Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-02-15
Shampooing.
= Ills astonishing that ANYBODY is alive.


ing that something which we have al
ways believed to be quite innocuous is
=, I. "a little less than deadly. The whole uni
:, .tJ verse seems to be in league, to poison
g. a;tne human race, and we unconsciousIy
rs assist this conspiracy by our mistaken
7' efforts to promote our own well-being.
The latest alarm that the doctors have
sounded is in regard to 'tshampooing, -
a practice which is now declared to be
7 extremely injurious to the health, aud
n especially apt to produce diseases of the
b" brain and other parts of the head.
The verb s'to shampoo. is of uncer-
=, , tain origin. One of our big dictionaries
says that it is the same as the Hindu
verb tschdnapnaa, the first meanings Of
which ara ssto squeeze and s'to press"
Are we, then, to suppose that the Hindu
j. lover 'shampoos" the hand of his
adored object, and that the Hindu hus-
pll Y quite unthinkable. n Another derivation
UU u. is given in Whitworth'sN Dictionary
which is at least as ingenious and de-
Eh acidedly more probable s. aWhltworth
thinks that the earliest form of the word
was "shampoon,'' instead of sssham-
poo" and in point of fact ssshampoon'
is still in use among rural BARRIERS
t'Shampoon" the learned photographer
further supposes to be closely related
to 'fampoon,' and to have the original
meaning of an attack on the head of the
7TE person r'NSnampOOned.' These Specu-
lHG Z iations, in spite of their interesting
character, are at best only speculatfons,
and we can not feel any certainty as to
the real origin of the verb 'stO sham
poo" sg='s a.... Z. 81
The process has always been regarded
5r as a particularly wholesome one. 1t
was supposed that it strengthened the
scalp, induced hair to grow in waste
places, and removed and prevented
headaches, besides increasing the self
respect of the person by enabling him
I'll to feel that his head was abnormally
clean. We are now informed that, with
the exception of the last mentioned re-
suit, shampooing does nothing but in
jury. 1t stops the growth of hair and
1. produces premature badness. It weak
ems the scalp so that it loses its vitality,
40 and, becoming as impervious to moist
ure as india rubber, induces diseases of
go the bones of the skull. Furthermore,
''shampoOing" causes deafness, and in
many cases leads to inflammation of the
eyes. Its worst effect, however, is in
sanity. The percentage of men who
become insane after q course of repeated
and regular ''shampooing" is enor-
mousse large, in fact, that the exact
percentage is not mentioned out of re-|
rl gard to the feelings of the public. The
average life of the man who is sham
pooed once week is only three years,
and the last two years of his life are
usually spent in maniac's cell, where
his blindness and deafness are rather an
advantage to him, since they save him
from the unpleasant sights and sounds
common to all lunatic asyluns. 7pg
This is formidable Indictment of
'sshampooing," and fortified as it is by
statistics, manufactured expressly for
the purpose, we can not doubt that part
900 of it which processes to show the dreful
results of s'shampooing." Doubtless
people who are frequently ''sham-
.- pooed'' are afflicted with deafness,
aa. blindness. badness, diseases of the
faIr scalp and skull, insanity and death 1t
does not, however, necessarily follow
-.,. direct result of the application of soap,
s. water and barbers' fingers to the heads
of the sufferers. 90 y E-.I 3sf a'i" - !
o. We may admit that the frequency
with which the barber rubs soap into
. 4 the eyes of the victim whom he is
t'shampooing" may impair the victims
sight, and that the application of soap, |
of hot water and of cold water to the
scalp may have an, injurious effect upon
the growth of the hair. RI 1t is, neverthe-
less, Incredible that the scalp, the skull,
o.. the sense of hearing and the brain
g,r. should be injured by soap and water. If
ra soap and water can injure the scalp and
the underlying bones, why do they not
injure the rest of the surface of the body
when applied to it, and if thew do not
injure the scalp how can we believe that
they in lure the brain? In spite of the
learning and experience of the physi-
%. '''' clan who has discovered the dangers of
ssshampooing." men will be slow to be-
Iieve that deafness and insanity are |
among its consequences, especially since |
there is another cause amply sufficient
to produce these results. - H.; Un1
&c Shampooing'' is a long and tedious
process. It gives the barber ample time to
-f.,..i converse with his vietim.a While he rubs
the helpless head the barber. can pour
into the uhresisting ear his usual mono !
''a' logue on the state of the weather, the |
political world. and the theaters. and
ls- can recite the praises of tonic. Can we |
..sirr wonder that deafness should be the first I
"' consequence Of the barber's prolonged |
conversation, and that insanity should !
speedily followa., This is beyond any
question the true explanation of the |
is followed By deafness aud madness. |
We could expect nothing less, and the |
man who voluntarily places his head in i
the ssshampooer'sn hand invites the
most terrible OF al calamities. ~
We thus see that the learned writer
g ON the evils of "shampooing" is right as
b to his facts but wrong in his explain alton
of them. let him, il possible, find q,
dumb barber, and then note what fol-
lows the operation of ''shampooing"
performed in silence. He will obably |
be able to gather q new set of statistics /
which will cause him to change his
mind and TO decide that where Injury
has followed ssshampooing" the fault
has been with the barber and not with
the process.-N. Z z tanes. sEtOft kz