HAIR. 



613 



with the eyelashes and eyebrows. At the age of 

 puberty, the hair grows in the armpits, &c., of both 

 sexes, and on the chin of the male. At a later period, 

 it begins gradually to lose its moisture and pliability, 

 and finally turns gray, or falls out. These effects 

 are produced by the scanty supply of the moisture 

 above mentioned, and a mortification of the root. 

 But age is not the only cause of this change ; dissipa- 

 tion, grief, anxiety, sometimes turn the hair gray in 

 a very short time. It begins to fall out on the top 

 of the head. The hair of men is stronger and stiffer; 

 that of females longer (even in a state of nature), 

 thicker, and not so liable to be shed. 



Blumenbach adopts the following national dif- 

 ferences of hair : 1. brown or chestnut, sometimes 

 approaching yellow, sometimes black, soft, full, wav- 

 ing ; this is the hair of most nations of central Europe : 

 2, black, stiff, straight and thin, the hair of the 

 Mongolian and native American races ; 3. black, soft, 

 curly, thick and full hair ; most of the inhabitants of 

 the South Sea islands have it ; 4. black, curly wool, 

 belonging to the negro race. 



The hair, with the nails, hoofs, horns, &c., is one 

 of the lower productions of animal life. Hence in a 

 healthy state, it is insensible, and the pain which we 

 feel when hairs are pulled out arises from the nerves 

 which surround the root. It grows again after being 

 cut, and, like plants, grows the more rapidly if the 

 nutritive matter is drawn to the skin by cutting ; yet, 

 in a diseased state, and particularly in the disease 

 called the plica Polonica, it becomes sensitive and in- 

 flamed to a certain degree, bleeds, and is clotted by a 

 secretion of lymph, which coagulates into large lumps. 



Hair not only serves as a cover or ornament to the 

 body, but exercises an imporant influence on absorp- 

 tion and perspiration ; where the hair is thick, the per- 

 spiration is freer. If the root is destroyed, there is no 

 means of reproducing the hair ; but if it falls out, 

 without the root being destroyed, as is often the case 

 after nervous fevers, the hair grows out again of 

 itself. If the skin of the head is very dry and scurvy, 

 mollifying means will be of service ; strengthening 

 ointments should be applied, in case the skin is 

 weak. This shows how little reason there is in 

 recommending oils in all cases, while the falling out 

 of the hair may be owing to very different causes. 

 Though hair, in a healthy state, grows only on the 

 external parts of the body, cases are not unfrequent 

 in which it is formed inside of the body in diseased 

 parts. How much the hair differs in its character 

 from the other parts of the body (being, as we have 

 said, of a vegetable nature), is strikingly shown 

 from the circumstance that it continues to grow after 

 death. 



As the hair is a very conspicuous object, and cap- 

 able of much alteration, the arrangement of it has 

 always been one of the most important duties of the 

 toilet. The comb is one of those simple and yet useful 

 inventions, which must have naturallysuggested them- 

 selves in the early periods of our race. (See Comb.) 

 For some rules respecting the dressing of the hair, and 

 an account of some curious customs connected with 

 it, we refer the reader to the Young Ladies' Book 

 (London, 1830). The ancient Hebrews esteemed fine 

 hair a great beauty, as several passages of Scripture 

 show ; and baldness is even threatened as a sign of 

 God's anger. (Isaiah iii. 17, 24). The Mosaic law 

 gives rules respecting the hair (third book of Moses, 

 xix. 27). The Hebrew women paid very great atten- 

 tion to their hair ; plaited it, confined it with gold and 

 silver pins, and adorned it with precious stones. 

 (Isaiah iii. 22). The misfortune of Absalom shows 

 that men also valued long fine hair highly. (2 Samuel 

 xiv. 26.) Strong hair, as many passages show, was 

 considered a proof of strength, and means were used 



to strengthen it ; it was anointed with perfumed oil. 

 According to Josephus, the body-guard of Solomon 

 had their hair powdered with gold dust, which glitter- 

 ed in the sunshine. 



Artificial hair is a very early invention. It was 

 used by the Greeks and the Carthaginians, and par- 

 ticularly by the Romans, among whom artificial 

 tresses were sold. In the time of Ovid, the Romans 

 imported much blond hair, which was then fashion- 

 able, from Germany ; and those Roman ladies who 

 did not wear wigs, and yet wished to conform to the 

 fashion, powdered their hair with a kind of gold dust. 

 The art of dyeing hair has been ascribed to Medea, 

 and was, of course, much practised by the Romans. 

 (For more information respecting this point, see 

 Bottiger's Sabina, or Morning Scenes at the Toilette 

 of a Roman Lady (written in German, and translated 

 into French), a work of great interest.) A hair-dresser 



Was called, in Greek, /Wrji/^airXsxoj, Tgi^/WTjw^f ; 

 in Latin, cinifio cinerarius ; the female hair-dresser, 

 ornatrix. Circular pins of silver have been found in 

 Herculaneurn, which served to keep together the dif- 

 ferent rows of curls arranged all round the head 

 this being, among the Roman ladies, the most general 

 fashion ; and the higher the hair could be towered 

 up, the better ; though they also wore the Spartan 

 knot behind (for a well-formed head, a very graceful 

 and becoming dress). They likewise wore hanging 

 curls on the side. Fashion also regulated the dress 

 of the hair of the men, in the later times of Rome. 

 It was cut, for the first time, when a boy had attained 

 his seventh year, and the second time when he was 

 fourteen years old. 



On the introduction of Christianity, the apostles 

 and fathers of the church preached against the pre- 

 vailing fashion of dressing the hair. It became more 

 common for men to cut the hair short, at least it was 

 considered more proper ; hence the clergy soon wore 

 the hair quite short, and afterwards even shaved their 

 heads in part. (See Tonsure.} But even the ex- 

 communications fulminated in the middle ages against 

 long hair and the extravagant ornamenting of it, 

 could not put a stop to the custom. It must be re- 

 membered that, among the ancient Greeks and Ro- 

 mans, cutting the hair was a great dishonour. Hence 

 prisoners of war, and slaves who had committed any 

 offence, had their heads shaved or hair cut. With 

 the Lombards, it was a punishment for theft under a 

 certain small sum ; and, according to the old law of 

 the Saxons (Sachsenspiegel), for stealing three shil- 

 lings in the day time. Hence the former expression 

 in Germany, jurisdiction of the skin and hair, that is 

 jurisdiction over minor offences, the highest punish- 

 ment of which was flogging and cutting the hair; and 

 jurisdiction of the neck and hand, that is, jurisdiction 

 over aggravated offences, with the right to punish by 

 death. 



The ancient Gauls wore their hair short, but the 

 Franks long, and combed back, or in a knot behind; 

 the magistrates wore it on the top in a tuft, as some 

 North American Indians still do. Among the Prank- 

 ish kings, it was at first a privilege of the princes ot 

 the blood to wear the hair long ; and, on the de- 

 thronement of a Prankish prince, his hair was cut, 

 and he was sent into a convent. Long hair soon 

 became a privilege of the nobility. Women, in the 

 beginning of the Prankish monarchy, wore the liair 

 loose, but soon after began to wear caps. From the 

 time of Clovis, the French nobility wore short hair ; 

 but, as they became less martial, they allowed the 

 hair to grow longer. In the time of Francis I., king 

 of France, long hair was worn at court ; but the 

 king, proud of his wound on the head, himself wore 

 short hair, in the Italian and Swiss fashion, which 

 soon became general. In the reign of Louis XIII. 



