The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-09-22
THE HUMAN HAIR.
AN EXPLANATION OF THE WAY
IN WHICH 1T GROWS.
Essential Parts Of the Hair-Color
and Shape-Oyergrowth Of the
Hair Misplaced Hairs
and Their Removal.

At birth, almost the entire surface ol
the body is covered with fine, soft hairs.
These fall off, and are replaced by others,
smaller and weaker than the first ones,
EXCEPT over the scalp, the eyebrows, and
the eyclashes. Later on in Life in some
situations the hairs become greatly de.
veloped, especially those of the beard in
man, and about the entrances of the nose
and ears in advanced life. The hairs,
like the nails, are simply special moditi-
cations of the skin-made up Of the
same materials and, like it, subject
to many diseases. The skin is
made up of cells which are at
first deeply situated, so+t and spongy
in structure, but rs they are pushed up
toward the surface by the continued
formation of new ones, become hard and
horny. In most situations the cells OF
skin proper become loosened, and after
they have served proper time as pro-
tectivc to the underlying parts they fall
OIL and are lost. Those which compose
the hair, on the contrary, become closely
attached to the next ones above them,
and push the old ones before them in the
shape of continuous, fibrous column.
The lower cells overlap five or six OF
those in advance, and as they harden be-
come practically fused with them.
The essential parts of hair are the
root and shaft. The root is imbedded
deeply below the general surface of the
skin in little sack or pocket, into which
opens small gland that furnishes it with
a natural chair OIL" that keeps it from
becoming brittle. AT the bottom of the
sack follicle) is collection of living
cells, freely supplied with blood vessels
and nerves. The outer of these cells are
pushed up by the growth of new ones,
and thus the hair is started on its way
towa the surface The layer of skin
in which the root is bedded is that which
contains the coloring matter that gives
the tint to the complexion of the differ
ent ra"es of men and to individuals in
each race Hence the means of coloring
the hair are supplied with the materials
which make up its primary structure.
The shaft of each hair is hard and horny
externally, but contains within core Of
softer, more spongy material, through
/ which nutritive fluids from the root are
able to find their way, at least during
youth and the younger periods of adult
life.
The color of the hair depends on the
proper color of the hair cells. the hair
pigment (Which is the same coloring ma
terial rs tints the complexion) and the
amount of air contained in the shaft.
Tho proper color of the hair-cells, ac-
cording to its intensity, produces pale,
blonde, or deep. color. The brown
ish black coloring matter gives all shades
of brunette coloration, from pale brown
to ebony black. Combinat 'ons of these
two give all shades between that ex.
hibited by the faircst Saxon and the
blacklist Ethiopian. Want of these col
oring materials makes the hair gray and
transparent, and if there be much mir
contained in the outer part of the shaft,
combined with deficiency in co!oring
matters, then the opa .ue whiteness of
old age is produced. Black is the al
most universal color, blondes being
found only among the Germans, Celts,
Slavs, and Firms, and occasionally
among the Armenians and Semitcs.
Red hair is found in individuals of all
races.
The shape OF the hair varies; in some
it is round-in these it remains straight.
Those which are oval or fiat curl in many
directions and degrees. The natives of
mer'ca, the Polynesians, and Nalays
have the straightest, while the curliest
is found among the bushmen snd negroes
of Africa. The Indo-European race or
Aryans, have hair taking middle ground
between these extremes. The direction
of the hair depends upon that of its root.
When it is permitted to grow long the
direction may, of course, be changed to
some extent.
Overgrowth of hair, or its appearance
upon parts of the body from which it is
usually absent, or present only in rudi-
mentary form, is not so very uncommon.
The so-callcd ''hairy men" and bearded
women are examples of this dcformity.
The Russian "dog-man" and his son are
well-known specimens; and an East
Indian family, in which the peculiarly
appeared through three generations. In
some of these curious monstroS:ties the
teeth were partly absent. Not only the
teeth, but the processes of bone in which
they should have developed were lack
ing. 1t has been concluded on this and
some other grounds, that such abnormal
overgrowth of hair in reality represents
defect in development like hair-lip
and cleft-palate.
But the unnatural appearance of hair
may not be spread over the entire body,
but be confined to certain localities, as
in the colored moles upon the skin, the
sbeards" of elderly ladies, and the some,
what stronger growth of the rudimentary
hairs upon the upper lip, chin, and
cheeks of dark-skinncd females Of our
race. This unusual development usually
occurs only in advanced life, but there are
we'll authenticated instances of fully-de
ve!oped boards in young women. One
case, Swiss woman, aged twenty, pre-
sented mustache and goatee four inches
IL length with preservation of all other
feminine characteristics.
| The removal of such misplaced hairs is
not accomplished by the use of any de-
pilatory. The only sure and effe2tive
way is to destroy the sack or follicle
from which ca h hair grows, either by
elec tricity, as fr>t directed by DR..
Michel, Of this city, or by extracting
each individual hair and cauterizing the
fo!l;clc with some irritating chemical.
The former method is by far the best.
1t requires large stock of patience and