Are You satisfied with your Make-up Job?

Next time you see a make-up job that just screams that it is a make-up job, let it be a reminder to check your own artistry. You should never actually see the rouge, powder or lipstick, just the effect. Makeup is certainly one of those jobs that’s worth doing well if it’s done at all so take pains and make it smooth. Chit Chat says that many make up Artist will remind you not to use either black or white as shadows in your eye makeup. The light colors could be light beige and if a dark color is desired one could use either gray or darker shades of brown. If your complexion is in the Olive tone you should not use the gray shades. The blush and lipsticks are usually a close match but those with blonde hair or a light color should use one of the pink shades, Just remember that these colors should blend. Even those with shades of brunette hair could use a peach color and those red heads can use the bronze colors. Chit Chat reminds all that these are just suggestions and as she explained before one should experiment with the many shades in the base colors for the desired look. If the natural look is your choice just use a brown mascara. I keep reminding my friend Georgie that Chit Chat still hasn’t given us the 10 tips in applying make-up that the average working gal could use.

Chit Chat says, Brush Brush Brush!!

I just found out from Georgie that Chit Chat is the Educational Director of a Cosmetology School. It’s sure nice now that I know all the tips and advice comes from a professional adviser. Her latest tip is sound advice. I can remember in the Harper Method School I attended it was mandatory that a thorough brushing was performed before any one was shampooed. So, she says, use that brush and use it often! Every woman should give her hair a thorough brushing every single day and you’ll be surprised with the improvement you’ll see after just one week. Try it this way. Lean over so your hair falls forward and beginning at the nape of the neck, brush over the scalp and clear out to the hair ends. Work all the way around your head with the same stroke and let your scalp feel those bristles. Drag the brush through the hair with a good strong pull. If you’re doing the job correctly your arms will tire and your whole scalp will tingle. Remember, everyday for a week. Then check results. They’ll be there!

Martha Matilda Harper's Life Story

This Post may interest our friends and others who might wonder why would the life Story of Martha Matilda Harper be posted on this persons Blog? We have been interested in the story of Martha Matilda Harper’s life in the beauty industry since I first entered the profession with my wife in the late “Fifty’s.” It so happened that we graduated from Adolph’s Harper Method franchised Cosmetology School in Atlanta, Georgia. In those days the only way one could be employed in a franchised "Harper Method" Salon was to graduate from one of her franchised Schools. And so it was that her Harper Method system was one of the reasons we continued in the Beauty industry. This story lets you know that women could be successful even in the 1800’s if they had the fortitude and a dream. Permission to post this information can be found in the writers URL at the end of this post.

First, this is a biography. It uncovers the story of the woman behind the "Harper Method," following her as she escaped her poverty-stricken family in northern Canada, traveled to New York, and became one of the premier business women of her day. Martha Harper's life embodied most of the characteristics of the classic Horatio Alger myth. Indeed, Plitt sees her as "a female Horatio Alger." (p. 3) Born in 1875, the daughter of an abusive, ne'er do well dreamer, she was bound out to servitude when she was only seven. Like a Horatio Alger hero, she had "luck" as well as "pluck." When she was twelve, she went to work for a physician, who shared his secret formula with her -- a hair tonic that would make hair and scalp both healthy and beautiful. Armed with this knowledge and 60 silver dollars, Harper left Canada at the age of 25, settling in Rochester New York, where she went to work once more as a servant -- this time for a prominent attorney, Luther Hovey, and his wife Charlotte. There she adopted the Christian Science religion and, relying on the contacts the Hoveys provided her, acquired an office in the Powers Building, "the showpiece" of downtown Rochester. (p. 24) From these inauspicious beginnings, she launched an international corporation that she ran until the 1930s.

Harper's story is a compelling one. Yet the biography is the weakest portion of the book. Pitt relies too heavily -- perhaps because she had no other choice -- on "official" and often suspect company sources. Moreover, the narrative is dotted with qualifiers -- "probably," "perhaps," and "may have" -- which indicate that too many of Pitt's assumptions are based on plausible guess work rather than hard fact.

