Ten Commandments for Flappers

By Dr. F. R. Braune  

Our modern flappers, of course, want to live physically and morally as well as possible; therefore, they should as nearly as possible obey the following Ten Commandments:

1. Sleep at least eight hours out of twenty-four. Each hour before midnight is worth more than two after.

2. If underweight and puny, eat regular meals, drink large quantities of H2O with your meals. Food containing plenty of starch and sugar is good for you.

3. If inclined to corpulency, overweight or “fat,” take long walks before breakfast. Six hours’ sleep is sufficient. Exercise all you can. Eat less sweets and less meat.

4. Do not wear corsets. The medical profession never advocates such constrictions.

5. Wear as little clothing as possible. It’s closer to nature and sensible. Let no one tell you it is immoral.

6. Enjoy sunshine—plenty of it. If you cannot go to the beach for several days in succession, there are “ray” apparatuses available that can produce in five minutes a beautiful, healthy sunburn that it would take a whole week to make at the seashore.

7. Use less cosmetics. A little, well blended, should be the happy goal.

8. Smoking cigarettes is not harmful, if you don’t inhale the smoke. This advice does not include the so-called “tailor-made.”

9. Alcohol—well, it will harm no one IF taken moderately (if you can get it). Keep away from the so-called “moonshine”—it’s poison. And you won’t miss anything if you shun all kinds of liquor.

10. Remember that life is what you make it. Entertain good thoughts and act accordingly and make your life happy, then you may enjoy a heaven here on earth. If you do otherwise, you need not to expect to get the best of it.

Originally published in Flapper Magazine, September 1922