Care of the Hair.--Children’s Hair.--When to Cut it.--Ammonia
Washes.--Glycerine and Ammonia.--Pomades.--How to Brush the
Hair.--Cutting the Ends.--German Method of Treating the
Hair.--Southernwood Pomade.--Hair-Dyes.--Dyeing the Eyebrows and
Eyelashes.--Superfluous Hair.--Depilatories.--Washes for the
Eyelashes and Eyebrows.
St. Paul approved himself no less a connoisseur of female beauty than
a censor of decorum when he wrote, “If a woman have long hair, it
is a glory to her.” This is in no wise inconsistent with the other
apostolic passage which discourages ornate hair-dressing, for abundant
shining hair needs less care to arrange than a scanty crop that must be
disposed to the best advantage. The woman whose magnificent chevelure
reaches to her waist, thick as one’s wrist when tightly bound, needs
no braid nor cataract, finger-puff nor snow-curl, nor band of gold or
amber to crown herself. Every girl ought to have such hair. Mothers
should remember that such gifts of nature form a dowry which has no
little weight in the incidents of a woman’s life, and should cultivate
assiduously the locks of their daughters. It is not best to keep them
closely cut: after five years they should never be touched by scissors,
save to clip the ends once a month, as hereafter explained, but should
be smoothly braided in long Marguerite plaits, the most convenient
style, unless the mother is ambitious of seeing her pet’s hair in
curls. Hardly any locks will resist good discipline, if taken in the
downy stage of infancy and submitted to papillotes. It is a mistaken
notion that a luxuriant growth of hair in childhood weakens the head.
Nature is not in the habit of providing superfluities. The Breton
women are noted for their magnificent hair, which is allowed to grow
from childhood. The barbarity of the fine comb should be abolished in
civilized nurseries, and a daily or semi-weekly wash with ammonia or
soap substituted, with a thorough brushing afterward. A child’s head is
too tender for any rasping process; even knotted snarls should be cut
rather than pulled out. Send tow-headed children into the sun as much
as possible, that its rays may affect every particle of the iron in the
blood, and change the flaxen colors to more agreeable shades.
When the hair has been neglected, cut it to an even length, and wash
the scalp nightly with soft water into which ammonia has been poured.
This may be as strong as possible at first, so that it does not burn
the skin. Afterward the proportions may be three large spoonfuls of
ammonia to a basin of water. Apply with a brush, stirring the hair well
while the head is partially immersed. Do this at night, so that it may
have a chance to dry, for nothing is so disagreeable as hair put up wet
and turned musty. Wring and wipe it thoroughly, then comb and shake out
the tresses in a draft of air till nearly dry, when it may be done
up in a cotton net. Night-caps heat the head and injure hair. Ammonia
is the most healthful and efficient stimulus known for the hair, and
quickens its growth when nothing else will do so. A healthy system will
supply oil enough for the hair if the head is kept clean. If the scalp
is unnaturally dry, a mixture of half an ounce of carbonate of ammonia
in a pint of sweet-oil makes the most esteemed hair invigorator.
Glycerine and ammonia make a delicate dressing for the hair, and will
not soil the nicest bonnet. Pomades of all kinds are voted vulgar, and
justly. The only excuse for their use is just before entering a sea
bath, when a thorough oiling of the hair prevents injury from salt
water. It should be speedily washed off with a dilution of ammonia.
When a growth of young hair is established, it ought to lengthen at
least eight inches a year in a vigorous subject. Hair is an index of
vitality. The women of the tropics, with their abounding health, have
luxuriant chevelures. Among Spanish and South American women hair a
yard long, in a coil as thick as the wrist, is the rule, and not the
exception. The warmth of those latitudes favors the secretions, and
stimulates every organ to its fullest development. To obtain like
results, we must try to obtain the same conditions of luxuriant health.
A good circulation is essential to fineness and pleasing color of the
hair. The scalp must be stimulated by frequent brushing, as well as by
the ammonia bath. A lady of fashion decreed one hundred strokes of the
brush to be given her celebrated locks daily, and those who have tried
the experiment find that it is not at all too much. Given quickly,
this number occupies three minutes in bestowing, and surely this is
little enough time to give a fine head of hair. Once a month the ends
of the hair should be cut, to remove the forked ends, which stop its
growth. The patrons of a certain New York school of high repute will
remember the young daughter of an Albany gentleman, whose wonderful
hair was the pride of the establishment. The child was about ten years
old, and her heavy tresses reached literally to the floor. She was not
unfrequently shown to visitors as a phenomenon, veiled in this flood of
hair. On inquiry, it was found that no peculiar treatment was given it
beyond cutting the ends regularly every month for years.
An old authority gives the following as the German method of treating
the hair. The women of that country are known to have remarkably
luxuriant locks: Once in two weeks wash the head with a quart of soft
water in which a handful of bran has been boiled and a little white
soap dissolved. Next rub the yolk of an egg slightly beaten into
the roots of the hair; let it remain a few minutes, and wash it off
thoroughly with pure water, rinsing the head well. Wipe and rub the
hair dry with a towel, and comb it up from the head, parting it with
the fingers. In winter do all this near the fire. Have ready some soft
pomatum of beef marrow, boiled with a little almond or olive-oil,
flavored with mild perfume. Rub a small quantity of this on the skin of
the head after it has been washed as above. This may be efficient, but
in this age women prefer the cleanlier method of stimulating the hair
without pomade.
