Having first scrubbed the head, anoint the hair with the root of
cow-parsnip in undiluted wine.—_Another_: Having shaved the head,
and scrubbed it, take a young pine kernel, and burn it until it be
reduced to ashes, put it into a mortar and pulverize it, adding myrtle
ointment, until it be of the thickness of honey, and thus anoint the
head with it.—_Another_: Rub in equal parts of myrtles and beet, with
oil.—_Another_: Twenty galls; of maiden-hair, oz. ij; pound with
sea-water until they attain the thickness of honey. Having rubbed the
hair with urine, or lixivial ashes, and cleaned it with warm water,
anoint it with this medicine for two days, then stopping, on the third
day clean it, and, having shaved, anoint with myrtle oil. This will
render the hair smooth, and curled, and black; but it will be more curled
if you shave before using it.
_Preservatives of hoary hairs, and other compositions for dyeing them
black._ Of the oil of unripe olives, three sextarii; of spikenard, dr.
j; of unguis aromaticus (sweet-hoof?), dr. iv; of schænanth, dr. iv.
Boil with oil, and separately pound and dissolve carefully one ounce of
the juice of acacia in wine. When only a third part of the oil remains,
strain it, and mixing with the acacia, lay it up in a vessel, and anoint
with it every day.—_Another_: Of the bark of green walnuts, oz. iij; of
the root of the ilex, oz. iij; of dark-coloured wine, three sextarii;
boil to a third part, and, having strained, pound the remainder with one
sextarius of myrtle oil. To be used every day.
_An infusion for dyeing the hair black._ Of galls, one sextarius, of
elm-leaved sumach (_rhus coriaria_), two sextarii; of the leaves of
privet, an equal quantity; of black myrtle leaves, the same; of cinnaris
a handful; of poppy-heads the same; of lake water, twelve sextarii.
Macerate for many days, boil to a third, then rub and anoint the head.
When the hairs are dry anoint with an acetabulum of Cimolian earth, and
an equal quantity of quicklime. Dissolving these things in the juice of
boiled beet, anoint with it, and then, for the sake of protection, put
over it the leaves of beet, and, when they adhere properly, wash in the
bath with it.
_For dyeing tawny hairs, and making them of a bright yellow colour._ Take
of myrrh, one part; of the flower of salt, one part; pulverize carefully,
and, having made it of the thickness of the sordes of a bath, scrub the
head, anoint it with the ointment, and allow it to remain a night and a
day, and then order it to be wiped off.—_Another_: Rub in unripe lupines
with water.—_Another_: Of litharge, dr. j; of Cretan earth, dr. iv; of
quicklime, dr. j; with water make to the thickness of bath sordes, and
anoint. Apply the leaves of beet for two or three days, and then clean.
_For making black hairs yellow._ Add the lees of wine to the sordes
of a bath, and, having made it to the consistence of cerate, use it
when you are going to sleep, and in the morning the hairs will be
yellow.—_Another_: Macerate the leaves of privet in the juice of Fuller’s
herb (_struthium_), and use the infusion.
_A gold-coloured dye._ Of alum, dr. vj; of red arsenic, dr. vj; of
saffron, dr. ij; of the thapsus used by dyers, called _herba rubia_ by
the Romans, dr. viij; of the lixivial ashes used by the bonnet-makers,
four sextarii; boil the ashes and the thapsus pounded together, and,
when but one half remains, squeeze out the juice, and dissolve in it
the alum, red arsenic, and saffron; put it into a glass vessel, and, at
the time of using, first scrub the head, and then anoint with it. When
it is all drunk up, clean with the decoction of fenugreek, barley, and
cumin, having previously washed them with a sufficiency of tepid water,
and add as much soap as is required.—_Another_: Mixing together the burnt
lees of wine and the oil used in the baths, anoint the hairs.—_Another_:
Scrub with Gallic soap and water at each bath.—_Another very fine_:
Of red sumach, one sextarius; of galls, lb. iss; of sheep’s dung, oz.
ij; of the golden-coloured herb, called _rubia_ by the Romans, oz. ij;
of maiden-hair, two bunches (_fasciculi_); of wormwood, one bunch;
of lupines stripped of their outer coat, two cyathi; of water, six
sextarii; put all into a glass vessel, and allow to macerate for nine
days, stirring it twice a day. At the time of using, strain out what is
required, and, soaking a sponge in it, rub the hairs, and when they are
moistened allow them to drink it up. When dried, wash with a solution of
soap in warm water.
_For making the hairs white._ Burn the flowers of the white
petty-mullein, moisten with vinegar, and mix for a detergent
ointment.—_Another_: Of the fruit of petty-mullein, dr. j; of alum, dr.
j; of the rind of radishes, dr. j; pound, and mix of bull’s glue, dr. iv.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. Galen, when about to treat of compositions for the hair,
remarks that the application of these does not belong properly to the
physician, but that he may sometimes be obliged to furnish them to _royal
ladies_, whom, under certain circumstances, he cannot venture to disobey.
That the ladies, in ancient times, were in the practice of painting their
hair, is evident from Achilles Tatius (ii, 149), and Juvenal (vi, 354.)
Eustathius mentions that antimony was very much used for painting the
eyebrows black. (Comment. in Iliad, viii, _versus finem_.)
For further information upon this subject, with which we must confess
ourselves wholly unacquainted, we refer the reader to the following
works: Alexander (i, 3); Oribasius (iv, 7, 8); Aëtius (vi, 58); Nonnus
(2, 3); Octavius Horatianus (i, 1); Avicenna (iv, 7, 1); Alsaharavius
(Pract. xvii, 7); Rhases (ad Mansor. v, and Contin. xxxvi.) Vegetius, the
great authority on Veterinary Surgery, gives prescriptions for dyeing the
hair of cattle. (Mulom. ii.)
The thapsus mentioned in this Section occurs in Theocritus (Idyl. ii,
88,) and is said by the scholiast to be a Scythian wood for dyeing the
hair. It also occurs in Nicander (Ther. l, 529). His metaphrasist,
Eutecnius, says that it grows in Sicily. Lucan, in like manner, calls
it _Erycina thapsus_, i. e. Sicilian thapsus. (Pharsal. ix, 916.) It is
impossible to determine exactly what tree it was.
The opinions of the philosophers regarding the hair may be learned
from Aristotle (H. A. iii), and Pliny (H. N. xi, 94.) Both state that
the hair and also the nails grow after death; and Philoponus mentions
this circumstance as a well-known fact. See Comment. in Aristot. de
Anima, Præfat. It may be proper to mention that Bichat and other modern
physiologists have been of the same opinion.