L O L A Lola...........

From "Autobiography and Lectures of Lola Montez" :


But I weary of this subject of cosmetics, as every woman of sense will at last weary of the use of them. It is a lesson which is sure to come; but, in the lives of most fashionable ladies, it has small chance of being needed until that unmentionable time, when men will cease to make baubles and playthings of them. It takes most women two-thirds of their lifetime to discover that men may be amused by, without respecting them; and every woman may make up her mind that to be really respected, she must possess merit; she must have accomplishments of mind and heart, and there can be no real beauty without these. If the soul is without cultivation, without refinement, without taste, without the sweetness of affection, not all the mysteries of art can make the face beautiful; and, on the other hand, it is impossible to dim the brightness of an elegant and polished mind; its radiance strikes through the encasements of deformity, and asserts its sway over the world of the affections.

It has been my privilege to see the most celebrated beauties that shine in the gilded courts of fashion throughout the world—from St. James to St. Petersburg, from Paris to India—and yet I know of no art which can atone for the defect of  an unpolished mind and an unlovely heart. That charming activity of soul, that spiritual energy, which gives animation, grace, and living light to the animal frame, after all, the real source of woman's heauty. It is that which gives eloquence to the language of her eyes, which gives the sweetest expression to her face, and lights up her whole personnel as if her very body thought. I never myself behold a creature with such sweet and spiritual beauty, but I fall in love with her myself, and only wish I were a man that I could marry her.

Iodine in beauty treatments ~ historical uses

http://tinyurl.com/69q47z2

The arts of beauty: or, Secrets of a lady's toilet

 By Lola Montez

I have known ladies to take a preparation of iodyne internally to remedy a too large development of the bosom But this must be a dangerous experiment for the general health The following external application has been recommended for this purpose

Strong essence of mint 1 oz

Iodine of zinc 2 gr

Aromatic vinegar 2 gr

Essence of cedrat 10 drops 

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>>> Iodine to reduce the bust? Sure! Iodine deficiency is indicated in fibrocystic breast disease. With the resolution of FBD, many have noted a decrease in bust size. Intuitive brilliance on Lola's part~ !

The second book I'm clipping from is entitled:

http://tinyurl.com/4atpndx 

My secrets of beauty

 By Lina Cavalieri

(for fat neck)

To reduce the bulk of the back and side of the neck a reducing lotion should be applied by long sweeping downward strokes the effect of which strokes is to melt the flesh downward into the larger masses of flesh on the shoulders A lotion I have known to be used with success for the melting away of too ponderous flesh about the neck is this:

Tincture of iodine 30 minims iodide of potassium 60 grains hyposulphite of soda 20 grains distilled water 7 ounces aniseed water 170 minims 

>>> Iodine deficiency is also indicated in goiter, so if the "fat neck" was due to a goiter... more intuitive brilliance on Lina's part!

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(for the treatment of obesity)

This too is a good astringent lotion

Tincture of iodine 30 minims iodide of potassium 60 grams distilled water 10 ounces aniseed water 170 minims

Also this Tincture of iodine 1 ounce alcohol 10 ounces 

.......

(for obesity)

 Some preparations of an absorbent nature I have known to be used with good results Most of these contain iodine There are several soaps used for the purpose of massage all containing iodine After receiving my physician's endorsement and having the soap analyzed by a scrupulous chemist there would seem to be no danger attending their use

This formula is safe and if persistently used should be effective as an absorbent remedy I have known corpulent beauties who took it internally but I should never be so daring

Tincture of iodine 30 minims iodide of potassium 60 grains hyposulphite soda 20 grains distilled water 7 ounces aniseed water 170 minims 

>>>Iodine and tyrosine are the components of thyroid hormone. The thyroid regulates metabolism. Would a topical application of iodine in the form of a cream or lotion work as an aid in reducing? The jury's out on that one... my opinion is that internal supplementation would be more reliable, there are many factors that affect topical iodine absorption.

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(for boils)

A sparing diet chiefly of fruit and liquids and copious water drinking should soon clear the complexion Alternate applications of hot and cold cloths to the skin help to clear it A pinch of iodide of lime in a glass of water in daily doses for a week will aid in the body cleansing which is necessary to banish the tendency to boils A few Turkish baths will aid the work 

>>> sure, iodine is anti-bacterial. There is also the fact that one of the symptoms of hypothyroidism may be a propensity to boils...

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(topical iodine to INCREASE the bust)

 I advise no woman to undertake increasing the size of the bust without first consulting her physician If he thinks it wise apply with muslin cloths to the breast this lotion:

Lanolin 50 grams vaseline 50 grams tincture of benzoin 20 drops iodide of potassium 3 grams

>>> Nothing that I've found in the literature supports the idea that topical iodine will increase the bust...  

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(for reducing a double chin)

 Or you might try for the same trouble the following:

Vaseline 100 grams lanolin 100 grams iodide of potassium 6 grams tincture of benzoin 1 ounce 

>>> perhaps through the effects of supplemental iodine on thyroid function. Or the massage~?

Lola Montez

 Lola Montez was a fascinating woman, born 1821, a "Spanish dancer" of Irish birth. Beautiful, intelligent and independent.  She was the consort of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and was able to use her position and influence to institute liberal reforms, during a time in history when women did not have a lot of influence or power. She traveled the world, had adventures in Australia and lived her last years in the United States. She was a dancer and an actress and lectured on beauty and the state of womanhood in general. She had an uncanny ability to see beyond her own time, to see into the past and take note of the larger forces that determined the mores of the society of in which she lived.  I became aware of her through her book, "The Arts of Beauty, or, Secrets of a Lady's Toilet." We'll get to that one later... 


Today I was reading "Autobiography and Lectures of Lola Montez", by C. Chauncey Burr, 1860. These snippets are from her lecture, "Beautiful Women". 


"- It won't last. Beauty has it's date, and it is the penalty of nature that girls must fade, and become wizened as their grandmothers have done before them."


"The old abbey and the aged oak are more venerable in their decay; and many are the charms around us, both of art and nature, that may still linger and please. The breaking wave is most graceful at the moment of it's dissolution; the sun when setting is still glorious and beautiful; and though the longest day must have it's evening, yet is the evening as beautiful as the morning- the light deserts us, but it is to visit us again; the rose retains it's charms for the sense, and though it falls into decay, it renews it's glories at the approach of another spring."


"But for woman there is no second May! To each belongs her little day; and time, that gives new whiteness to the swan, gives it not unto woman. The winner of a hundred hearts, in the very bud of her beauty, in the morn and liquid dews of youth even, cannot obtain a patent for her charms. "They all do fade as a leaf." While the fair lady curls her hair, is it not imperceptibly going gray?"


"To borrow an Arabian Proverb, let her "be light as the full moon", yet when her eye is fullest of light, it is nearest the point where it begins to fade. The fuller the rose is blown, the sooner it is shed. When the peach is ripest, what next?"


"...She has a summer as well as a spring, an autumn, and a winter. As the aspect of Earth alters with the changes of the year, so does the appearance of woman adapt itself to the time which passes over her. Like the rose, she buds, she blooms, she fades, she dies..."


Lola Montez died at 39. She considered that the "zenith" or the "high noon", if you will, to be at the age of 30. She died, in her Autumn...