The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-25
How to Treat the Hair.
(Dr. ScoDera in "Belgravia."

Beyond combug aud brushing, wnat are the
best eHpedlents tor hair cleaning? In man
there IS nothing so good as soap aud water
lather but the plan cannot be recommended
for ladies. Tue alkali of soap is not c0ngenal
to the gloss and beauty of human hair; more
over, to some extent, alkaline contact affects
the colorng matter, and changes its tint. Men
are above or beside these considerations, but
they should De taken heed of oy ladies'. ely
certne and lime Juice, so-caled, is not slycerine
and lime juice at all. 1t Is merely scented oil
and lime water Glycerine aud rose water IS
much better. The advantage of glycerine is
that 1t imparts to the hair soft, silky bril-
liaucy, the so.called brilliantine, in point of
fact which gentlemen-vain young ones-use
for their whiSSeTs and mOustaChes is only
gycerne scented. For bandOliue, nothing is
belter-peIhaQs nothing so good-as a very
small fragment OF gum tragacanth dissolved IN
water, aud pertumed. The fragment must be
very small, otherwise the solution will turn the
dCcTOche.cOeaT into yertable horn, as uncom-
Portable to wear AS ungraCeiul to look at,
People who use pomades should be very careful
that they do not apDly Injurious cOlorng mat
terS to the hair. The fashion these some years
past has come in use Of using yellow or straw
colored pomades. They are elegant to 10 TX at,
and so long as the yellow tint is impaired by
palm oil, as it should be-, they are, sanitariIy
considered, uno0iecliOnab!e. l fear, however,
that in many instances the peculiar tint OF yell
low so much desideraed Is given by incorDo-
ton with some Injurious metallic COM
pound. ROseate pomades are never, on
account OF their colorlng matter, Objectionable,
the TINT beng always impaired by alkanet root,
which is wholly mnocuOus. In respect to the
Oleaginous com mpostlon of pOmades, that varies
greatly. Spermaceu and almost any animal oil
or fat-eXcept mutton tat-naY be employed IN
their composition. / believe the very best olea-
ginous hair application consists of mixture of
castor oil and alcohol, two parts by measure of
the former to one or The latter, the whole per-
tuned according TO taste. The circumstance
should here be mentioned that castor oil is the
only oil admitting of this treatment; If, tor
example, it were attempted TO combine olive oil
With alcohol, the operator would soon ind that
he had taken trouble in vain. Between the two
no union would eusue; aud the sane remark
applies TO every OIL, with the exception of cas-
tor Oil.
The hair Of human beings, as well as of ami
mails, holds sulphur in its composition, aud
retains this elem Mt obstinaely. Thus if a
scrap of flannel n thousand times, or even ten
Thousand times washed. be taken and analyzed
Tor sulphur, this element will invariably be
found. AS will be seen hereafter, the theory of
the action of a certain class of hair dyes turns
upon this su'phUrOus presence, II is a property
OF sulphur-and more especially of ceran
sulphur - containing gas - 10 turn several
metallic combinations black. Lead is one of
the metals In this category, aud accordingly lead
has formed the basis of more than one hair dye.
Bsmuth is another OF these metals, and silver
another; the blaCkening junction Of silver salts,
! however, when used as hair dyes is not wholly
relerable 10 this sulghurOus reaction. The
| placuce OF hair bleaching and hair dyeng VIII,
! DoWeVer receive careful and systematic treat
| meAI upon an early occasion,