Beauty Culture (Woodbury)/Chapter 14

It is hard to draw the line which separates uncleanness and disease, since the former condition develops imperceptibly into the latter. Scrupulous cleanliness is the natural and the best preventative of disease, and therefore the advice in the preceding chapter not alone applies to the cultivation of beauty, but the promotion of health as well. In treating the discased hair and scalp, however, the methods of combing and washing the hair and of massaging the scalp need to be modified to suit the abnormal condition.

Dandruff is a natural condition which merges gradually into an abnormal one. The term is probably derived from the Welsh words ton and drieg, meaning "bad skin." Normally it is nothing more than the shedding off of the little cells of the scarf skin, just as it happens on the exposed skin surfaces of the body. But there arc forms of this condition sufficiently serious to compel a consideration of them as actual diseases.

One of these is where an over-secretion of oil from the hair follicles combines with the dirt collected by the hair from the atmosphere and the scales of scarf skin naturally thrown off. This condition induces the formation of yellowish gray crusts upon the scalp at various ​places which crowd upon the hair and invite infection of the follicles which they cover.

The next condition is far more serious. In this a crust forms, as just indicated, which contains a germ that has been described by prominent authorities as the diplococcus. This germ is particularly destructive to the hair, and causes acute and permanent baldness in many individuals, particularly in men.

To consider particularly the various forms of dandruff that come under the treatment of operators, it is well to classify them as follows:

1. Simple or Dry Dandruff.
2. Oily Dandruff.
3. Infective or Destructive Dandruff.

Simple Dandruff. This is a normal condition of the scalp, though more marked in some persons than in others. The cause is a collection of fine dry scales on the scalp, which can be readily observed in combing or brushing the hair, when it falls like a shower about the shoulders of the patient. This symptom is often annoying to the person afflicted and can be readily cured by proper attention to the care of the scalp.

First of all scalp massage is best. This should be associated with proper shampooing, combing and brushing, and followed by the application of a fatty matter to allay the over-dry nature or state of the scalp. For this purpose, some bland oil may be massaged into the scalp, such as sweet almond oil; but the following formula will give the best results, stimulating the hair growth at the same time.

​The above should be rubbed into the scalp with the tips of the fingers.

An oil that has become rancid should never be used, as it is liable to irritate the scalp and cause disease, Besides being obnoxious to a patient with sensitive nostrils.

Oily Dandruff. This condition is due to an overproduction of the oily secretion of the glands of the hair follicles and is very difficult to overcome. Persistence in rational treatment is the only path to a cure. Proper attention should be paid to washing the scalp with one of the ammonia shampoos. After each of several of these, given at intervals of ten or fifteen days, cold water on the scalp should be used before the hair is allowed to dry. In the meantime, massaging the scalp every three or four days will do much to effect a cure.

A stimulating tonic may be applied to the scalp daily made as follows:

The quinine should be dissolved in the alcohol and tincture of nux vomica; then add the resorcin, bay rum, and water.

To use this, the hair should he parted and the lotion applied with a tooth brush to the scalp.

Another stimulating tonic may be made thus:

​Add enough elder-flower water to make a pint mixture. Treat the scalp the same way as before with a tooth brush.

Lastly, it is well to remember that there is frequently a disease that points at some fault in the general health of the individual, and medical treatment in the way of tonics and proper exercise of the body should be recommended. Derangement of the nerves, impairment of the digestion, even mere worry, may be affecting the condition of the scalp and hair. Exposure of the bare head to the sunshine and air is one of the best factors toward a reduction of the evil.

Infectious or Destructive Dandruff. This condition is one found particularly in men who frequent public places and barber shops that are not beyond a douby kept sanitary. It is usually brought to the attention of the operator, when the hair falls rapidly, and it is then well advanced. Crusts of yellow or gray will be found here and there about the scalp and scabs also perhaps, where the patient has injured the scalp by scratching. There may be considerable itching of the scalp in places to account for this.

First of all, the use of all hair brushes, unless first cleansed with an antiseptic, should be prohibited.

