Diseases Of The Hair

( Originally Published 1907 )

Dandruff is not only very disagreeable, but produces baldness. Before resorting to medical treatment for this disease, which is sometimes obstinate, because it depends on a bad state of health, try one of the following simple remedies: First, melt sixty grammes of crystallized soda in a quart of water; add thirty grammes of cologne water. Moisten the hairbrush in the liquid and pass it each day over the affected part. Second, a physician recommends the application of lemon juice to the scalp. Keep the juice as much as possible from the hair. Third, take ten grammes of Panama wood; boil in a pint of rain-water. Wash the affected parts with this decoction two or three times each week.

When the hair falls out without apparent cause, it is diseased. This is the case when the ends split. Sorrow causes the hair to fall out. For this there is no remedy save time and forgetfulness, and happier days. An animal is known to be unhealthy if its hair is not soft and shiny. It is the same with men and women, and if this is the case it is important to consider the state of the health. A good treatment for hair under these circumstances is to rub the scalp with soap and a mixture of castor-oil, sweet almond, and tannin.

When, after cases of short and severe illness or long-continued ill-health, the hair falls out, as the saying goes, " by the handful," it should be cut quite short and kept clipped for at least a twelvemonth, rubbing the scalp regularly with some wash possessing tonic qualities.

Another point to be carefully noted is the manner of cutting the hair. The weakest and thinnest growth, when the hair has a marked tendency to fall out, is almost invariably along the central parting and about the crown. At these parts, therefore, the hair should be clipped more frequently than anywhere else, and the utmost care should be used to keep the hairs on the top of the head shorter than at the sides and back, where the growth is stronger. Unfortunately, however, the opposite course is generally pursued, the locks at the sides and back being often very closely clipped, while the hair on the crown and along the parting is left quite long.