Should you’re a historical past buff like me, you might be curious to know the wonder secrets and techniques of Empress Sissi. In spite of everything, her magnificence, even in outdated age, was legendary…
Sissi was probably the most stunning girls of her time – and she or he knew it. It was her magnificence that captivated the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and prompted him to ask for her hand in marriage.
Sadly, there’s no glad ending to this fairytale. Sissi was a free spirit who longed for freedom and independence – the one two issues forbidden to an Empress.
Imprisoned in a golden cage and unable to take management of her life, Sissi turned to the one factor she may management: her appears. Maintaining her svelte determine and her face free from wrinkles turned an obsession for her. She couldn’t stand the considered rising outdated or what her pregnancies have been doing to her physique.
“Ah, the horror of rising outdated, to really feel the hand of Time laid upon one’s physique, to look at the pores and skin wrinkling, to awake and worry the morning mild, and to know that one is not fascinating! Life with out magnificence could be nugatory to me.”
Unhappy, isn’t it? Right here’s the lengths Empress Sissi went by to remain younger and delightful:
How Empress Sissi Maintained Her Slim Determine
Empress Sissi was so pleased with her tiny, 50cm waist, she went to nice lengths to maintain it that approach. She hardly ate something all day and exercised loads.
Strolling was a typical train for ladies on the time, however Sissi took it to the intense. Her walks may last as long as 10 hours! Even the protests from her attendants, compelled to comply with her round, couldn’t persuade her to shorten them. Solely bodily ache or sickness did.
She additionally spent hours on the saddle. She liked horses and rapidly turned among the best horse riders of her time.
Sissi was additionally obsessive about gymnastics. She had a gymnastics room put in at her palace and may very well be seen dangling from the rings! Her topics have been horrified. Of their minds, this wasn’t a pastime appropriate for an Empress.
Some historians right this moment suppose she might have had anorexia, or at the very least, some type of disordered consuming. I’m undecided that is the right prognosis, nevertheless it’s clear that her weight loss program and train routines that one thing was off.
She’d typically go days consuming solely milk, orange juice, or skinny broth. There are studies she even tried a “meat juice” weight loss program, simply to maintain her weight down whereas nonetheless getting some vitamins. This implies a necessity for management – in any case, as an empress subjected to strict royal protocol, there have been so many issues she couldn’t management in her personal life.
Her meals have been so tiny, and once you pair that with countless strolling, driving, and hours of gymnastics, it paints a reasonably stark image of how desperately she clung to the one factor she felt she may nonetheless declare as hers: her look.
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Skincare
Empress Elizabeth of Austria was a skincare fanatic who jumped from one lotion to the opposite. A few of these recipes, just like the strawberry facial masks or rose tonic, sound scrumptious, whereas others have been bit gross…
An instance? She utilized uncooked veal on her pores and skin at night time. Typically, she additionally used a cream with lard, marshmallow roots and floor slugs. Enjoyable truth: the cream took 4 hours to make!
One among her lotions, Cream Celeste, was a thick concoction of spermaceti, cera alba, candy almond oil and glycerin she used to moisturize her pores and skin in the course of the chilly winter months.
Her Chilly Cream, was made with beeswax, candy almond oil, rosewater and cocoa butter. It gave your pores and skin a refreshing feeling that was so nice, it quickly turned a success with the women of the court docket.
Elizabeth was a fan of bathing (phew!). She washed her physique in heat water infused with olive oil. At night time, she’d sleep with garments soaked in vinegar above her lips – she was satisfied it helped her keep slim.
She additionally dabbled in goat’s milk baths and herb-infused steam baths, which have been all the fad on the time for his or her “purifying” results. And these concoctions weren’t whipped up in a couple of minutes, both. Some lotions needed to be stirred for 12 hours. Who made them? Normally, one among her ladies-in-waiting or the court docket pharmacy.
Make-up
You’d suppose Empress Sissi liked make-up.
Mistaken. She didn’t need something to do with it. She believed make-up solely interfered with nature’s work. For her, it was all about pure magnificence.
Elizabeth was additionally very crucial of ladies who wore make-up, like the attractive Princess Pauline von Metternich: “She wears two inches of pink powder on her lips and is wearing materials from international locations which can be far-off although she is simply too flat’. Ouch!
Hair Care
Empress Elizabeth had lengthy, luscious, chestnut brown hair that just about reached the ground. It was her pleasure and glory and she or he spent two to 3 hours a day caring for it!
Her hairdresser was Franziska (Fanny) Angerer Feifalik, a former theatre hairdresser. The Empress sat on a low chair within the middle of her dressing room, whereas Fanny, all wearing white (together with gloves!), combed and styled her hair into elaborate hair-does.
Afterwards, she’d gather any straight hair from the comb and material and counted. If too many had damaged off, Sissi would get upset.
This routine acknowledged 2 to three hours a day. Within the meantime, Sissi saved herself busy by studying languages akin to Hungarian and Greek.
Washing her hair took hours, too. She did so each fortnight, utilizing a mix of cognac and egg yolk!
And drying it? An entire manufacturing. Her attendants would rigorously wrap her hair in material and let it air dry (no warmth allowed!). It may take a complete day. Typically, she’d even sleep together with her hair draped over a particular body to keep away from messing it up in a single day.
The Backside Line
There you might have it, the wonder secrets and techniques of Empress Sissi. It’s simple to get misplaced within the fairytale: the robes, the portraits, the waist no corset may squeeze any tighter. However behind all of it was a lady doing no matter she may to really feel like herself.
About Gio
Hello, I am Gio. I am a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is pores and skin coach and author on a mission that can assist you obtain your finest pores and skin day ever – every single day. I bust skincare myths and debunk advertising jargon that can assist you work out what’s well worth the splurge and what’s finest left on the shelf – utilizing science, not hype. I additionally supply skincare consultations that can assist you create one of the best skincare routine in your distinctive wants.