If any ladies are as fond of stirring up cosmetics and washes as were
the wife and daughters of the Vicar of Wakefield, they may try these
highly recommended recipes:
The following is said to be an excellent curling fluid: Put two pounds
of common soap cut small into three pints of spirits of wine, and
melt together, stirring with a clean piece of wood; add essence of
ambergris, citron, and neroli, about a quarter of an ounce of each.
Rowland’s Macassar Oil for the hair: Take a quarter of an ounce of the
clippings of alkanet root, tie this in a bit of coarse muslin, and
suspend it in a jar containing eight ounces of sweet-oil for a week,
covering from the dust. Add to this sixty drops of the tincture of
cantharides, ten drops of oil of rose, neroli and lemon each sixty
drops. Let these stand three weeks closely corked, and you will have
one of the most powerful stimulants for the growth of the hair ever
known.
Take a pound and a half of southernwood and boil it, slightly bruised,
in a quart of old olive-oil, with half a pint of port-wine or spirit.
When thoroughly boiled, strain the oil carefully through a linen cloth.
Repeat the operation three times with fresh southernwood, and add two
ounces of bear’s grease or fresh lard. Apply twice a week to the hair,
and brush it in well.
Where a hair-dye is deemed essential, the deplorable want may be met by
this recipe, which has the merit of being less harmful than most of the
nostrums in use: Boil equal parts of vinegar, lemon juice, and powdered
litharge for half an hour, over a slow fire, in a porcelain-lined
vessel. Wet the hair with this decoction, and in a short time it will
turn black.
Lola Montez gives a hair-dye which is said to be instantaneous, and
as harmless as any mineral dye used. It is made from gallic acid, ten
grains; acetic acid, one ounce; tincture of sesquichloride of iron,
one ounce. Dissolve the gallic acid in the sesquichloride, and add the
acetic acid. Wash the hair with soap and water, and apply the dye by
dipping a fine comb in it and drawing through the hair so as to color
the roots thoroughly. Let it dry; oil and brush.
White lashes and eyebrows are so disagreeably suggestive that one can
not blame their possessor for disguising them by a harmless device.
A decoction of walnut-juice should be made in the season, and kept
in a bottle for use the year round. It is to be applied with a small
hair-pencil to the brows and lashes, turning them to a rich brown,
which harmonizes with fair hair. It may be applied to the edge of the
hair about the face and neck, when that is paler than the rest. Let
me repeat that the best remedy for ill-used tresses is strict care;
glossy, vitalized tresses, kept in order by constant brushing, assume
by degrees a better color. It is a mistake to soak red hair with oil
in the hope of making it darker; it should be kept wavy and light
as possible, to show off the rich lights and shadows with which it
abounds. The sun has a good effect on obnoxious shades of hair if it is
otherwise well attended to, and red or white locks should be worn in
floating masses, waved by fine plaiting at night, or by crimping-pins,
which _do not_ injure hair unless worn too tight. Pale hair shows a
want of iron in the system, and this is to be supplied by a free use
of beef-steaks, soups, pure beef gravies, and red wines. Salt-water
bathing strengthens the system, and acts favorably on the hair. As to
color, hardly any shade is unlovely when luxuriant and in a lively
condition. It is only when diseased or uncared for that any color
appears disagreeable. Sandy hair, when well brushed and kept glossy
with the natural oil of the scalp, changes to a warm golden tinge. I
have seen a most obnoxious head of this color so changed by a few
years’ care that it became the admiration of the owner’s friends, and
could hardly be recognized as the withered, fiery locks once worn.
Superfluous hair is as troublesome to those who have it as baldness
is to others. There is no way to remove it but by dilute acids or
caustics, patiently applied time after time, as the hair makes
its appearance. The mildest depilatories known are parsley water,
acacia-juice, and the gum of ivy. It is said that nut-oil will prevent
the hair from growing. The juice of the milk-thistle, mixed with oil,
according to medical authority, prevents the hair from growing too low
on the forehead, or straggling on the nape of the neck. As Willis says,
Nature often slights this part of her masterpiece. Muriatic acid, very
slightly reduced, applied with a sable pencil, will destroy the hair;
and, to prevent its growing, the part may be often bathed with strong
camphor or clear ammonia. The latter will serve as a depilatory, but
causes great pain, and must be quickly washed off. The depilatories
sold in the shops are strong caustics, and leave the skin very hard
and unpleasant. Bathe the upper lip, or other feature afflicted with
superfluous hair, with ammonia or camphor, as strong as can be borne,
and the hair will die out in a few weeks. Moles, with long hairs in
them, should be touched with lunar caustic repeatedly. A large, dark
mole on a lady’s neck was reduced to an unnoticeable white spot, but
the nitrate of silver caused a sore for a week in place of the mole.
Care should be taken to brush the back hair upward from childhood, to
prevent the disfiguring growth of weak, loose hairs on the neck. Fine
clean wood-ashes, mixed with a little water to form a paste, makes a
tolerable depilatory for weak hair, without any pain. Strong pearlash
washes also kill out poor hair.
A clever scientific man suggested that the growth of hair might be
hastened by frequently applying electric currents to it, or bathing
it in electrical water. Similar experiments have been made on vital
tissues with remarkable success. But this theory must be left for
further development.
The eyelashes may be improved by delicately cutting off their forked
and gossamer points, and anointing with a salve of two drachms of
ointment of nitric oxide of mercury and one drachm of lard. Mix the
lard and ointment well, and anoint the edges of the eyelids night and
morning, washing after each time with warm milk and water. This, it
is said, will restore the lashes when lost by disease. The effect of
black lashes is to deepen the color of gray eyes. They may be darkened
for theatricals by taking the black of frankincense, resin, and mastic
burned together. This will not come off with perspiration.