference!

Four Week Beauty and Charm Course

A young starlet's ideal measurements in 1952:

Height: 5ft6 (1,68m)
Wrist: 6 1/4 inches (15,8cm)
Bust: 35 inches (88.9cm
Waist: 10 inches smaller (not over 26) (63.5cm)
Hips: 35 (not over 36) (88.9cm)
Calf: 4 or 5 inches larger than ankle (30.6)
Ankle: 8 1/4 inches (20.9 cm)

I wonder what these vital statistics would be in today's Hollywood?

Day 1 Cleansing and Posture.

You will clean, lubricate and stimulate your skin every day, every single day, two or three times. You will make your beauty routine constant, regular

The equipment required:
Fanatically clean, hospital clean hands
A pure bland soap (no!)
Soft water
A clean fluffy washcloth (my beauty routine staple already!)

First you need to identify your skin type from one of these three categories:

Normal
Very Oily
Very Dry

I decide my combination skins fits under normal, so my cleansing programme will be: Cleansing my face, by first using a hot washcloth on nose and chin and then gently massaging with soap, with circular upward motions, rinse three times, last with cold water.

This I need to repeat at least twice a day, every day.

Anita Colby firmly believes soap and water are best, well they probably were back then, but I don’t want to risk it so will stick to my modern day cleanser, toner and moisturiser. I promise to use them twice a day, religiously, whether I’m wearing any make up or not.

After your face is glowing it’s time to fix your posture

She recommends hanging a weighed string down the centre of a long mirror, the aim being to get this line to bisect the body through middle of head, ear lobe and running straight through the main six joints:

Shoulder
Elbow
Wrist
Hip
Knee
Ankle

Hmm, I tend to lean forward when I’m walking (headfirst to new adventures as my dad used to say), so need to pay attention to fix this.

Diet:
I have a problem with the 14-day diet. I have been poring over it for days but I cannot see a glass of wine or champagne anywhere! What kind of diet misses out a complete food group?

So after careful consideration I’ve decided to swap some of the milk (there's gallons of it) to glasses of wine, it works better for me and the calorie content is about the same.

I will also add some snacks (nuts, seeds and fruit), to the recommended 3 meals a day as I need to be fed and watered in regular intervals or all hell breaks lose!

Hmmm, it's only day 1 and I am already rebelling...

I'll talk more about the diet and exercise plan 1950's style, tomorrow.

About Anita Colby:
Anita Colby was a model and actress who became the Feminine director of David O. Selznik Studios, her job was to teach young starlets comportment and earned her a nickname “one woman charm school".

Anita Colby c.1943