The scalp should be thoroughly shampooed as before described, followed with a cold-water drenching, but with care as to degree of coldness. Avoid causing shock to the scalp.

Massaging should be done twice a week and the daily use of some antiseptic lotion should be insisted upon. The best of these are made as follows:

​Rub some of the above into the scalp every night.

Dissolve the mercury first in a little warm water, then add the alcohol and bay rum and the other ingredients. This lotion should be rubbed into the scalp, after shampooing, once or twice a week.

There are many conditions that cause the hair to fall. The falling out may be sudden, as after an acute illness like typhoid fever; or there may be a slow thinning out of the hair, causing a baldness that begins at the forehead and goes back over the head, or on top of the head, whence it spreads outward, leaving only the hair at the temples and the extreme back of the head. This state is called alopecia, or general baldness.

Then again the hair may fall out, usually suddenly, in one or two nearly round patches, when it is called local alopecia or baldness. Both of these conditions will be considered separately, since they require different treatment.

General Baldness. This affection of the hair follicles, unless following an acute disease, progresses slowly and is caused by pressure from stiff hat bands, heavy hats, lack of ventilation of the hair, sedentary occupations, mental worry, too frequent washing (which often accounts for early baldness in men), improper hair-dressing, as with women who persist in doing up the hair tight or weighting it down with puffs or heavy switches; and with both men and women, most often, from inadequate or improper care of the scalp.

​Lastly, dandruff, either when a result of lowered vitality, as in the fine, powder-like scale, or that kind denoted by the thick, oily patches of the simple sort, or the infective variety often carried from one person to another through the employment of dirty hair brushes in public places, is a very active cause of loss of hair.

When this form of baldness is met with in its early stage, there is every hope of curing it.

The treatment is first of all proper hygienic cleansing of the scalp. The operator must be able to recognize the condition present, advise against the cause leading to it, and then attack the case faithfully and conscientiously.

The pale scalp with the powder-like dandruff should be cleansed first of all by one of the shampoos given. Following the shampoo, wash the hair with water growing gradually colder from tepid, but not so cold as to chill.

A thorough massage should follow and then the application of some tonic mixture.

As a rule these cases do best with some oily preparation. Alcoholic mixtures only help to desiccate still more the already dry and brittle hair, and make matters worse. These oily preparations are called hair foods. They act by stimulating the follicles and adding fat to scalp and hair, a thing so necessary to the hair growth.

The following mixture is highly endorsed and has the advantage of being antiseptic:

This is to be rubbed into the scalp with the tips of the fingers or with a soft-bristled tooth brush.

​Another and more powerful tonic is made as follows:

This is an excellent remedy, but more expensive than the former. It is used in the same manner.

The treatment should be continued regularly for eight weeks; that is, a daily application of the mixture, as well as massage; to the scalp at least three times a week.

Daily brushing of the hair with a long-bristle hair brush helps to keep up the massage in the meantime.

The hair should not be shampooed except once every two weeks under this treatment, and only once in four weeks after the treatment has been discontinued.

Stop the promiscuous use of pomades or other so-called hair tonics, at least until you are sure of their ingredients; they are frequently of little value and sometimes increase the trouble.

In the oily or scaly form of dandruff the scalp should be thoroughly rubbed with vaseline or olive oil for several days before shampooing. This will loosen the scales and allow them to be washed away with the shampoo.

Do not let the patient be frightened if considerable hair comes out during the first washings. This condition is frequently remarked, and signifies nothing more than that such hair would have dropped out any way in a few days, because it is dead.

Following this shampoo, it is well to use some antiseptic solution to kill off any possible germs. Perhaps the best mixture is made as follows:

​Dissolve the mercury in the warm water and allow to get cold before using. This mixture will keep indefinitely, but should not be confused with other mixtures, since it is highly poisonous, when taken inwardly. Label your bottle "Poison."

The scalp is washed with this solution which is allowed to remain on for half an hour, when the hair and scalp are to be rinsed with alcohol. The hair is now dried and one of the oily tonics rubbed into the scalp.

