June Vlasek — Complexion Complexes (1934) 🇺🇸
If there is a young woman in Hollywood who doesn’t have a complex about her complexion, — a radically firm belief in the efficacy of a beautiful skin when it comes to securing and retaining work in the cinema colony, I have yet to hear of her. I do not disparage the thought of glorifying the American skin, — quite the contrary.
by June Vlasek, Fox Films Player
If ever there were three cities in which a girl or a woman absolutely must retain what the advertisers like to call “that schoolgirl complexion” or “the skin you love to touch,” I think I can safely say that they are Los Angeles, Paris and New York.
Appearance means so much to a woman in the battle for recognition and appreciation in those three cities; particularly in Hollywood where one’s face and figure must face the mechanical perfections of the camera’s eye as well as the eyes of the casting director and the producer.
Not long ago I talked with a famous woman of the stage, and was told that one of her complexion tricks was to put on her cleansing cream and let it remain on during her bath. She did have exquisite skin. After the bath and the face steaming included, she’d wipe off this cream, turn her face up to the shower and let the water grow from warm to, cold and colder.
I agreed that this was an excellent idea. Well known beauticians now agree that this is an excellent hint for complexion improvement. Leaving the cream on during the hot tubbing does give it a more penetrating effect, and of course, the more deeply the cream gets into the pores, the clearer the skin will be. This is advocated particularly for people with grimy pore susceptibility. The penetrating cream, the softening of the skin from the steam and the later rinsing of the face in warm, then cool, and then cold water will clear the face beautifully. Very hot water is not good for the face and for that reason it is unwise to use it. It is far too harsh to use on the tender facial skin. You will readily understand that heat tends to expand. And if you continually steam and scald your face with very hot water, the sensitive muscle fibers tend to grow relaxed and flabby.
The purpose of the use of hot water or hot towels, usually, is to open the pores. But this can be accomplished much more safely, with no attendant harm, simply through the use of a good, liquifying cleansing cream. For if the skin is gently massaged with such a cream before a soap and water cleansing is administered, the process will soften the skin and open the pores.
It didn’t need a Fox cameraman to tell me that blackheads photograph in a way which is entirely unflattering to one’s complexion. If there are blackheads a bit stubbornly located you should use a complexion brush and soap on the face after you have removed the cream. Then, the warm water rinse and the cold water and colder.
It’s a simple little trick that really does make the face look extra clear and clean. Suppose you have a dinner date and your face looks a bit grimy. You haven’t had time for that facial you wanted, but you have to take time for a tubbing before dressing, put the cream on as advised and see how much fresher you look and feel than merely laying the cream on and wiping it off in the usual hurried manner.
There’s something bracing about greeting that fresh looking skin in the mirror — and it goes without saying that you’ll put your makeup on just a little more painstakingly when you know you have a clearer canvas to work on.
The white hats, white evening gowns and white ermine coats which will be so much in vogue this winter call for nothing if not a flawless skin. If you have a grimy or clouded spot on the face the clear white of the turban, coat collar or dress will certainly exaggerate it. In other words, keep the face spotlessly clean and fresh at all times.
Clothes may make the man, but they're a long way from making a woman perfect. Get a good complexion complex if you haven’t already cultivated one. The best style creators in the world, — as famous as Maggy-Rouff, Schiaparelli, Patterson, Drian, Royer, Spieker, or Augusta Bernard, can do little to enhance one’s beauty unless the skin is flawless.
And if you’re Hollywood bound, you can save the price of a ticket unless you make up your mind in advance that your face and your figure will have a large claim on your time and attention, — always!
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Collection: Broadway and Hollywood “Movies” Magazine, January 1934
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