The book also offers a gendered interpretation of Harper's achievements. It describes the difficulties that women once had in establishing themselves and being taken seriously in the business world. Pitt argues that had Harper been a man, she would be ranked among the leading innovators of business practices in her day. She also maintains that Harper's determination to foster a sense of community among her employees was a tactic that a woman would be particularly likely to embrace. While suffragists talked about women's capabilities, Harper quietly turned real women into strong and capable entrepreneurs. For her, women's leadership in her company was not accidental; it was essential. "Dismissing the traditional capitalist competitive approach of "owner-take-all," Harper emphasized the values of cooperation and mutual support, shared her profits with other women, changed her employees' lives and gave her "girls" real financial security and personal freedom. (p. 5) Pitt's analysis here is solid -- albeit somewhat hagiographic -- but it tells us nothing new about the problems women faced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Finally, Pitt analyzes Harper's contributions to the world of business, stressing her innovative, even visionary techniques, techniques that have become commonplace in the modern world. The "Harper Method" was, in fact, virtually identical with the modern franchise system. At its peak, it included a worldwide network of shops, owned by individual "Harperites" -- mostly working class women -- who ran their businesses following the dictates of Martha Harper. The Harper system "integrated recruitment, training, and job placement. It offered a soup-to-nuts system of indoctrination, skill building, and ownership." (p. 117) Harper trained the women, taught them how to market their goods, how to treat their customers, and how to maintain a high and consistent quality of service. She occasionally introduced new "scientific" products and techniques to the Harperites, and required them to take occasional refresher courses so that they would continue to represent the company in the best possible manner. Perhaps because of her Christian Science faith, she emphasized healthy -- rather than simply beautiful -- hair. For that reason she eschewed the use of the hair dyes (unless they were organic) and permanents that became increasingly popular after World War II. Unlike her contemporaries, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, she tried to steer clear of business strategies that targeted the middle class, and democratized the beauty industry. She was not interested in persuading her customers that beauty was possible for any woman for the price of a few cosmetics. For Harper, health was the basis of beauty; externally applied products were mass produced facades designed to hide rather than enhance a woman's assets.

While Harper was ahead of her times in some ways, she represented a bygone era in others. She may have empowered working class women; yet she sought only elite women as customers. Even during the depression, she told "her girls" to continue charging upscale prices, hoping to differentiate her business from those led by others in the beauty industry. She wanted her goods and services to be better, not cheaper.

In the 1930s, when Harper's mental and physical health declined, and her husband Robert MacBain gradually assumed control of the business, it became increasingly clear that Harper had not built a business that could go on without her. MacBain abandoned many of her core principles, adopting a more "masculine" strategy, and the enterprise lost much of its distinctiveness. He stressed outer rather than inner beauty; he allowed the use of dyes and permanents. He did not share his wife's determination to recruit servant girls to run the franchises. In a sense, Martha Harper's was more a personal than an economic triumph, a product of her charisma and her drive. No other business imitated the Harper Method in her era, and it died with her.

Citation
Sheila L. Skemp, "Review of Jane R. Plitt, Martha Matilda Harper and the American Dream: How One Woman Changed the Face of Modern Business." EH.Net Economic History Services, Aug 12 2002. URL: http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/0525

What to do with Dry Hair?

Dry hair is a real problem---ask the woman who owns some. Oily hair is bad, but dry hair is no picnic, either. Dry hair is dull hair, and it looks the same after you shampoo it, as it did before. Along with dry hair, you may also have a dandruff problem. Although dandruff is more often a condition associated with oily hair, people with dry hair get dandruff too. Common dandruff is simply a layer of skin shedding from your scalp. When the skin cells get trapped on your scalp by your hair and clump together you have dandruff. And dandruff can make your hair look dull.

Dry hair can result from external factors, such as exposure to harsh chemicals, Permanent waves and Dyes, cheap Shampoos, Chlorine in Swimming Pools, Blow dryers and Curling Irons and too much Sun. Chit Chat finally sent this tip direct instead of going through Georgie. She says that one should always brush their hair no matter the condition but the difference between dry and oily hair is that in one you remove the oil and the other you add the oil and conditioners. Her recommendation is to start with a Professional Salon treatment first but if you don’t have time you can give yourself this treatment at home with the following products: Start with Arbonne’s Skin conditioning oil that is used on your scalp and hair. The botanical blend of avocado oil, olive oil and grape seed will re-hydrate your hair. Only use a small amount and massage it into your scalp and through the hair thoroughly. Wrap your hair in a towel or plastic wrap and soak in a hot tub for 15 minutes. Shampoo twice to ensure removing the excess of the product. What a great way to condition your hair and scalp while at the same time relaxing in a great bath. Thanks Chit Chat for this information.

Help for Excessive Oily Hair!

