HAIR DYES AND DEPILATORIES.
The custom of dyeing the hair is universal in the Orient; in the
Occident, however, hair dyes are also frequently used, namely, to hide
the grayness of the hair, sometimes to give the hair a preferred color.
Hair dyes, which are very numerous, may be divided into groups—those
containing the dye-stuff ready formed, and those in which it is
produced in the hair by some chemical process. Some hair dyes contain
substances which in their nature are decidedly injurious to the hair;
such articles, of course, must be dispensed with because, if frequently
employed, they would certainly lead to baldness. We shall return to
this subject in connection with the several preparations.
Regarding the use of hair dyes, especially those consisting of two
separate portions, we may state that it is necessary to remove the fat
from the hair before applying the dye, as the chemicals in question do
not adhere well to fat. The hair should be thoroughly washed once or
twice with soap, and dyed when nearly dry.
When dyeing the hair the preparations should first be diluted; if the
color is not deep enough, the process is repeated. If the preparation
is used at once in a concentrated form, a color may result which has no
resemblance to any natural tint; hair meant to be black may assume a
metallic bluish-black gloss.
A. Simple Hair Dyes.
LEAD HAIR DYE.
Oxide of lead 4 lb.
Quicklime 1 lb.
Calcined magnesia 1 lb.
The ingredients are rubbed to a very fine powder and for use are mixed
with water, applied to the hair, and left there until the desired
tint—light brown to black—is obtained, from four to twelve hours, when
the powder is removed by washing. The lime by its caustic effect acts
destructively on the horny substance of the hair. Moreover, _all lead
preparations_ without exception are _very injurious_ to the organism;
hence this hair dye is to be rejected, especially as there are harmless
preparations which produce the same effect.
KARSI (TEINTURE ORIENTALE).
Ambergris 75 grains.
Nut-galls 4 lb.
Iron filings 1¾ oz.
Copper filings 30 grains.
Musk 30 grains.
This preparation, which really comes from the Orient, is made as
follows: Reduce the nut-galls to a very fine powder and roast them
in an iron pan under continual stirring until they have become dark
brown or almost black. This powder is triturated with the metals in
fine powder and the aromatics, and preserved in a moist place. For
use, some of the powder is moistened in the palm of the hand and
vigorously rubbed into the hair; after a few days it assumes a deep
black, natural color. The roasting changes the tannin bodies contained
in the galls into gallic and pyrogallic acids which form deep black
combinations with the metals, and themselves are easily transformed
into brownish-black substances.
KOHOL (TEINTURE CHINOISE).
Gum arabic 1 oz.
India ink 1¾ oz.
Rose water 1 qt.
Powder the ink and the gum, and triturate small quantities of the
powder with rose water until a uniform black liquid results, which must
be free from granules. This liquid is placed in a bottle and the rest
of the rose water added. Kohol can be used only by persons with black
hair, and is employed particularly for dyeing the eyebrows. As the
coloring matter of this preparation consists of carbon in a state of
fine division, the dye is perfectly harmless.
VEGETABLE DYE.
Silver nitrate 2 oz.
Distilled water 1 qt.
This hair dye produces a deep black color, but cannot be recommended,
as it is injurious to the hair. Its full effects appear only after the
lapse of some hours.
POTASSIUM PERMANGANATE.
Potassium permanganate 5½ oz.
Distilled water 2 qts.
Crystalline potassium permanganate is soluble in water, forming
a dark violet solution. When brought in contact with an organic
substance—paper, linen, skin, horn, hair—it is rapidly decolored and
imparts to the substances named a brown tint due to hydrated oxide of
manganese. The hair is washed, as stated above, to remove the fat, and
the dilute solution applied with a soft brush; the color is produced at
once and according to the degree of dilution this innocuous preparation
can be made to give any desired color from blond to very dark brown.
Of course, this preparation can be used for the beard as well as the
hair.
All the hair dyes here and elsewhere given stain the skin as well
wherever they come in contact with it; hence care should be taken to
protect the skin during their application.
B. Double Hair Dyes.
SILVER HAIR DYES.
