The paradox of protection: Hardening the skin versus the reliance on artificial barriers

“ The temperature is for the most part balmy, and, when it does grow colder, that wonderful mechanism whereby the body is protected from the changes in the surrounding medium does its perfect work. The skin, shiny, tough, and hardy, performs its function well, and "catching cold" is a rare thing. The man, as an animal, has no more need of clothing than the beasts around him. ”

“ On the same winter day we may see a man in a thick overcoat trying to shrink into himself, shivering, while a lady passes blithely by, with her bosom bared to the wind.
The face tolerates the cold, because it is used to it, the neck and the upper part of the chest likewise, and so it would be with the skin of the entire body if we accustomed it to be exposed. ”

“ In very cold weather a veil should be worn to protect the face from the cold and winds. In summer a parasol should always be carried, to protect the eyes and brain as well as the face from the hot rays of the sun.
The Use of So-called Cosmetics for the Face.—All skin specialists, and these are in the very best position to judge of the great amount of harm that is done, say emphatically that the use of face lotions and “paints” can only work the lasting injury of the complexion. They may assist in hiding the defects of nature, but they frequently contribute to increase these defects. ”

“ Though unprotected with hair, wool or fur, or with feathers or scales, as with the brute creation, the human skin is furnished with innumerable nerves, which endow it with extreme susceptibility to all the various changes of climate and of weather, and prompt the mind to provide suitable materials, in the shape of clothing, to shield it under all the circumstances in which it can be placed.
[23] The importance of the due exposure of the body to daylight or sunlight cannot be too strongly insisted on. Light and warmth are powerful agents in the economy of our being. ”

“ But not only is there to be considered the danger of laying the seeds of disease from going out into the cold air while the body is too lightly clad, but also that, in order to maintain the normal temperature of the body in winter without the aid of warm clothing, requires a greater expenditure of nervous energy, which in turn is the equivalent of a large amount of life force. It is not only imprudent, but most injurious, to exhaust unnecessarily the powers, of the body, when mere mechanical appliances, like clothing, will obviate this continuous expenditure of vital energy. ”

“ However, the custom of hiding the body under dense, heavy clothing, thus excluding it from the life-giving influence of air and light, together with the habit of warm bathing, has weakened and enervated the skin of the average individual until it has lost its tonicity and is no longer capable of fulfilling its natural functions. ”

“ Modern customs.—The wearing of clothing and the neglect of physical culture has to a large extent destroyed the natural functions of the skin. The function of conserving heat is nearly lost by the skin. When the skin is not kept clean and healthy it loses, to some degree, its power to eliminate poisons. ”

“ Modern civilization has withdrawn many of us from the struggle with the rigors of nature; we seek for and mostly obtain the comfort of a full belly and expand all the time in the warm atmosphere afforded us by clothes, wind-protected dwellings and artificial heat—particularly so in the winter, when the health of the business man deteriorates. Cold is not comfortable, neither is hunger, therefore we are led to ascribe many of our ills to exposure to cold, and seek to make ourselves strong by what is termed good living. ”

“ Today most people give the skin too great protection, and thus weaken it. The result is that it degenerates and partly loses its function with consequent detriment to the individual's health.
A normal skin has a very soft feel, imparting to the fingers a pleasant, vital sensation. It either has color or suggests color. An abnormal skin pleases neither the sense of seeing nor feeling. ”

“ We have very great inherent powers of withstanding exposure to cold. The bodily mechanisms become trained and set to maintain the body heat by habitual exposure to open-air life. The risk lies in overheating our dwellings and over-clothing our bodies, so that the mechanisms engaged in resisting infection become enfeebled, and no longer able to meet the sudden transition from the warm atmosphere of our rooms to the chill outside air of winter. ”

“ The tribes toward the South Pole in similarly cold climates often have little more clothing than a blanket which they hang over their shoulders toward the wind. The weak, pale skin—to whose lack of adaptability we owe the chilling preceding a cold—the bald head, the distorted foot, the corns upon it, the cramped waist, are among the results of clothing ourselves wrongly. Hence we are discovering the need of restoring, as far as we can, the original conditions by making our clothes more light, more loose, and more porous, and, when possible, by taking the “barefoot cure,” or the air bath. ”

