Toilet Items

Mutton tallow is considered excellent to soften the hands. It may be rubbed on at any time when the hands are perfectly dry, but the best time is when retiring, and an old pair of soft, large gloves thoroughly covered on the inside with the tallow and glycerine in equal parts, melted together, can be worn during the night with the most satisfactory results.

Four parts of glycerine and five parts of yolks of eggs thoroughly mixed, and applied after washing the hands, is also considered excellent.

For chapped hands or face: One ounce of glycerine, one ounce of alcohol mixed, then add eight ounces of rose-water.

Another good rule is to rub well in dry oatmeal after every washing, and be particular regarding the quality of soap. Cheap soap and hard water are the unknown enemies of many people, and the cause of rough skin and chapped hands. Castile soap and rain-water will sometimes cure without any other assistance.

Camphor ice is also excellent, and can be applied with but little inconvenience. Borax dissolved and added to the toilet water is also good.

For chapped lips, beeswax dissolved in a small quantity of sweet oil, by heating carefully. Apply the salve two or three times a day, and avoid wetting the lips as much as possible.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

Barber’s Shampoo Mixture

Dissolve half an ounce of carbonate of ammonia and one ounce of borax in one quart of water; then add two ounces of glycerine in three quarts of New England rum, and one quart of bay rum. Moisten the hair with this liquid; shampoo with the hands until a light lather is formed; then wash off with plenty of clean water.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

Good Hard Soap

Five pounds of grease, one quart and one cup of cold water, one can of potash, one heaping tablespoonful of borax, two tablespoonfuls of ammonia. Dissolve the potash in the water, then add the borax and ammonia and stir in the lukewarm grease slowly and continue to stir until it becomes as thick as thick honey; then pour into a pan to harden. When firm cut into cakes. Grease that is no longer fit to fry in is used for this soap. Strain it carefully that no particles of food are left in it. It makes no difference how brown the grease is, the soap will become white and float in water. It should be kept a month before using.

Source: The Golden Age Cook Book, H. L. Dwight

To Make Hard Water Soft

Dissolve in one gallon of boiling water a pound and a quarter of washing soda, and a quarter of a pound of borax. In washing clothes allow quarter of a cup of this to every gallon of water.

Source: The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking, H. Campbell

Inflamed Sore Throat

Gargle with borax and alum, dissolved in water. Take equal parts of saltpetre and loaf sugar pulverized together; place upon the tongue, and let it trickle down slowly to the inflamed part. Use this two or three times a day. Rub the glands with a mixture of camphor, cantharides, myrrh, and turpentine. If this fails to reduce the inflammation, put a small blister within an inch of the ears. A gargle with red pepper tea is good. Give cooling medicines. Bathe the feet at night. Avoid taking cold.

Source: Mrs Hill’s New Cook-Book

Children’s Sore Mouth

Get the pulverized borax, and to about one-third of a teaspoonful of borax, mix about one and a half teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar. Mothers should wash their babies’ mouths out every other morning with a solution of borax and water, they should keep a bottle of it dissolved all the time, pour a little into a cup, and with a cloth wrapt around the finger and dipped into the solution, wipe the child’s mouth out well with it; this will prevent children ever having sore mouths.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Colds and Hoarseness

Borax has proved a most effective remedy in certain forms of colds. In sudden hoarseness or loss of voice in public speakers or singers, from colds, relief for an hour or so may be obtained by slowly dissolving, and partially swallowing, a lump of borax the size of a garden pea, or about three or four grains held in the mouth for ten or fifteen minutes before speaking or singing. This produces a profuse secretion of saliva or “watering” of the mouth and throat, just as wetting brings back the missing notes to a flute when it is too dry.

A flannel dipped in boiling water and sprinkled with turpentine, laid on chest as quickly as possible, will relieve the most severe cold or hoarseness.

Another simple, pleasant remedy is furnished by beating up the white of one egg, adding to it the juice of one lemon, and sweetening with white sugar to taste. Take a teaspoonful from time to time. It has been known to effectually cure the ailment.

Or bake a lemon or sour orange twenty minutes in a moderate oven. When done, open at one end and take out the inside. Sweeten with sugar or molasses. This is an excellent remedy for hoarseness.

An old time and good way to relieve a cold is to go to bed and stay there, drinking nothing, not even water, for twenty-four hours, and eating as little as possible. Or go to bed, put your feet in hot mustard and water, put a bran or oatmeal poultice on the chest, take ten grains of Dover’s powder, and an hour afterwards a pint of hot gruel; in the morning, rub the body all over with a coarse towel, and take a dose of aperient medicine.

Violet, pennyroyal or boneset tea, is excellent to promote perspiration in case of sudden chill. Care should be taken next day not to get chilled by exposure to fresh out-door air.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

To Remove Sunburn

Take two drachms of borax, one drachm of Roman alum, one drachm of camphor, half an ounce of sugar-candy, and a pound of ox-gall. Mix and stir well for ten minutes, and stir it in the same way three or four times a day for a fortnight. When clear and transparent strain through blotting-paper, and bottle for use.

Source: Cassell’s Household Guide

Remedy for Hoarseness or Loss of Voice

Dissolve in the mouth a lump of borax, the size of a garden pea, or about three or four grains. If held in the mouth for ten minutes before speaking or singing, it will act like magic.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Sore Throat

Everybody has a cure for this trouble, but simple remedies appear to be most effectual. Salt and water is used by many as a gargle, but a little alum and honey dissolved in sage tea is better. An application of cloths wrung out of hot water and applied to the neck, changing as often as they begin to cool, has the most potency for removing inflammation of anything we ever tried. It should be kept up for a number of hours; during the evening is usually the most convenient time for applying this remedy.

Cut slices of salt pork or fat bacon, simmer a few minutes in hot vinegar, and apply to throat as hot as possible. When this is taken off as the throat is relieved, put around a bandage of soft flannel. A gargle of equal parts of borax and alum, dissolved in water, is also excellent. To be used frequently.

Camphorated oil is an excellent lotion for sore throat, sore chest, aching limbs, etc. For a gargle for sore throat, put a pinch of chlorate of potash in a glass of water. Gargle the throat with it
twice a day, or oftener, if necessary

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette