HAIR 



2060 



HAIRDRESSING 



turning white in a single night. In older hairs, 

 also, air spaces sometimes form, and these, by 

 reflecting the light, give to the hair a grayish 

 appearance. 



Why Hair "Stands on End." In Shake- 

 speare's Hamlet the ghost of Hamlet's father 

 tells his son that if he were not forbidden to 

 do so he could unfold a tale that would make 

 "each particular hair to stand on end like quills 

 upon the fretful porcupine." This is a condi- 

 tion everyone has experienced, and it is due 

 to the contraction of tiny muscles that run 

 out in a slanting direction from the hair fol- 

 licles. These muscles are likely to contract 

 when a sensation of chilliness is felt or when 

 sudden fright or other mental shock is experi- 

 enced. For the same reason the fur on the 

 cat's back bristles up until pussy looks much 

 larger than her normal size. 



Care of the Hair. Opening into the follicles 

 from the sides are tiny glands that produce 

 an oily substance which keeps the hair soft 

 and flexible. Frequent brushing helps to keep 

 it in good condition by distributing the oil 

 through it, and brushjng also keeps the hair 

 and scalp free from accumulations of oily waste 

 matter and skin scales. A moderately-stiff, 

 flexible bristle brush is preferable to a wire 

 brush, as the latter will scratch and irritate 

 the scalp and is liable to pull the hair out. 

 Unhealthy conditions of hair and scalp are 

 n.'iulily transmitted; therefore everyone should 

 have his own comb and brush, and these should 

 be kept scrupulously clean. 



Long hair should be washed about twice a 

 month and short hair once a week. It is not 

 necessary to use "patent" shampoos, for an 

 excellent and harmless hair wash can be made 

 from warm water and a pure soap. The hair 

 should always be rinsed thoroughly, for par- 

 ticles of soap left in it are convenient lodging 

 places for dirt and dust. Hair tonics, pomades 

 and oils are unnecessary, often harmful, and 

 seldom useful. Cleanliness, care and common 

 Benae are the best tonics. If the hair seems 

 dry and lifeless it can usually be helped by 

 massaging the scalp with the finger-tips to 

 stimulate the circulation. Massage will also 

 aid in keeping it in good condition. 



Hair Dyes are preparations for changing the 

 natural color of the hair. Solutions of salts 

 of silver, mercury, lead and bismuth, all of 

 which darken the hair, and peroxide of hydro- 

 gen, which produces a golden tint, are in gen- 

 eral use. A wash made by steeping leaves of 

 the henna plant will turn the hair red. The 



most permanent method of dyeing the hair is 

 to soak it with a solution of sulphide of potas- 

 sium, and before it is entirely dry to wet it 

 thoroughly with a solution of nitrate of silver. 

 Such a dye need be renewed only as the new 

 hair comes in. Hair dyeing is at the best un- 

 satisfactory, and many coloring preparations 

 contain poisons that cause disease, or kill or 

 injure the hair. W.A.E. 



Consult Mueller's Hair; Kidd's Direction of 

 Hair in Animals and Man. 



Related Subjects. Further information relat- 

 ing to the topic will be found in these articles : 

 Baldness Felt 



Bristles Fur and Fur Trade 



Dandruff Wool 



HAIRDRESSING. From very remote times, 

 and among all peoples, much time and atten- 

 tion have been devoted to the arrangement of 

 the hair. Examples of ancient art show styles 

 of hairdressing which, in some cases, were 

 intended to be purely ornamental and in oth- 

 ers had some traditional significance and were 

 designed to indicate the age or rank of the 

 wearer. The Egyptian style was extremely 

 varied, and wigs were in general use. Among 

 the Greeks in the sixth century B. c., an ornate 

 coiffure was common to both men and women, 

 but in the fifth century the men wore their 

 hair in its natural curls, or cut very short, 

 while the women followed more elaborate 

 styles. The custom of wearing false hair over 

 plentiful natural hair originated in Asia, was 

 adopted in Greece, and was for a time very 

 popular. Prior to about 300 B. c. the Romans, 

 with the exception of warriors and craftsmen, 

 wore long hair. Simple hairdressing was in 

 use among the Roman women until the time 

 of Augustus Caesar, after which more elab- 

 orate styles were adopted. 



Medieval hairdressing was very simple, but 

 the fourteenth century saw the development 

 of more elaborate fashions. During the fif- 

 teenth and sixteenth centuries the men wore 

 their hair rolled back from their foreheads in 

 a manner suggestive of the pompadour of a 

 later period. Their beards were treated with 

 some stiffening substance and curled so as to 

 radiate in a fanlike manner. The women of 

 the period ornamented their great volume of 

 curled hair by a broad cushion, or coronet. 

 The introduction of long, curled wigs appears 

 to have been due to the desire of the courtiers 

 of Louis XIV to imitate his naturally long 

 and abundant hair. The use of wigs was well 

 established about 1650, and from that time for 



