To Remove Sunburn

Squeeze the juice of a lemon into a small teacupful of new milk. Allow it to curdle. Apply it to the face and throat with a piece of cotton wool, after having been out in the sun, or the last thing at night. Allow it to remain on the skin for a short time then wash it off with tepid soft water. This will remove all heat and tan from the skin.

Source: The Dudley Book of Cookery and Household Recipes, Georgiana Dudley

Slippery-Elm Tea

Pour one cup of boiling water upon one teaspoonful of slippery-elm powder or a piece of the bark. When cool, strain, and flavor with lemon-juice and sugar. This is soothing in any inflammation of the mucous membrane.

Source: The Universal Cookery Book, Gertrude Strohm

Dry Lips

When the lips, gums and tongue are dry in acute diseases, they should be washed several times daily with glycerine, diluted with an equal quantity of water. A little lemon juice or a few drops of rosewater can be added to make it more pleasant to the patient.

Source: Household Gas Cookery Book, Helen Edden

Flax-Seed Lemonade

4 tablespoonfuls flax-seed (whole.)
1 quart boiling water poured upon the flax-seed.
Juice of two lemons, leaving out the peel.
Sweeten to taste.

Steep three hours in a covered pitcher. If too thick, put in cold water with the lemon-juice and sugar. Ice for drinking.

It is admirable for colds.

Source: Common Sense in the Household, Marion Harland

Wash for Hands

Glycerine and lemon juice, equal parts of each.

Source: Flint Hills Cook Book

Slippery-Elm Bark Tea

Break the bark into bits, pour boiling water over it, cover and let it infuse until cold. Sweeten, ice, and take for summer disorders, or add lemon-juice and drink for a bad cold.

Source: Common Sense in the Household, Marion Harland

Apple Toddy

Boil a large juicy pippin in a quart of water, and when it has broken to pieces strain off the water. While it is still boiling-hot, add a glass of fine old whiskey, a little lemon-juice, and sweeten to taste.

Take hot at bed-time for influenza.

Source: Common Sense in the Household, Marion Harland

Bites

Apply vaseline and burnt alum; lemon juice for bee stings ; common bluing for bites of any insect, or vaseline, lard and burnt alum can be applied.

Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames

Complexion Wash

Put in a vial one drachm of benzoin gum in powder, one drachm nutmeg oil, six drops of orange-blossom tea, or apple blossoms put in half pint of rain-water and boiled down to one teaspoonful and strained, one pint of sherry wine. Bathe the face morning and night; will remove all flesh-worms and freckles, and give a beautiful complexion. Or, put one ounce of powdered gum of benzoin in a pint of whisky; to use, put in water in wash-bowl till it is milky, allowing it to dry without wiping. This is perfectly harmless.

Cream cures sun-burn on some complexions, lemon juice is best on others, and cold water suits still others best.

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

To Remove Freckles

The following lotion is highly recommended: One ounce of lemon juice, a quarter of a drachm of powdered borax, and half a drachm of sugar; mix in a bottle, and allow them to stand a few days, when the liquor should be rubbed occasionally on the hands and face. Another application is: Friar’s balsam one part, rose-water twenty parts.

Powdered nitre moistened with water and applied to the face night and morning, is said to remove freckles without injury to the skin.

Also, a tablespoonful of freshly grated horse-radish, stirred into a cupful of sour milk; let it stand for twelve hours, then strain and apply often. This bleaches the complexion also, and takes off tan.

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