He could tell by looking at her skin
Posted in General on 31. Jul, 2010
(He could tell by looking at her skin.) He came close to throwing her out of his Fifth Avenue Institute but she quietened down and agreed to do exactly as he told her. Yes, it really does make a difference if you do it twice a day, but if you don’t, it won’t kill you either.Dr Erno Laszlo was born in Transylvania and raised in Budapest, where he studied dermatology. In 1927 he set up the Erno Laszlo Institute for Scientific Cosmetology. Almost immediately he was called upon to treat Princess Stephanie, the widow of Austria’s Crown Prince, whose husband had rejected her on their wedding night, a slight which caused her to become a recluse. She had a morbid fear of make-up, since she had been “painted” for her wedding day, a subterfuge she blamed for her husband’s apparent repulsion Subsequently, she never went out, thinking herself too ugly. Dr Laszlo to the rescue! It was for this unfortunate creature that he created his super-light finishing preparations which – Lord, aren’t women shallow – got her out of the house again.He set up offices on Fifth Avenue in 1939 and business boomed Dr Laszlo’s techniques shocked the New York elite. (Consultations cost $75 and even then you had to be recommended and numbers were limited to 300 a year.) He asked pertinent questions and he quizzed them on how often they washed their faces; few ever did, cleansing instead with creams and tissues.
He also never made house visits, no matter how famous his clients were Not even to the White House for John F Kennedy and his wife. (Jackie would use her pHelityl Oil on Kennedy’s back as he had dry skin and Dr Laszlo famously scolded her one day when she veered away from his instructions.) In 1940, Greta Garbo, who would become a life-long friend, had her first ever beauty treatment at the Institute. His client list was and is spectacular – Lillian Gish, Cecil Beaton, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe (in photographs of her bedroom, taken after her death, you can see her Laszlo jars in the background), they all splashed away. Modern-day clients have included Madonna, Yoko Ono, Sting, Cher, Hillary Clinton and Diane Keaton.As well as being a bit of a pathological stickler for doing as he said, he also came up with some great one-liners: “Flirting is an invaluable beauty treatment, good for the circulation and the spirit.” And for women who applied thick make- up he had these words of wisdom: “You will look like yourself 20 years from now and no man wants to peer that far into your future.” But the reason I would have loved to have met him was that Dr Laszlo loved chocolate. It was his absolute favourite food and he was never without a bar. He also encouraged women to eat what they wanted, stating that: “Beauty results from happiness, not deprivation.” Sadly he died of heart failure in 1973.Individually, you can get better products: Eve Lom does a better cleanser, Jo Malone a better moisturiser.
(Interestingly, both also advocate the use of water.) The Sher System is also based on the splashing regime and has changed the lives of many men and women blighted by acne or rosacea But as a synergistic system nothing beats Dr Laszlo’s However, if you can’t afford it, don’t fret. I think the most important bit is the hot water splashing, which anyone can incorporate into their routine using existing products. Dr Laszlo wouldn’t approve, but then he’s not to know.Stockists:Erno Laszlo: 0345 697072Eve Lom: 0181 661 7991Jo Malone: 0171 720 0202Sher System: 0171 499 4022.Annalisa Barbieri is winner of Neutrogena’s Beauty Journalist of the Year award. Skincare queries to a.barbieri independent.co.uk..
The placard said it all. Held high by a small boy in Male, the capital of the Maldives, it carried a simple slogan: “Down with sea-level rise”. It was 1989 and the boy was making his denunciation (or was it a heartfelt plea?) at a demonstration greeting ministers from 15 island nations as they gathered to confront a threat to the very existence of their countries. Scientists were increasingly concluding that global warming was real and that, as the world heated up, the oceans would rise. President Gayoom of the Maldives, who had called the meeting, set the sombre tone. Reminding delegates that, on average, his country’s 1,196 islands jut just three feet above the waves, he warned: “We are an endangered nation.”
Ten years on the gloomy predictions are coming true, faster that anyone expected.