256 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS 'that they had interesting things to do with their hands--putting on lipstick for example--which was very exciting as well as being a personal discipline. Here are a few case histories: J.: A spastic with little use in her legs, using a wheel-chair the entire time, has very limited use of her hands, but with the help of physiotherapy is gaining some mobility in one hand. To begin with, J. was unfamiliar with cosmetics but most anxious to co-operate in every way. She likes attractive things and wants to make a good impression on others. Had to learn how to care for her skin and also how to apply make-up. In spite of the consider- able physical effort involved, she now always tries to apply make-up and never appears for my weekly visit without lipstick and powder. Her tech- niques of application are improving all the time, lipstick better outlined, skin clearer and better groomed, which constitutes a considerable personal discipline with her hands. When praised for this, the joy and gratitude in her face is most touching. B.: Unable to walk, always uses the wheel-chair. One very good hand, one poor hand. Has a lovely complexion and blue eyes. Very interested in grooming herself and has an excellent colour sense. Her beauty techniques and knowledge are improving all the time, and in spite of the great difficulty of maneeuvring her chair and physically reaching the faces of her colleagues, she does a lot to help those more handicapped than her. M.: Originally very handicapped, unable to use hands, to walk and to keep body and head steady, but feet highly mobile and used in place of hands. All effort has been concentrated on transferring the mobility to her hands and stilling the agitation of her body. Others have helped with her skin cleansing and she is fascinated not only by improving herself and using the right make-up but by the idea of feminine charm, elegance and style, which we talk of frequently. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHEME There are many difficulties before this Hospital Beauty Scheme can become a national practice. At the h•oment 12 hospitals are taking part and another 10 or 12 who would like to adopt the scheme. But the stumbling blocks are money, time, prejudice and scepticism. Money does count, because unless you set up a charming Beauty Room where the atmosphere is different and more colourful than the rest of the hospital, you do not get the surroundings which are effective. Ideally, a really attractive place can be established for as little as •60 or •70, or if a simple trolley only is wanted, for much less. Nevertheless, to justify even •10 with the present National Health Scheme is difficult, so unless the hospital has a hidden fund or a "Friends of the Hospital" Association who can give the required amount, there are money problems. The training of

THE HOSPITAL BEAUTY SCHEME 257 the nurses, as I have said, is given free by our Company, so the•e are no money difficulties in this respect, but the second point--time--is a great problem. First, to get full co-ordination of hospital superintendents, matrons, hospital secretaries, so that they give full co-operation to the scheme. Then finding the staff who can be spared for the two weeks' training, and the subsequent maintenance of the service, is not easy. For example, one hospital that we go to has recently established an elaborate Occupational Therapy Department at considerable cost and yet is unable to keep it open all the week because they cannot afford the staff. The Beauty Room therefore has to take its turn on the list of hospital priori- ties. Some hospitals are better placed and keep the Beauty .Room open all the time, but in most cases one or two days a week is the maximum. I ought to tell you that not every time that we enter into negotiations with a hospital do we bring the plan to a successful conclusion. There is a maternity hospital where I was very keen to get established because it would have given a fresh scope for this work. It was a teaching hospital and the superintendent was tremendously keen on getting the scheme started. The hospital served a very poor district and he felt it would give stimulus at a very important and difficult time in the women's lives. In spite of great interest on the part of the doctors and the matron, and even approval from the Finance Committee, the Management Committee did not pursue the scheme because two members claimed that "girls should be taught to wash their faces, not to use lipstick!" And so the whole plan had to be dropped. Nevertheless, in addition to the 500-600 treatments we gave at Good- mayes Hospital, under the Scheme we have been instrumental in organizing more than 6,000 treatments since July 1957, and we intend to go on. Great credit is due to Miss Jeffree for the way in which she handled the pioneer work in this field. Her skill and sympathetic understanding has contributed greatly to the success of the Scheme. There have been people who criticized the idea of linking beauty and cosmetics with anything so drab as hospitals, particularly mental hospitals. They say that this is a bad thing because cosmetics are glamorous, chic things which ought not to be linked in this way. I think that is a very shallow point of view and one that I do not subscribe to at all. I am sure that women everywhere benefit by the use of cosmetics and I think that we as an industry can do a great deal by spreading the use of cosmetics, and indirectly of beauty, to every type of woman. I do not think, therefore, that it is damag- ing to the industry as a whole, but rather that we may have been instru- mental in opening up new avenues from which we can all benefit. Our work in this field has certainly been most rewarding. [Received ß 24th February 1959_•