Black and white photograph of a British Red Cross service user getting a manicure
Production date
1983
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Description
This photograph shows two pairs of elderly female hands, one gently holding the other, and using a cotton bud to clean and polish the nails. The image is in black and white, and dates from 1983.
During the 1950s the British Red Cross set up Beauty Care services in hospitals and psychiatric units across the UK, to try and help restore a sense of well-being that could help patients to recover. The services provided included things like massage therapies, cosmetics, and hand care treatments, like the one being shown in the photograph. Like many Red Cross services, these treatments were often provided by volunteers, who gave up their time to try and help people staying in hospitals in whatever way they could.
There is a warm and gentle intimacy about this image. The treatment being provided isn't clinical at all - there is no table between them, and no gloves being worn, it makes it feel very personal. Although the Red Cross is best known for providing medical care, I didn’t know that they also provided beauty treatments like this. When you have an illness that can cause your outward appearance to change, I think it can be very easy to lose your sense of self, so small things like getting a manicure done, or having someone do your hair for you can be really important in making you feel more like yourself again. I think that this is an aspect of care that is sometimes forgotten; that emotional wellbeing is just as important as physical recovery.
Audio recording by Danielle Dray (Volunteer), Edinburgh.
During the 1950s the British Red Cross set up Beauty Care services in hospitals and psychiatric units across the UK, to try and help restore a sense of well-being that could help patients to recover. The services provided included things like massage therapies, cosmetics, and hand care treatments, like the one being shown in the photograph. Like many Red Cross services, these treatments were often provided by volunteers, who gave up their time to try and help people staying in hospitals in whatever way they could.
There is a warm and gentle intimacy about this image. The treatment being provided isn't clinical at all - there is no table between them, and no gloves being worn, it makes it feel very personal. Although the Red Cross is best known for providing medical care, I didn’t know that they also provided beauty treatments like this. When you have an illness that can cause your outward appearance to change, I think it can be very easy to lose your sense of self, so small things like getting a manicure done, or having someone do your hair for you can be really important in making you feel more like yourself again. I think that this is an aspect of care that is sometimes forgotten; that emotional wellbeing is just as important as physical recovery.
Audio recording by Danielle Dray (Volunteer), Edinburgh.
Collection Type
Archives
Level of Current Record
item
Catalogue Number
119(15)/IN5513
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