Alcoholic mixtures containing quinine, cantharides, gallic acid, or other stimulating drugs have been recommended, but oily preparations have been found to be the best in the end.

After a course of eight weeks of this treatment, the patron should be provided with some mixture to continue the treatment daily at home. One of these is given in the section on dandruff, or the following can be offered, if an antiseptic is not required:

A little of this is to be rubbed into the scalp every night.

Localized Baldness, or Alopecia Areata. In this kind the hair will suddenly fall off in one or more patches. It is caused by some local nerve trouble in the scalp. Here the treatment naturally is to stimulate the nerve ends in these places, and so is different from that for general baldness.

The disorder, being usually of a chronic nature, recovery may come about at any time, and is marked by the appearance of fine hairs that grow stronger until normal.

Treatment to begin with should be constitutional. A physician should be asked to prescribe internal remedies.

​External massage is necessary, followed by the application of an irritant, preferably one containing an antiseptic. Any one of the following can be tried; but do not mix treatments.

This mixture is to be painted on the bald patches with a camel-hair brush every other day.

Rub well into patches once a day.

The latter is painted on the patches once every week.

The hair, if any, should be shaved off the patches every week to stimulate the growth. Static electricity or the negative pole of direct current is also useful.

With patients beyond fifty years of age the results are not always satisfactory. Be careful not to over-encourage a patron of this age. Re perfectly frank, if in your judgment the case looks difficult. The best one can do sometimes is to prevent the baldness from spreading. Persistent treatment in other cases will usually bring about a cure.

Lice. Lice are often found to infest the head of uncleanly persons. Even in the best regulated families children are apt to have them, having acquired them from their schoolmates. The nits will be scen more or less plentifully distributed about the hair shafts.

​The presence of the lice causes more or less scratching with the finger nails which results in the wounding of the scalp and the consequent formation of crusts.

The best method for removing or killing these obnoxious things is to soak the hair and scalp with kerosene oil night and morning for two days. Then shampoo the head thoroughly.

If the use of kerosene is objectionable, the hair may be well wetted with tincture of larkspur. The treatment should be given at night and repeated the next morning and allowed to dry on the hair. A towel should be wrapped about the head during the night.

After twenty-four hours the head should be thoroughly washed or shampooed, and the treatment be again repeated as before in several days' time, if there are any signs of the lice present.

Hair Splitting and Breaking. This condition is usually met with among persons in poor health, or those who have dandruff of long standing.

The split ends of the hair should be clipped off or singed away, and a thorough course of scalp massage as advised for dandruff should be given. One of the stimulating hair tonics is to be used, followed by daily brushing and the application of castor oil in cologne spirits, as given on page 202.

Superfluous Hair. Superfluous hair on the face, hands or arms can be removed with so-called depilatories. Their use is similar to the use of a razor, and they effect simply a temporary removal of the growth, requiring a constant use of the mixture as the annoying hairs reappear.

When such a mixture is required the following is the best, since it is the least poisonous:

These ingredients should be well mixed and kept in a tightly sealed bottle.

To use: mix a small quantity of the powder with water to make a thin paste; spread this upon the parts to be rid of hair and allow to dry on for five to ten minutes. Then scrape off the dried paste with a spatula or a dull knife blade.

As the paste is removed, the hairs will come away with it, leaving the skin perfectly clean.

A little cold cream should be rubbed on the parts after the skin has been gently washed off with water on a pledget of absorbent cotton.

A slight amount of the cold cream is allowed to remain on the skin.

Dissolve the sodium in the water and keep well corked and away from the light. Apply to the hair without rubbing and wipe off in not over two minutes.

But the only way to remove permanently these abnormal hair growths is by the use of electricity in the form of Electrolysis, which is thoroughly explained in Part Five.

Gray Hair. Grayness of the hair is not necessarily a sign of disease or even of age. To turn gray in time is natural nearly everywhere. There is one very notable exception. In Scandinavian countries the hair of persons verging toward extreme age very frequently turns flaxen.