“ At last, a time comes when nothing more can be added to the clothing already too heavy. Then weak and irritable persons, whose numbers—our erroneous system daily augments!—remain at home, not aware of the innumerable inconveniences to which such a resolution exposes them, and not knowing that the habitual washing of the body in cold water, would enable them to leave their heated apartments, abandon flannel, and expose themselves, without the slightest danger, to the healthy effects of fresh air. ”

“ Nature did not coat us over with either boards or rubber, but with delicate, velvety, sensitive, living skin worth ten times as much as any sort of leather, bark, rubber, or cloth, for resisting cold, heat, and injuries. It is most important for the health of the skin that we keep that velvety coating unscratched and unbroken. The use of brushes and bristles of all sorts, therefore, should be chiefly restricted to the hair and the finger nails, as for every ounce of dirt that they take out of the skin, they do a pound of damage to it. ”

“ They are not caused necessarily by exposure to direct sunlight; as the bright light and the cold air out of doors, also, will produce this irritating effect upon the skin.
The best way to cure sunburn is to bathe in cool water, take a night's rest, then go out the next day, and the day after, and take another dose of exposure, keeping this up until your face is hardened to stand a reasonable amount of sun. If you are in proper condition, neither your face nor your hands will sunburn uncomfortably. ”

“ To prevent the habit of catching cold the best way is to accustom the skin to the action of cold water. Rubbing the skin with a cold wet towel until the skin glows, especially the chest and extremities, is a good way to effect this, beginning in warm summer weather and continuing through the winter, but not vice versa. ”

“ They should take plenty of exercise, and use daily cold ablutions of the whole body, followed by active friction, to restore fully the circulation to the skin. By exercise they will invigorate the whole system, and by the free use of water they will keep the skin healthy, and take away the liability to cold, on any sudden exposure. ”

“ The effect of this simple treatment is, as we know from personal experience, quite amazing, both in its hardening virtues, whereby we are far less liable to catch cold at sudden chills or changes of temperature, in its tonic effect on the skin itself, as shewn in a vastly increased firmness and elasticity, and also in the constant and immediate feeling of freshness that it produces. We all know how vivifying is fresh air on the face only; here the whole skin is invigorated. ”

“ It is a familiar fact that exposure and chilling will often produce a cold. This is usually due to the fact that the nerve centers controlling the circulation of the skin are over-sensitive, and exhibit a sort of hair-trigger reaction to exposure, causing a disturbance of the circulation, and of the heat-regulating machinery of the body of which the spongy shelf-like turbinated bones in the nose are an important part. Skin training, then, appears to be the first hygienic steps toward establishing a resistance to colds. ”

“ But when the body is artificially heated continually, as by over-clothing and over-heated rooms, its functions become to some degree dormant, and in consequence the natural bodily resistance is greatly lessened.
“The effort of the body to resist cold stimulates and strengthens. One who can resist cold can resist all kinds of disease germs. ”

“ This treatment usually cures a pretty severe case.
Cold, Taking.—Where cold is easily "taken," it is the skin which is defective in its action. The cure must therefore deal with it. Even spasmodic asthma can be traced to the failure of the skin to throw off waste sufficiently. Men exposed to great heats and chills, women and children whose nervous energy is small, are liable to this skin failure. Kneipp linen underwear, besides being more absorbent of perspiration than woollens, has a stimulating effect on the skin owing to a certain hardness (by no means unpleasant) of the fibre. ”

“ Of course, there are an immense number of days when, especially if one is out in the open air without taking exercise, a coat is advisable, since the feeling of being cold is a natural danger signal, and it is then our business to get warm. But the habit of being cold is often due—and this is our point—to a relaxed and unvigorous condition of the skin, and{185} the coat is, as it were, only a dose to meet a special need, whereas the rational treatment is to get the skin into such a condition that the body is less liable to feel cold. ”

