Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1883-03-27
MISCELLANEOUS.
Shampooing.

ShampooIng.
1t is astonishing that anybody is alive.
Learned medical men and students of
sanitary science arc constantly discover
| ing that something which we have al
ways believed TO be quite innocuous is
little less than deadly. The whole uni
verse seems to be in league to poison
the human race, and we unccnsciously
assist this conspiracy by our mistaken
efforts to promote our own well-bcing.
The latest alarm that the doctors have
sounded is in regard To .sshampooins. :"
a practice which is now declared to be
extremely injurious to the health, and
| especially apt to produce diseases of the
brain and other parts of the head.
The verb ''to shampoor is of uncer-
tain origin. One of our big dictionaries
says that it Is the same as the Hindu
verb tschanlp,an, the first meanings of
! which are s'to squeeze and ..to press. -
| Are we, then, to suppose that the Hindu
| lover 'ssilampoos'' the hand of hi.
adorcd object, and that the Hindu hns-
band "shsmpoos'' his vile. This is
| quite unthinkable- Another derivation
! is given, in Whitworth'sz Dictionary
which is. .at least as ingcnious and de-
cidediy more probable Whrtworth
AAAhhS LhESt IuC WORD
was "sbampoon,' instead of s.sham-
poo," and in point of fact .sshampoonn
Is still in use among rural BARRIERS.
s'SharPoon" the earned photographer
further supposes to be closely related
| to .'iampoon," and 10 have the original
| meaning OF IN attack on the head OF the
person .shampooned" These specu-
lations, in spite of their interesting
character, are at best only specuiaIions,
and we can not feel any certainty as 10
the real origin of tie verb :. to sham
poo."
The process has always been regarded
as \ particularly whole+.,ms ore. Ii
was supposed that il strengthened the
scalp, induced; hair to. grow in, vast,
places, and removed and prevented
headaches, besides increasing the SELF
respect of the l'cFSon by enabling him
to feel that his head was abnorm ally
clean. We are now informed that, with
the exception of the last mentioned re-
suit, shampoping Dies nothing but in
jury 1t stops the growth Of hair and
produces premature badness. 1t weak
| ems the scalp so that it loses its vitality,
and, becoming "a inn ervious to moist
ure as india rubber, induces diseases of
the bones of the skull. Furthermore.
ssshampooing' 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 a course of repeated
and regular t'shampooing" is enor-
mousse large, in fact, that the exact
percentage Is not mentioned out of re-
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 msuiac'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 asylums.
This is n formidable Indictment of
"shampooing," and fortified as It is by
statistics manufactured expressly for
the purpose, we can not doubt that part
of 1t which processes TO show the direful
results of ">hampooing." Doubtless
people who are frequently s'sham-
poOed' are afflicted with deafness,
blindness, badness, diseases of the
scalp and skull, insanity and death. 1t
does not, however, necessarily follow
that these calamities are all of them the
direct result of the application of soap,
water and BARRIERS fingers to the heads
of the sufferers
We may admit that the frequency
with which the barber rubs soap into
the eyes of the victim whom he is
''shampooing" may impair tho 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 thu iiaIr 1t is, neverthe
less, incredible that the scalp, the skull,
the ser.se OF hearing and the brain
should be injured by soap and water. If
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 If, and If they do not
injure the scalp how can We believe that
they injurc the brain? In spite of the
learning and experience of the physi-
clan who has discovered the dangers of
''sham oooing," men will be slow to be-
lieve that deafness and insanity are
among its conse Iueuccs, especially since
there is another cIuSe amply sufficient
to produce these results.
Shampooing" is long and tedious
process 1t gives the barber ample time to
Converse with his victim. While he rubs
the helpless head the barber can pour
into the unresisting ear his usual mono
logue on the state of the weather, the
political world, and the theaters, and
can recitc the praises of tonic. Can we
wonder that deafness should be the first
consequence Of the barber's prolonged
conversation, and that insssuity should
speedily foliow7 This is beyond any
question the true explanation of the
stausucs which show that ..shampooingn
IS followed by deafness aud madness.
We could expect nothing less, and the
man who voluntarily places his head in
the 'tshampooer's" hand invites the
most terrible of all calamities.
We thus see that the learned writer
on the evils of ''shampooins'' is right as
to his facts but wrong in his explanation
of them. Let him, If possible, find .
dumb barber, and then note whatfol.
lows the operation of I.shampooing'r
performed in silence He will probably
be able to gather new set of statistics
which win cause him to change his
mind and to decide that where injury
has followed s.shampooing'' the fault
has been with the barber and not with
the proeess.-N- Y. Times.