The years between a little girl's first toothbrush and her first lipstick can set her on the road to loveliness. Here is a program of beauty habits to help.

YOUR daughter does not need classical features to be a beauty (though they are no hindrance). More important are poise and grace, cleanliness, good health, grooming, and a pleasing expression and personality.

In the baby and toddler stages, mother does the '"beauty" treatments by keeping her daughter clean and healthy with well-tended hair, neat clothes, and a good diet plan. But very soon daughter can be trained in beauty habits that will last her all her life.

From 6 To 9 - Beauty is Health

Proper nutrition in this age-group has a lot to do with your child's attractiveness in years to come. Good food makes for a well formed body, smooth, radiant skin, mental and physical vitality. So keep her diet good. Carefully guard your child's first teeth.

Begin her six monthly dental check-ups at the age of two and a half. With cavities filled, baby teeth will last until permanent teeth replace them. This gives her second teeth a better chance to grow in straight and strong.

One of the most important things you can do for your daughter is to start establishing habits of good grooming. Help her choose a simple hairdo she can keep tidy herself.

If your child's hair is fine, have it cut bluntly at the ends. On the other hand, heavy hair is best in a pixie cut with uneven tips. Never fasten a child's ponytail with elastics; they break fine hair. Hair doesn't reach its full thickness until the age of eleven or twelve.

One last and most important point - try to establish confidence about her appearance. Praise her good points and help her to be optimistic about them without being vain.

From 10 To 12 - Beauty is Grooming

At this stage a girl starts to be an inveterate snacker. So get your daughter into sensible nibbling habits.

Have apples, celery, and carrots available for after school snacks. Substitute fruit juices for a soft drink. Later on she'll thank you; her teeth will be better for it and so will her figure.

Where good posture is concerned, seeing is believing.

Ask her to slump in front of a mirror, then pull in her stomach and straighten her shoulders. She'll see the improvement herself. Let her arrange her hair to see whether she prefers it short, if she wants a side or center part. She can be sold on day-by-day grooming habits if you present them as privileges, such as: "You can use my hand lotion if your fingernails are clean."

Girls are mimics, so let her watch you brush your hair or do your nails.

Keep up her visits to the dentist.

Insist on clean ears, neck, elbows, knees, heels, and toes. At all ages, buy shoes that will not harm foot development.

When She Enters Her Teens - Beauty is Confidence

Any young girl in her early teens is likely to experiment with her looks. So step in now and help her.

When the time comes, introduce her to a lip brush and show her how to manipulate it from corners of her mouth toward the center. If her eyebrows: are ragged, show her how to tweeze in the direction the hair grows. A little baby oil on a brush will train brows to lie flat.

Stress soap-and-water face washings three times a day using hot water for soaping. Then, when every trace of soap is rinsed away, rinse again with cold water to close the pores.

Blemishes may still appear. If they are very bad, consult a skin specialist. To help, there are medicated soaps, lotions to blot up excess oil, and instruments to loosen blackheads.

Most important, see that your daughter stays in good health, gets plenty of sleep and fresh air.

Keep her diet nutritionally sound. Remind her not to snack on chocolates and cake.

For lustrous hair and healthy scalp, encourage regular daily brushing. Set aside one night a week for shampoos. While she's at it, have her shampoo her brush and comb.

Simplest hairdos are prettiest and will require a trip to a hairdresser for a good hair cutting. Your daughter may forget about good posture, so remind her about it.

Among the many fascinating legends concerning herbs and herbal medicine is the story of the discovery in the Peruvian Andes mountains of the "Passionflower" by the 16th Century Spanish physician, Nicholas Monardes.

Dr. Monardes was actually on a mission of atonement when he found a large, beautiful, flower-laden vine with striking blossoms growing high in the Andes. The year was 1565, twenty years past the era when Spanish Conquistador, Francisco Pizarro, had destroyed the last resistance in the Inca Indians and forcibly converted the population to Christianity.

Dr. Monardes, seeking to find a sign of God's forgiveness for Spanish oppression of the Incas found it in a flower of the Andes, a flower seemingly designed with symbols of the Passion of Christ clearly shown in its parts: he called it Passiflora incarnata.

HYPNOTIC HERB WELL KNOWN TO THE INCAS

Dr. Monardes soon learned that the Inca Indians brewed a tonic herbal tea from the "Passionflower". The herb's mild pleasant taste and Christian symbolism made it an immediate hit in Europe.

Passionflower's action on the body was tranquilizing and sedative. Herbalists classify this sort of herb as a "hypnotic" but indeed the Passionflower is truly only sedative and has nothing to do with hypnotic trances!

In the American Gulf Slates, Passionflower attained a popular status as an ornamental vine as well as a folk remedy. Passionflower's non-narcotic sedative and digestive functions were widely employed to alleviate insomnia, restlessness, menstrual discomfort, nervous tremor and upset stomachs.

The American pharmacology manual, the "[url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ij65VrKmWlQC&lpg=PA67&ots=UNoPVXOmPL&dq=National%20Formulary%20passionflower&pg=PA67#v=onepage&q=National%20Formulary%20passionflower]National Formulary[/url]", listed Passionflower as a recognized tranquilizer and sedative from 1916 - 1936. This recognition lasted until 1978 when Passionflower was removed from apothecary listing by the American Food and Drug Administration in favor of synthetic alternatives.

A NATURAL "SLEEPER" WITH A GOOD SAFETY RECORD

Herbalist David Hoffmann writes encouragingly about the safety factor in choosing Passionflower as a herbal sleeping remedy. Hoffman notes that Passionflower is one of the most effective herbs for treating "intransigent insomnia" because it facilitates transition into restful sleep without any narcotic after effects.