“ It is true that there is a reddening of exposed parts of the skin in extreme cold, as we all see frequently on our nose or ears, but this is a purely local effect and does not mean that the blood is flowing through the region rapidly enough to keep up its temperature and so favor the loss of heat. These changes in the amount of blood in the skin are very effective in the fine regulation of heat loss. The body can get rid of heat very much more effectively when the skin is flushed than when it is pale. ”

“ When we feel cold, just the opposite kinds of change occur in the skin. The blood vessels in the skin contract so as to keep as much of our warm blood as possible in the deeper parts of our body, and prevent its losing heat. As blood showing through the pavement-layer of the skin is what gives us our color, or complexion, our skin becomes pale and pasty-looking; and if all the blood is driven in from the surface, our lips and finger nails will become blue with cold. Here again, by changes in the skin, nature is simply trying to protect herself from the loss of too much heat. ”

“ Such an occurrence is more likely to occur in persons who neglect a thorough cleansing of the body daily by baths and who go warmly clad; in such cases the muscles which contract the pores are less active, and because of this more body heat is lost and catching cold more easily takes place. When we feel warm more blood circulates through the skin, and when afterward cold air reaches us the pores, in a normal person, contract quickly and the blood is retained in the interior of the body. Thus we are prevented from giving off too much warmth from the body and catching cold. ”

“ Keep the skin hardened and toned up to such a pitch that no reasonable chill will stop it from excreting, and you are safe. Never depend on clothing. The more you pile on, the more you choke and "flabbify" the skin and make it ready to "strike" on the first breath of cold air. ”

“ A skin thus pampered in damp warmth becomes delicate, and like other hot-house products unable to hold its own when exposed to inclement weather. A good way to take cold easily is to wear wool next to the skin. The best recipe for getting cold feet is to wear woolen stockings. Wear cotton or linen or silk next to the skin. ”

“ The warm clothing which is thought to be a protection against cold is frequently the most fertile cause. It relaxes the body, moistens the skin, and the perspiration which is induced especially prepares the unresisting body for its attacks. ”

“ Those who take the proper food and enough exercise and dry friction of the skin will not require or desire an excessive amount of clothing. The feel of the wintry blast on the skin is not disagreeable.
If we would only give the skin more exercise, through rubbing, and more fresh air, we would soon discard much of our clothing, and wear but enough to make a proper and modest appearance in public, with extra covering on cold days. Nothing can be much more ridiculous and uncomfortable than a man in conventional attire on a hot summer's day. ”

“ The heat that leaves the skin goes to warm these superposed envelopes; it passes through them the more slowly in proportion as they are poorer conductors; reaching the surface, it escapes, but without making us feel the chills which direct contact with the atmosphere occasions, for our clothes catch the cold for us. The hairs and the feathers of animals perform the same function as toward their skin, serving to remove the seat of calorific exchange away from the body. The protection we owe to our clothes is made more effectual by their always being wadded with a stratum of warm air. ”

“ Though the air is clear and bracing, the intensity of the cold in winter is far beyond what he can conceive, and the heat in summer is so great for a short period as to blister the skin, if left exposed to the influence of the sun's rays. ”

“ The wool unspun, worn next the body, acts as a cutaneous stimulant (guarding against irritation so often apparent with spun fiber) , the body temperature being stored between the individual fibers, prevents the cold from directly striking the body from without (acting like double casement windows in a house) , and, therefore so valuable when men are forced to sudden changes from in-doors to the cold of out-doors. ”

“ The power to resist cold means the power to resist disease, and to be 53proof against intense cold, one must not only be well fed, and warmly clad, but thoroughly warm before exposure to the cold atmosphere out of doors. Protected by sufficient clothing, the body acts as a sort of store-house of heat, and a sufficiently large stock of warmth absorbed in the morning will last all day, and fresh supplies will be drawn from the heat-producing food consumed. ”

