Hollywood icons like Joan Crawford swore by ice water facials to maintain youthful skin, tighten pores and for other people to reduce puffiness. This ritual pre-dated modern cryotherapy, ice facials and was widely recommended in beauty magazines of the era.
While other Hollywood icons such as Marilyn Monroe loved to indulge in ice baths.
Ice water facials were incredibly popular in the 1950s.
Joan Crawford: The Most Documented Ice‑Facial From Her Autobiography
Joan Crawford is best known for indulging in ice water facials. In 1955, Crawford would sub-emerged her face in a bowl of ice water twenty-five times in a single morning, on a regular basis, never mind partaking in this ritual twice a day, as it is documented. She relied on on physical shock to tighten her skin and to visibly shrink her pores, since Botox and other injected chemicals were non-existent. Crawford would often include rosewater in her icy water. She believed this icy water, in addition to giving herself tightened skin, it reduced puffiness and kept her complexion taut. Crawford had mentioned this technique in her autobiography.
According to Joan Crawford’s personal accounts and her autobiography
- She filled a large sink or silver basin with freezing water, a heavy amount of crushed ice cubes, and a splash of witch hazel or rose water. Typically, rose water was her go-to selection.
- She would bend over the basin and plunge her face or vigorously splash the freezing mixture onto her skin exactly twenty-five times. Not more, not less. Twice per day.
- Once the ice ritual was complete, she immediately layered on a generous application of heavy moisturizing creams (most notably from Erno Laszlo) to trap the moisture and hydration, and soothe the freezing skin.
The Exact 1950s Protocol
She followed the shock treatment with a heavy, thick layer of cold creams and moisturizers like Erno Laszlo Active Phelityl Cream to trap the sudden rush of moisture.
Her housekeeper or assistant filled a massive, ornate silver washbasin with freezing tap water and added an entire tray of crushed ice cubes.
Crawford always added a heavy splash of witch hazel or rose water to the ice slurry to maximize the skin-tightening and soothing benefits.
Bending directly over the basin, she would either submerge her entire face or frantically splash the freezing water against her skin exactly 25 times.
There are primary‑level traces of Joan Crawford’s cold‑water routine notably her own memoir My Way of Life, but most modern claims (the “25 splashes” detail and dramatic ice‑plunges) come from later magazine retrospectives and biographies that repeat the anecdote rather than a single contemporaneous how‑to article.
Have you tried Joan Crawford’s Ice Water Facial? Please let me know, I’d love to hear from you!
I’m Stacey Hobbs, thanks for reading. Until next time!
do you feel fabulous today?
Face by Stace 