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Some (terrible) beauty advice from 1932, and more

Today I bring you a mixed bag of  vintage amusement from the pages of the English Women’s Weekly magazines from January 1932.

There is a bit  to drool over, in the form of delicious sketches of ladies in 1932 evening dress.   There is a  bit of weird, in the form of the beauty advice of the era (please do not try their concoction for red noses!).  We also have something to wonder over – what happened to the stowaway and the missing jewels in the Youngest Stewardess?  And finally, there is something to wince over, in the pincushion, which manages to be both terrible impractical, and terribly racist at the same time.

Beauty resolutions from 1932

Beauty resolutions from 1932

13 Comments

  1. Hmm, the chemicals don’t seem like a good idea at all but just about any beauty question is also met with the advice of healthy eating and exercise… Not something we can object to. And the make-up tip for the red nose is interesting: You can buy make-up products to hide blemishes and redness today which are pale green.

    • Yeah, the exercise isn’t a bad idea, but some of the diet tips sound like the 1930s versions of the wackier hippie diets today. And the chemicals are not fab at all!

  2. Lynne says

    If I were Stewardess Farrell, I’d take a friend or have a quick chat to my union member!

    • Oh Miss Lynne, the very idea! I’m SURE the captain is a most upstanding gentleman, and that nothing remotely untoward will occur! 😉 (seriously though, too true!)

  3. Elise says

    Sigh, racism. There’s a place called “Chinaman’s Hat” in Hawaii…it’s a rock formation that really does look like a traditional Asian sun hat. But…it took a while to be able to get the term out of my mouth! I wonder what sorts of words I say now that will shock my future grandchildren!

  4. Martina says

    Dry shaving your underarms with talcum powder? I can feel the welts forming just reading that!! I’d like to see what the “rubber waving cap” looks like though. My grandmother used to use setting lotion to bring out the waves in her hair, it was probably the same stuff.

    • I’m not entirely sure she’s saying to dry shave, or if the talcum powder is a thing to use after shaving/dry shaving, to smooth out any colour variations.

      You can still buy setting lotion – there has been a bit of a revival of it thanks to the popularity of vintage styles. Not so sure about the rubber waving cap though – how on earth did that work?

      • Marie says

        I would love to learn more about the rubber curling cap. It seems like such a nifty idea!

  5. My nose goes red when it’s cold (which is often) but I have to say, I have never considered anointing it with sulphur. For fairly obvious reasons.

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