“ Excessive clothing may possibly increase the tendency to “catch cold,” owing to its exciting perspiration, or owing to the fact that the extra clothing is commonly thrown off at irregular intervals—witness the effects of wearing a scarf round the neck occasionally. But to suppose that children can be hardened by exposure of arms and legs, and other parts of their bodies, is irrational. A large amount of heat is lost from these bare surfaces, and apart altogether from the danger of chill, more food must be taken to compensate for this loss of heat, and keep up an equable temperature. ”

“ A child of delicate constitution must have more careful protection from cold air than is desirable for one more vigorous, while the leading general principle is retained that cold air is a healthful tonic for the skin whenever it does not produce an uncomfortable chilliness. ”

“ If there are draughts, then the protection of warm clothing must be constantly employed, to prevent the chilling influence from attacking the skin. Warm and undraughty dwelling-rooms are the natural allies of warm clothes in health-preserving power.
There is another very excellent companion and helper of warm clothes in this good work. This helper is “exercise.” If, when you are weary and warm, and have no additional clothes to draw round you on the instant to prevent a chill, you sit down or stand still in the cold wind, you will be nearly sure to catch cold, and to be made ill. ”

“ Colds would be much less frequent, were we to take more pains to accommodate our dress to the season: if we were warmly clothed in cold weather, our excitability would not be accumulated by the action of the cold. If a greater proportion of females fall victims to this disease, is it not because, losing sight, more than men, of its primary purpose, they regulate their dress solely by fantastic ideas of elegance? ”

“ It prevents the catching of cold by protecting the skin from sudden chills at a time when the internal parts of the frame are depressed and unable to meet, without injury, the effects which follow upon it. If at any time you are very weary, and very warm, remember, then, that you must keep yourself warm by drawing more clothes round you, or by some other plan. Want of attention to this very simple proceeding, or absolute ignorance that it ought to be adopted, is among the common means whereby men lay up for themselves disease and suffering, and cause sickness to take the place of health. ”

“ The skin which is most commonly used is that of the reindeer, which is perhaps the best material that could be found for clothing in a cold climate. It is very warm and at the same time very light, and can be had of various thicknesses, from the short-haired fawn-skin, fit for making handsome thin clothing, to the heavy winter coat of the buck, suitable for blankets or thick clothing, to wear in the very coldest weather. ”

“ Nature points to wool as the proper clothing of man, as of the lower animals, and, as is only to be expected under the circumstances, it fulfils all the conditions necessary for the preservation of health, as far as dress is concerned; it retains more warmth, while weighing less than any other material, and it allows the skin to perform those functions of transpiration, interference with which is the precursor of disease, while stoppage of them causes death, as surely as the cessation of breathing through the lungs, consequent on suffocation. ”

“ The most common mistake is, to dress too coldly in summer and too warmly in winter. Flannel ought to be worn next the skin all the year round. It is of as much use for absorbing the perspiration in hot weather, as for warming the body in cold. ”

“ You should never wash your face in very hot water. You should not go out in a wind without a veil, and you should never lace tightly if you wish to have a good complexion. When the face gets rough, as it is apt to do after a walk in the wind, a very little glycerine and rosewater or glycerine and cucumber will help to keep the face clear and soft. Cosmetics are undoubtedly a fertile cause of the bad complexions so common among the upper middle classes, and though by no means all cosmetics are harmful, you should be very careful what you put on your face. ”

“ When the skin is covered with too much clothing it loses the habit of reacting, and the warmth and the irritation of wool keep up an artificial hyperemia which gradually lowers the tone of the peripheral vessels. Many people wear "chest protectors," as is evident from the prominent display of these abominations in the drug-store windows. By leaving certain portions of the chest unprotected while other parts are kept over-warm, these add greatly to the risk of such disturbances of circulatory equilibrium as predispose to the infections grouped under the term "taking cold." ”