There is also a marked antispasmodic or muscle-relaxing activity in Passionflower that makes it useful in conditions such as Parkinson's Disease, seizures and hysteria, Hoffman records. Equally effective is the use of Passionflower for nerve pain such as neuralgia or shingles.

Passionflower has other promising indication for wound-healing and cardiac conditions. Michael Casdeman notes that during cardiac studies using animal subjects, the chemical components in Passionflower were shown to open or dilate coronary arteries.

Two other studies found Passionflower extracts could kill many disease-causing moulds, fungi and bacteria - an effect found earlier by its Indian and folk remedy users who used Passionflower in wound treatment.

FRIENDLY ALKALOIDS?

Considered a "mild" sedative herb, Passionflower's major chemical constituents include some "friendly" alkaloids that are specific to the species Passiflora incarnate. One such friendly alkaloid is called "passiflorine".

If using Passionflower products for insomnia treatment, it is very important to verify the correct plant species being used is Passiflora incarnata and not one of the other species passiflora; for example, the ornamental blue Passionflower, passiflora caerulea, must never be employed medicinally as it contains a toxic substance. Commercial herbal products containing passiflora incarnata must clearly identify their raw materials on the label.

Prudence should dictate that pregnant women should not consider using any herb which acts on the nervous system in the complex way that Passionflower does, however safely the herb may have been used traditionally.

Likewise anyone with a heat condition who wishes to trial Passionflower should do so with the guidance of his/her health practitioner. For the general public seeking to employ herbal sleep aids, Passionflower may offer help - without narcotic after effects.

Passionflower herbal tea is mild and pleasant to drink and can be blended with another commonly used sedative herb, Chamomile. Passionflower is also available in over-the-counter herbal liquid tinctures and as tablets or capsules.

Tonic herbs are planted remedies that strengthen and enliven specific organs or the whole body. They are truly gifts of Nature to humanity. Whole plants that enliven whole human bodies, to ask how they work is to ask how life itself works. If anyone knows the answer, please let me know!

So writes herbalist David Hoffmann in explanation of what a "tonic" is and how it works. Obviously, even modem herbalists are hardpressed to define "tonics" and yet everyone seems to intuitively know that a "tonic" does: it makes us feel better! Right?

According to Hoffmann, most herbs work as "tonics" in the right time and place. Mother Nature is abundant in the number of herbs which have a tonic action on the body.

TONICS ARE LEGENDARY

The concept of a "tonic" or elixir of herbs for the seasonal onset of Spring goes back many centuries and most likely had it origins in the days when people truly needed a "pick me up" after long hard winters on short rations and confinement indoors. Even in the tropical regions, a regimen of "cleansing" was considered desirable and a periodic necessity in most cultures.

Around the world, folk culture records many famous "tonics". One of the oldest folk - medical traditions still at work today is the Ayurveda of India. "Tonics" in Ayurvedic medicine are called rasayana and the term applies to any herbal preparation used for rejuvenation and revitalization.

A legendary Rasayana (tonic) is one called the "Royal" or Chyavanprash and is made only from the selected fruits of fresh Indian Gooseberries called amla. Amla fruit tonics are considered the major health food herb throughout India and they contain the highest known amount of easily assimilated Vitamin C.

Vitamin C is a powerful detoxifier for the body, even hastening the excretion of toxic metals, so it is not surprising the Ayurvedic masters understood the tonic effect of the Amla fruit.

TONICS USED WORLDWIDE

Chinese herbalists have specialised in "tonic" herbs equally as long as their Indian counterparts. One only has to recall the importance of the herb Ginseng to Chinese herbalism to appreciate the high degree of popular acceptance effective herbal tonics can claim in China.

Historically, the tonic of maximum tonification in China went by the name Bu Zhong Yi Qi Wan and its formula contained all the powerful detoxification herbs known to Chinese medicine. Included in the recipe were herbs also known to European herbalists: Astragalus, Ginseng, Atractylodes, Licorice, Dong Quai, Cimicifuga (Black Cohosh), Bupleurum, Citrus Peel, Chinese Red Dates (Jujubees) and Ginger. It will be noted that many of the ingredients are also food items. The Chinese excel in formulating herbal cures which are taken as foods like soups or teas.

American Indian herbal tradition has an old tale of the discovery of a "tonic" herb which saved the tribe of Chippewa Indians from extinction after a long severe winter suffering famine due to crop failure and loss of game animals.

The Chippewa simply referred to this miraculous tea as "Swamp Tea" but it was known to the white European settlers as "Labrador Tea" and became widely used. It botanical name is Ledum Latifolium and the tea made from its leaves is rose-colored, fragrant, soothing and mellow.

The European herbalist used "tonics" frequently whether for specific treatment of individual body systems - for example, digestive, respiratory, etc. Medical herbalist David Hoffmann identifies three major "general tonic" herbs which appear again and again in remedial combinations to tonify the body. These include Goldenseal, Black Cohosh and Centaury.

Not only the Chinese but also folk medicine traditions worldwide recognize the usefulness of using tonic herbs as foods to be eaten for seasonal cleansing. John Lust, American Herbalist, records a "Spring Salad" herbal tonic which can be gathered early in the season and eaten.

Lust's recipe included tender young leaves which can be gathered early in the season and eaten. Lust's recipe included tender young leaves of Dandelion, Nettle and Watercress - all of which contain goodly amounts of iron and have a "bitter" elements that stimulates digestion. These characteristics make such herbs good "tonics" because they stimulate the eliminative processes and "pick us up".

After a Winter of too much cooked food with little exercise, sunlight or fresh air we can certainly take a "leaf" from the herbalist's traditional tonics, eat our tender young greens, stretch our legs, breathe deeply and take a long walk in the sun!