This and similar hair dyes consist of two preparations, preserved in
bottles I. and II.; the latter, containing the silver solution, should
be of dark amber-colored or black glass, as the silver salts are
decomposed by light. It is utterly useless to employ blue glass for
this purpose, as this admits the chemical rays of light as easily as
flint glass. For use, some of the liquid from bottle I. is poured into
a cup and the hair is moistened with it by means of a soft brush. The
liquid from bottle II. is poured into a second cup and applied with
another brush.
BROWN DYE.
I. (_In White Bottle._)
Sulphide of potassium 7 oz.
Alcohol 1 qt.
II. (_In Dark Bottle._)
Silver nitrate 4¼ oz.
Distilled water 1 qt.
BLACK DYE.
I. (_In White Bottle._)
Sulphide of potassium ½ lb.
Alcohol 1 qt.
II. (_In Dark Bottle._)
Silver nitrate 5½ oz.
Distilled water 1 qt.
The sulphide of potassium (liver of sulphur) appears in fragments of a
liver-brown mass which readily dissolves in water. The solution must be
filtered before being filled into bottles for sale, and, as it becomes
turbid in the air, kept in well-closed vessels. When the two solutions
are brought together, black sulphide of silver results and darkens
the hair. After the use of this preparation a disagreeable odor of
rotten eggs adheres to the hair, but can be easily removed by washing,
especially with one of the previously mentioned hair washes.
The silver hair dye will be still better if the liquid contained in
bottle II. is made by dropping into the solution, under continual
stirring, ammonia water, until the precipitate first formed is again
dissolved.
MELANOGÈNE.
I. (_In Dark Bottle._)
Silver nitrate 150 grains.
Distilled water 2¾ oz.
Ammonia water 1 oz.
II. (_In White Bottle._)
Pyrogallic acid 15 grains.
Alcohol of 40% 1 pint.
TANNIN HAIR DYE.
I. (_In White Bottle._)
Powdered nut-galls 14 oz.
Water 1 pint.
Rose water 1 pint.
Boil the nut-galls in the water, strain the boiling liquid through a
thick cloth into the rose water, and fill the still hot mixture into
bottles which must be immediately closed. (It is essential that the
liquid be hot during the filling, to guard against the development of
mould.)
II. (_In Dark Bottle._)
Silver nitrate 5½ oz.
Distilled water 1 qt.
Add ammonia water to the silver solution until the precipitate first
formed is again dissolved.
EAU D’AFRIQUE.
I. (_In Dark Bottle._)
Silver nitrate 45 grains.
Distilled water 3½ oz.
II. (_In White Bottle._)
Sulphide of sodium 120 grains.
Distilled water 3½ oz.
CRINOCHROM.
I. (_In White Bottle._)
Pyrogallic acid 150 grains.
Distilled water 6¼ oz.
Alcohol 5¾ oz.
II. (_In Dark Bottle._)
Silver nitrate 180 grains.
Ammonia water 2 oz.
Distilled water 10½ oz.
COPPER HAIR DYE.
I. (_In White Bottle._)
Ferrocyanide of potassium 7 oz.
Distilled water 1 qt.
II. (_In Dark Bottle._)
Sulphate of copper 7 oz.
Distilled water 1 qt.
Add ammonia water to the copper solution until the light blue
precipitate first formed again dissolves to a rich, dark blue liquid.
This hair dye gives a dark brown color.
EAU DE FONTAINE DE JOUVENCE,
also called Auricome and Golden Hair Water, is no dye, but a bleaching
agent which changes dark hair to a light blond or golden-yellow
color. The preparation consists of peroxide of hydrogen, a substance
possessing marked bleaching properties.
Peroxide of hydrogen, or hydrogen dioxide, is at the present time made
on a large scale by many manufacturers, and readily obtainable in the
market. It would therefore scarcely pay any one to prepare it himself
unless he were out of reach of the usual channels of trade, so that he
could not obtain the preparation in a _fresh_ state. Nevertheless it
may be useful to state how it is made. Barium dioxide (or peroxide),
which is a regular article of commerce, and is a stable compound which
will keep for any length of time if kept in tightly closed bottles, is
treated with water until the dioxide forms with it a thin, smooth milk.
This is gradually added to dilute sulphuric acid, cooled with ice or
kept otherwise as cold as possible, until the sulphuric acid is almost
entirely neutralized. The solution is then allowed to settle and the
clear liquid drawn off. For bleaching purposes, this is pure enough.