“ It is impossible, therefore, to avoid the conclusion that the close clothing of the body from the moment of birth, and the continuance of the process through [119] out our lives, must tend to prevent the proper and healthy development of the skin and also to debilitate it; and that the opposite course, of exposing the skin to the air, and promoting its natural functions by means of the bath, must have the contrary effect of hardening and strengthening the skin and rendering its functions more perfect. ”

“ When, in the fast, chilliness occurs, a few minutes in the hot bath equalizes the circulation and remedies the condition, care being taken to guard against exposure at its conclusion.
Civilization and the customs it entails are responsible for many physiological evils. The two great mediums through which energy is delivered to the human body, pure air and sunshine, are in large part denied immediate contact with its surface. Clothing prevents full elimination of perspiration and its products, which remain to be partially absorbed or to clog the pores of the skin. ”

“ Why do people who sleep under down, or even under silk or cotton quilts, frequently rise unrefreshed? From the one cause: their coverings have impeded the passage of the insensible perspiration, and so have hindered the skin in its function of relieving the blood of impurities. It is surprising what a constant loss of vitality many people experience from no other cause than the unsuitable character of their clothing. The children cannot be better dressed throughout than in loosely woven woollen garments, flannels and serges, of varying thicknesses for summer and winter wear. ”

“ I fancy we make a great mistake in these hot lands in not exposing our skins more to the sun and air, and so strengthening and hardening them. In the great heat, and when constantly covered with garments, the skin perspires terribly, and becomes sodden and enervated, and more sensitive than it ought to be—hence great danger of chills. ”

“ If the skin be hypersensitive, thought must be given and changes advised in these procedures until the skin becomes inured to a suitable amount of mechanical stimulus. Old people are sensitive to cold because their surface resistance is lowered and their heat-producing powers are waning. The tendency shown by many to stay indoors and keep themselves overprotected and over-clothed is a grave error. ”

“ The hygiene of clothing includes ventilation and freedom from pressure, moderate warmth, and cleanliness. Loose, porous underclothes are already coming into vogue. But effective ventilation, namely such as will allow free access of air to the skin, requires that our outer clothes—including women’s gowns and men’s shirts, vests, vest-linings, and coat-linings—should also be loose and porous. Here is one of the most important but almost wholly neglected clothing reforms. Most linings and many fabrics used in outer clothes are so tightly woven as to be impervious to air. ”

“ Air may be shut out not only by tight houses but also by tight clothes. It follows that the question of clothing is closely related to the question of ventilation. In fact it is a reasonable inference from modern investigations that air-hygiene concerns the skin quite as much as the lungs. Therefore the hygiene of clothing assumes a new and hitherto unsuspected importance. A truly healthy skin is not the waxy white which is so common, but one which glows with color, just as do healthy cheeks exposed to the open air. ”

“ We should become accustomed to permit the entrance of air as frequently as possible to the whole surface of the body, which we can do by remaining stark naked in 226our room for only a few moments several times a day, as already advocated in the chapter on the hygiene of the skin. But still more important is free access to the air, even though cold, if we desire to be immune against colds. Most people who do catch cold contract it first in the head, especially after being in a state of perspiration. ”

“ Cosmetics for the reparation of beauty are not needed, but women of all ranks are enjoined to use various precautions for its preservation. We have cosmetics very efficacious for protecting the face from the burning sun, for keeping cool the natural moisture, for preserving the complexion, and for preventing wrinkles. In our climate the heat distends the skin, and by inducing excessive perspiration, reduces the fat required to support it. But for our cosmetics, wrinkles would be formed at an early age. ”

“ It penetrates the skin and removes
the secretions which if allowed to remain will cause blackheads and
pimples.
Wonder Face Cream contains no grease and will not grow hair. It will
remove tan and sunburn, give the user a fresh complexion, whiten the
skin, will gradually remove freckles and when used with massage will
remove wrinkles. One jar will convince you. If you do not think this
possible give it a trial.
Every person going out in the sun or wind, especially on automobile
rides, requires a face dressing, and only a non-grease cream can be
used. ”

