Dripread - Book

Powder.--Procure, at a druggist's, half an ounce of powdered
orris root, half an ounce of prepared chalk finely pulverized, and two
or three small lumps of Dutch pink. Let them all be mixed in a mortar,
and pounded together. The Dutch pink is to impart a pale reddish color.
Keep it in a close box.

Another Tooth Powder.--Mix together, in a mortar, half an ounce of red
Peruvian bark, finely powdered, a quarter of an ounce of powdered myrrh,
and a quarter of an ounce of prepared chalk.

A Safe Depilatory.--Take a strong solution of sulphuret of barium, and
add enough finely powdered starch to make a paste. Apply to the roots of
the hair and allow it to remain on a few minutes, then scrape off with
the back edge of a knife blade, and rub with sweet oil.

Quick Depilatory for Removing Hair.--Best slaked lime, 6 ounces;
orpiment, fine powder, 1 ounce. Mix with a covered sieve and preserve in
a dry place in closely stoppered bottles. In using mix the powder with
enough water to form a paste, and apply to the hair to be removed. In
about five minutes, or as soon as its caustic action is felt on the
skin, remove, as in shaving, with an ivory or bone paper knife, wash
with cold water freely, and apply cold cream.

Tricopherus for the Hair.--Castor oil, alcohol, each 1 pint; tinct.
cantharides, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 1/2 ounce; alkanet coloring, to
color as wished. Mix and let it stand forty-eight hours, with occasional
shaking, and then filter.

Liquid Shampoo.--Take bay rum. 2-1/2 pints; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine,
1 ounce; tinct. cantharides, 2 drams; carbonate of ammonia, 2 drams;
borax, 1/2 ounce; or take of New England rum, 1-1/2 pints; bay rum, 1
pint; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine, 1 ounce; tinct. cantharides, 2 drams,
ammon. carbonate, 2 drams; borax, 1/2 ounce; the salts to be dissolved
in water and the other ingredients to be added gradually.

Cleaning Hair Brushes.--Put a teaspoonful or dessertspoonful of aqua
ammonia into a basin half full of water, comb the loose hairs out of the
brush, then agitate the water briskly with the brush, and rinse it well
with clear water.

Hair Invigorator.--Bay rum, two pints; alcohol, one pint; castor oil,
one ounce; carb. ammonia, half an ounce; tincture of cantharides, one
ounce. Mix them well. This compound will promote the growth of the hair
and prevent it from falling out.

For Dandruff.--Take glycerine, four ounces; tincture of cantharides,
five ounces; bay rum, four ounces; water, two ounces. Mix and apply once
a day, and rub well into the scalp.

Mustache Grower.--Simple cerate, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 10 minims;
saturated tinct. of cantharides, 15 minims. Rub them together
thoroughly, or melt the cerate and stir in the tincture while hot, and
the oil as soon as it is nearly cold, then run into molds or rolls. To
be applied as a pomade, rubbing in at the roots of the hair. Care must
be used not to inflame the skin by too frequent application.

Razor-strop Paste.--Wet the strop with a little sweet oil, and apply a
little flour of emery evenly over the surface.

Shaving Compound.--Half a pound of plain white soap, dissolved in a
small quantity of alcohol, as little as can be used; add a tablespoonful
of pulverized borax. Shave the soap and put it in a small tin basin or
cup; place it on the fire in a dish of boiling water; when melted, add
the alcohol, and remove from the fire; stir in oil of bergamot
sufficient to perfume it.

Cure for Prickly Heat.--Mix a large portion of wheat bran with either
cold or lukewarm water, and use it as a bath twice or thrice a day.
Children who are covered with prickly heat in warm weather will be thus
effectually relieved from that tormenting eruption. As soon as it begins
to appear on the neck, face or arms, commence using the bran water on
these parts repeatedly through the day, and it may probably spread no
farther. If it does, the bran water bath will certainly cure it, if
persisted in.

To Remove Corns from Between the Toes.--These corns are generally more
painful than any others, and are frequently situated as to be almost
inaccessible to the usual remedies. Wetting them several times a day
with hartshorn will in most cases cure them. Try it.

Superior Cologne Water.--Oil of lavender, two drams; oil of

The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing / A Manual of Ready Reference