Only it must be ascertained that the amount of free acid present,
without which the hydrogen dioxide does not keep well, is only small.
Other acids can be used besides sulphuric, but the latter is the most
convenient. If an alkali is added to hydrogen dioxide so that the
reaction becomes alkaline, it will decompose very rapidly. Even under
the most favorable circumstances (when acid, and kept in a cool place)
it will gradually deteriorate, and finally be entirely converted into
oxygen gas, which escapes, and plain water.
Peroxide or dioxide of hydrogen, when applied to the hair as a
bleaching agent, must be used in a dilute condition at first. Those
who use it for the first time should always make preliminary trials
with the liquid upon odd bunches of hair (such as may at any time
be procured at hair-dressers’ shops) resembling that which is to be
bleached, before actually applying it to the latter.
The hair to be bleached is deprived of fat by washing with soap
solution, the soap is washed out with water, and the peroxide of
hydrogen applied.
WHISKER DYE.
I. Acetate of lead 1¾ oz.
Distilled water 1 pint.
II. Caustic potassa ¾ oz.
Distilled water 1 qt.
Dissolve the acetate of lead (“sugar of lead”) in the warm water,
filter the solution, and add ammonia water until a precipitate ceases
to form. Collect the precipitate on a filter, wash it by pouring
distilled water over it eight or ten times, and while still moist
introduce it into solution II. Stir repeatedly, and after twelve hours
leave the vessel at rest until the solution has become clear. Then
decant it from the sediment, which may be treated a second time with
solution II. For use, the beard is washed with soap, and combed with a
fine rubber comb dipped in the solution.
C. Depilatories.
Combinations of sulphur with the alkaline metals calcium, barium,
and strontium rapidly destroy the hair; for this reason tanners use
the “gas lime” from gas works, which contains calcium sulphide, for
removing the hair from hides. All the depilatories used cosmetically,
even rhusma employed in the Orient for removing the beard, owe their
activity to the presence of calcium sulphide.
CALCIUM SULPHIDE
has usually been lauded as a perfectly harmless depilatory. This is
a great mistake, however, since it has often done serious harm,
through careless application by persons unfamiliar with its caustic
and corrosive effects. It is absolutely necessary to protect the
_skin_ against its action; otherwise superficial irritation, or even
destruction of the skin may result.
Calcium sulphide cannot be made by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen
upon lime. It is usually made by heating at a low red heat, in a
securely closed crucible, an intimate mixture of 100 parts of finely
powdered quicklime with 90 parts of precipitated sulphur. Mix together:
Calcium sulphide 4 oz.
Sugar 2 oz.
Water 2 oz.
Starch powder 2 oz.
Oil of lemon 30 grains.
Oil of peppermint 10 grains.
The resulting mass must be filled at once into an air-tight jar, as
the calcium sulphide is decomposed in the atmosphere. For use, some
of the mass is moistened with water, painted on the skin, and washed
off with water after thirty to forty-five minutes. This and all other
depilatories act only temporarily, that is, they destroy only the hair
projecting above the surface without killing the hair bulbs; after some
time the hair grows again and the preparation must be reapplied.
BARIUM SULPHIDE,
which is likewise used as a depilatory, is made by heating barium
sulphate with charcoal, extracting the residue with water, and mixing
the resulting product with starch paste. In its effects barium sulphide
equals the preceding preparation, but it decomposes more readily.
DEPILATORY PASTE.
Powdered caustic lime 2 lb.
Starch powder 2 lb.
Sodium sulphide 21 oz.
Sodium sulphide is made by saturating strong caustic soda solution with
sulphuretted hydrogen. The other ingredients are added to the solution
of sodium sulphide.
RHUSMA
is a depilatory made by mixing powdered quicklime (unslaked) with
orpiment (yellow sulphide of arsenic). Take of:
Quicklime 4 lb.
Orpiment 10½ oz.
Mix intimately and preserve the powder in tightly closed vessels. For
use, take some of the powder, reduce it to a thin paste with water,
and apply it to the place upon which the hairs are to be destroyed.
Owing to its poisonousness and the destructive effects of the caustic
lime on the skin, this preparation should never be employed in cosmetic
perfumery.