“ In perfect health it is moist and with the
delicate shading of a flower--climate, hair and eyes, of course,
determining the color, and the continued beauty of it depending upon
pure blood, fresh air and sunlight, also perfect cleanliness and care.
The pores should always be kept free from obstruction and extremes of
heat and cold avoided as much as possible. In health, the care of the
skin is a simple matter, massage being a great factor, assisted always
by the use of pure creams. ”

“ The only way to obtain a good complexion is to keep the skin in a healthy state by constant bathing and by massage, either with the hands or with a towel, with a moderate use of cold cream or other similar article. Nothing has ever been discovered which will restore the bloom of youth, and all articles advertised for that purpose are practically worthless. If they contain any "bloom," it is in the form of a dye or color. No one should use any concoction or salve other than cold cream, vaseline, glycerine, or an almond preparation, without the advice of a physician. ”

“ Cold cream is a useful local application to hard and dry parts of the skin, to abrasions and cracks. When spread thickly upon rag, it is an excellent application to blistered surfaces or burns, or may be used to protect exposed parts from the influence of the sun.
Granulated Cold Cream.—Take white wax and spermaceti, of each one ounce; almond oil 3 ounces, otto of rose, as much as you please. Dissolve the wax and spermaceti in the almond oil, by means of heat, and when a little cool, pour the mixture into a large wedgwood mortar previously warmed, and containing about a pint of warm water. ”

“ The cream may struggle bravely and heal the little eruptions for a day or so, but how can it possibly effect a permanent cure when the cause flourishes like a blizzard at Medicine Hat or a steam radiator in the first warm days of April?
Cold cream, pure powders and certain harmless face washes are godsends to womankind, but they can't do everything! They have their limitations, just like any other good thing. ”

“ In order that the skin may perform its functions properly, it must be perfectly clean, the pores must be kept open, and the sweat glands free to throw off all the effete matter and prevent its accumulation within the system. While soap and water are necessary and helpful, free perspiration induced by vigorous bodily exercise or artificial heat will also enable the glands to cast off the more solid substances which accumulate at the bottom. ”

“ This is true both of personal cleanliness, and also of cleanliness in our houses, streets, &c. As to the first of these, we do not enough consider the great importance of keeping the skin in a healthy state. The skin is a natural drain to many of the bad humours of the body. Every one knows how useful it is to get a man into a perspiration or sweat when he is ill, to set the pores of his skin open. Now dirt chokes up these pores, and thus stops what may be called the proper drainage of the body. ”

“ Independent of these intellectual causes of corporeal defects, disorders of the skin, arising from accidental circumstances, are more frequent in this country than in any other; and the fashions of the day are still more inimical to the complexion of its inhabitants, than the climate. The frequent and sudden changes from heat to cold, by abruptly exciting or repressing the regular secretions of the skin, roughen its texture, injure its hue, and often deform it with unseemly, though transitory, eruptions. ”

“ In youth and health, "cold bathing and lighter clothing may be resorted to with a rational prospect of advantage; but when, from a weak constitution or unusual susceptibility, the skin is not endowed with sufficient vitality to originate the necessary reaction which alone renders these safe and proper—when they produce an abiding sense of chillness, however slight in degree—we may rest assured that mischief will inevitably follow at a greater or shorter distance of time." ”

“ Now I cheerfully admit that to put on additional clothing before the severity of the weather demands it, actually produces the effect here supposed; but to endure severe cold, on the contrary, never hardens anybody. Nay, more, it enfeebles. Cold, when combined with the evils of poverty, produces more mischief and destroys more lives than any one disease in the whole catalogue of human maladies. ”

“ Skin, Care of.—Among the vast majority of people air and water far too seldom touch the skin. Want of water makes it unclean, and want of water and air make it slow in reaction. Now, a healthy skin is of the utmost value when one is attacked by disease. It can regulate the temperature of the various organs, and the application of heat or cold to it will cause a reaction at once. Much of our treatment as given in this book is directed towards stimulating the action of the skin. It is obvious that in health as in disease the skin can and does so act on the internal organs. ”