Ilka Windish(1925-1998)

Viennese Ilka Windish was asked by an American friend to share her old world beauty secrets. She was reported to have smiled indulgently before explaining that she had lived in Austria during the Russian occupation and could not lay hands on commercial cosmetics; she learned to use cucumber juice as a facial astringent, castor oil as a treatment for her hair, and eggs for a facial mask. "When we could spare a cucumber," Ilka explained, "we would splash its juice again and again over a clean face and you will see the difference." (As reported on page 11 of the Big Spring Daily Herald (Big Spring, Texas), June 6, 1962.