If excess oil just makes you boil, remember this! Oily hair is best treated by frequent shampooing. You should experiment with various shampoos to find which seems to best check the excessive oily condition. Once you decide which shampoo is best for your particular condition use it often. Some circles say you should use tepid water but those experienced in the business recommend that hot water should be used because it helps to remove the oil immediately with the proper shampoo. In extreme conditions hair should be shampooed each day always remembering that if the hair doesn’t squeak after the first shampoo a second should be used. You should decide the number of shampoos per week depending on your particular problem. Another tip is to massage the scalp good and leave the suds on for at least two minutes. Another myth is that you should not brush your hair but correct brushing corrects the cuticle direction and gives the hair more sheen after the shampoo. Make sure to brush your hair thoroughly each day and make sure you remove the oil from the bristles of the brush by using a dry cloth or absorbent cotton rubbed through the hair with separate strands held away from the head. This will pick up most of the excess oil. Those with oily hair will most likely have oily skin, It has been proven that oily skin deters wrinkles if the skin is cared for beginning in early life. So, Chit Chat says don’t let it make you too upset over your oily hair and skin and to follow known treatments for your oily skin and hair.

History of the Permanent Wave Machine

Marjorie Joyner
An employee of Madame Walker’s empire, Majorie Joyner, invented a permanent wave machine. This device, patented in 1928, curled or "permed" women’s hair for a relatively lengthy period of time. The wave machine was popular among women white and black allowing for longer-lasting wavy hair styles. Marjorie Joyner went on to become a prominent figure in Walker’s industry, though Majorie Joyner never profited directly from her invention, for it was the assigned property of the Walker Company. Marjorie Joyner was born in 1896 in the rural Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and moved to Chicago to study cosmetology. Madam Walker was a Chicago business women who had come to fame as the beauty product supplier to hollywood star Josephine Baker. Marjorie Stewart Joyner invented her wave machine as a solution to the hair problems of African American women, however, she never profited from her invention. Madame Walker owned the rights.

Marjorie Joyner became the Director of Madame Walker's beauty schools. Together with Mary Bethune Mcleod, Majorie Joyner founded the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association in 1945. She also volunteered for several charities that helped house, educate, and find work for African Americans during the Great Depression.

Madame Walker was a St. Louis washerwoman turned entrepreneur, who in 1905 invented a method to soften and smooth black women's hair. Joyner worked for Madam Walker's company. For further information on the History of Permanent Waving click on the about.com address Below:

http://www.inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bljoyner.htm

Yes Sir, "That's My Baby"

Hairstyles of the 1920s created more controversy in hair fashion than in any other period of American culture. And one hairstyle, known simply as ¾ “the bob,” would be at the center of this great debate. First introduced during the Great War, the bob haircut would eventually cause a revolution in the way women would wear their hair ¾ forevermore It all started in 1915 with the debut of the Castle Bob, named after the celebrated ballroom dancer Irene Castle. While cutting her hair for convenience, little would she know that she would forever be associated with triggering a revolution in 20th-century hair fashion. The Castle Bob would be the first indication of things to come ¾ the rage of short hair.The bob haircut was simply a blunt cut, level with the bottom of the ears all around the head. It was worn either with bangs or with the hair brushed off of the forehead. It was a simple look but a drastic departure from the long feminine looks created by Gibson and Marcel.

To those who appreciate the history of Hairstyling and where the beginning of liberated WOMAN began just click on the below link to "Professor" Bill Edwards Yes Sir, "Thats My Baby" web Site. http://www.hairarchives.com/private/1920s.htm

Don't hide your Hands with a Muff

Georgie sent word that Chit Chat doesn’t play bridge but they do play Canasta with their friends. So this little tip about carrying for your hands seems to fit this post. She says you can’t wear a muff at the bridge table but you won’t even want to if you take a little better care of your hands. Any woman who does her own house work (and who doesn’t?) gives her hands pretty rough treatment at times. Why not make it a point to give them a weekly (often if possible) preventive and remedial treatment? Spread them thick with Arbonne’s rich hand cream that includes Shea Butter, Apricot Oil and Cocoa Butter. Their Hand treatment formula is an anti-aging formula with alphahydroxy acids and vitamins A, C and E. It is a rich moisturizing hand cream. Once applied massage the cream into both hands. Don’t just give the job “a lick and a promise.” Do it thoroughly and the results will justify your time and energy.

A good Massage is good for your Scalp and Hair!

Georgie said Chit Chat told her that the following tip was great and was best when you got real tired and or had a slight headache. You should start by putting your elbows on your knees with your head in your hands. That position could indicate sorrow or maybe a bad headache. However, in this instance it merely illustrates a good position from which to give your self a good scalp massage. To get the best results you have to make your scalp move, slide around on your head and you have to exert some pressure. Move the ends of the fingers around, pressing firmly so that you can feel your scalp wrinkle and slide. Keep it up for several minutes each time and do it often. If the scalp is tight and won’t move or wrinkle it is a sign of tenseness. You should then relax and continue until you get results. It’s one of the keys to healthy beautiful hair.