IIAIR AND HAIR DYES. 
441 
of the shade of colour will depend upon the quantity of sulphur present in the hair, and 
as red hair and light-coloured hair contain more sulphur than dark hair, the result will 
in that case be comparatively greater. But where the amount of sulphur is too minute 
to produce the dye, science suggests the means of introducing more sulphur, as is illus¬ 
trated, by a reversal of the process, in the following quotation from a paper by Dr. 
M‘Call Anderson on Eczema marginatum : —“ During the treatment I accidentally dis¬ 
covered what promises to be the most perfect black dye for the hair which has been seen. 
After having used the bichloride lotion for some weeks, I changed it for the lotion of 
hyposulphite of soda; and the morning after the first application, the hair of the part 
which before w r as bright red, had become nearly black. One or two more applications 
rendered it jet-black, while neither the skin nor the clothing was stained. I saw this 
patient a couple of weeks later, and there was not the least deterioration of colour; 
although, of course, as the hair grows the new portions will possess the normal tint.” 
The reason of the escape of the epidermis, while the hair was so thoroughly dyed, is that 
it contains no sulphur. Mr. Balmanno Squire, in a commentary on the above process, 
observes that if instead of the hyposulphite of soda one of the more common mordants 
be employed—say, for example, the sulphide of ammonium, “instead of a black, a bright 
red colour will result. The modus operandi of Dr. Anderson’s dye is this. The hypo- 
sulphurous acid, on being liberated from the soda, decomposes into sulphurous acid and 
sulphur. The sulphurous acid reduces the bichloride of mercury to the chloride, and the 
sulphur converts the chloride into (black) sulphide. The effect of the sulphide of am¬ 
monium on bichloride of mercury is to produce the (red) bisulphide which is the com¬ 
mon vermilion of commerce.” Another commentator on “ hair dyes ” observes that, 
with the barbers the “sheet-anchor appears to be lead and lime.” And again it is re¬ 
commended to “first wash the hair with a solution (ten grains to the ounce) of nitrate 
of silver ; then use a weak solution of pyrogallic acid, and wash.” An interesting article 
on the subject, from the pen of an able chemical writer, Dr. Scoffern, may be found in 
the May number of ‘Belgravia,’ under the head of “Cosmetics for the Hair.” Dr. 
Scoffern reminds us that the Persians employ indigo to procure a blue-black dye, and 
the Turks and Egyptians a “ pasty writing-ink,” composed of pyrogallic acid in combina¬ 
tion with a native ore of iron, while in the West the chief constituents of hair-dyes are 
metallic bodies and walnut-juice. The metals chiefly in use as “capillary chromatics” 
are silver, lead, and arsenic; while others applicable to a similar purpose are gold, bis¬ 
muth, iron, copper, cadmium, titanium, uranium, and molybdenum. Lead, in its crudest 
form, is represented by the leaden comb; but as the process by this means is slow, a 
compound of oxide of lead or litharge, with lime, and made into a paste with water, is 
more commonly employed. This is smeared on the hair at night, the evolved gases 
being imprisoned by an oilsilk cap, and in the morning the dried paste is brushed out, 
and the hair refreshed with pomatum. Or, if a so-called brown, a “smothered” or 
“ fusty black ” be required, the paste should be mixed with milk instead of water. The 
night is preferable for these remedies, because the hair is supposed to exhale more sulphur 
at this period than during the day. These preparations remind us of a lotion in common 
use at the present time, consisting of a drachm of acetate of lead with twice the quantity 
of sulphur to half a pint of water. The nitrate of silver is another common form of 
dye, but is open to the objection of staining the skin, and, in fact, everything it touches, 
and also of becoming iridescent on exposure to light, producing, as Dr. Scoffern observes, 
a “ chromatic play of tints,” which is very undesirable. Bismuth presents the same cha¬ 
racteristics as lead, but is not much used; and when iron is employed to produce a black 
tint, it requires for its mordants either the pyrogallic acid or the hydrosulphate of am¬ 
monia. Brown is produced by the chloride of gold alone, as also by a solution of sul¬ 
phate of copper with a mordant of the prussiate of potash (ferrocyanide of potassium) ; 
and titanium, uranium, and molybdenum, judged by their chemical behaviour, would 
give rise to similar results. The “ golden-yellow colour,” so much in fashion of late, 
is produced by a solution of arsenic with a mordant of the hydrosulphate of ammonia. 
And cadmium would probably give rise to a similar result. In the case of dyeing the 
lighter tints, however, it becomes necessary to submit the hair to a process of bleaching, 
which is commonly effected by a solution of one or other of the alkalies, by chlorine, by 
the chloride of soda or lime, or by sulphurous acid, bisulphate of magnesia or lime, or 
peroxide of hydrogen. In general, the dyes requiring mordants do not stain the epi¬ 
dermis.— The British Medical Journal. 
VOL. X. 2 II 