​Proof that grayness is not necessarily symptomatic of disease or weakness is found in the fact that often, when the hair has turned with years, it not only remains as glossy and smooth, but sometimes grows more so, as well as more thick and strong.

Physiologists have not yet definitely determined the immediate cause of the hair losing its color. They fall back on the simple statement that the supply of coloring matter appears to lessen or give out. Dark hair, which, they assert, implies greater physical strength in the possessor, loses color sooner than light hair. Cases of blond men who at fifty have lost half their hair by baldness, and yet have not begun to turn gray as to the other half, are not uncommon.

The physiological suggestion that the supply of coloring fluid is exhausted sooner by dark hair, because of the greater call it makes on the coloring fluid, does not really explain the matter. On the contrary, among the very dark-haired races in tropical and semi-tropical countries, the hair appears to keep its color much longer than among blond or semi-blond peoples.

Perhaps one may say that a more complex civilization, with its indoor life, has considerable to do in determining the time for the approach of natural grayness, as it certainly has much to do with turning hair gray prematurely by worry or excitement.

Gray hair so frequently by contrast with a fresh complexion and bright eyes adds attraction to a woman's face that fashion has often dictated gray, and on the periodical returns of the style many young matrons in Paris and elsewhere may be found actually wearing artificial gray hair. Accordingly women otherwise young in appearance need not indulge in vain regrets, but by keeping their gray or graying hair in the healthiest condition ​and arranged in the style most harmonious to their face and figure may make themselves just as attractive as their black-haired and brown-haired sisters. At any rate, keeping the hair clean and healthy will do much to retard its becoming gray.

Premature Gray Hair. Gray hair may appear on the head prematurely, due to neuralgia, fright, grief, or as the result of rapid aging from business cares or prolonged indulgence in artificial excitements or society dissipations.

It is a popular belief that hair may turn white almost instantaneously from these causes, especially fright and nervous shocks. Byron accepts it in his famous lines from "The Prisoner of Chillon":

Bichat, a famous French physiologist, backs up this popular belief by the assertion that he knew of one case, the cause being a violent mental shock, where the transformation took place in a single night, and he speaks of several other cases of shock where, in about a week, the hair turned gray in mass.

Even with entire respect to so great a name as Bichat, and appreciating, too, the value of a popular belief, one cannot help suspecting that verification in the single case of his very long experience may not have been quite absolute; in other words, the hair might have had a more or less decided set toward gray, or have been on the turn, previous to the sudden mental shock. The most reasonable explanation of the historical incidents of hair suddenly turning gray in prison, as in the case of Marie Antoinette, is that it was already gray, but had been dyed, and, during incarceration, when its owner was de​prived of the dye or of proper assistance in applying it, had taken on its proper hue.

Treatment for premature gray hair is usually successful. The patron should be advised to consult a physician for the general health, and the operator should at once begin a systematic course of massage, and general tonic treatment of the scalp, using such preparations as have been given and are indicated.

But when grayness is progressive, while much can be done to retard its spread, the final result is permanent, and all that can then be done is to tint the hair or dye it to its former shade, using massage and scalp-cleansing methods to keep the hair healthy and prevent its falling out.

Gray hair should not be shampooed oftener than once a month. The egg and white castile soap shampoo—especially that one in which only the white of egg is used—will be found best for gray hair. In the final rinsing put a trifle of pure indigo, not bluing, just enough to tint the water faintly. This will whiten or silver the hair a little, giving it extra gloss.

The dry shampoo of cornmeal and orris root is good for gray hair. Do not, however, rub this mixture onto and into the scalp. Just sprinkle it through the hair and brush it out in about ten minutes.

To cleanse, cool and freshen the scalp on which the hair is growing gray, the following tonic is recommended:

​This is also a good occasional treatment for gray hair:

This also will be found of value.

Macerate the wood, boil it in the olive oil, strain it through a cloth, add the wine, and let stand several days. Then saturate the hair with it.