The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-24
KEEPING THE HAIR YOUNG.
REASONS FOR THE BOOMING TRADE
IN sO-CALLFD "RENEWERS.v

VIII Be-There Are Many Excel
lent TOnics-aIany Humbugs Used
to Prevent Age Showing.
From the New York Sun.
In the autumn human hair has a way
of falling out, and folks generally. wo-
men openly and men secretly, become
Danic-stricken lest the temporary impov-
erishment should become permanent. They
seek one of the nine hundred and ninty-
nine thousand restorers warranted TO
prevent hair falling off and causing It to
grow on bald heads, thereby carrying hope
and joy TO thousands who supposed that
they must be hairless the remainder of
their days" Miracles don't come out of
bottles in this day and time and genera
ton. and so these air-shedding humans
go from one restorer to another seeking
balm for embryonic badness. But twas
ever thus since Eve used TO rub burdock
Juice of a pomatum, having overripe APP
pies as its foundation ingredient, on her
hair to Increase its dark lustre.
1T is difficult TO assign plausible use
for the hair said Dunglison a very long
while ago. The hair may not be very use
full, but it has always been mighty inter
estng and has cut great figure in
church. state and society. And nearly
all of the peoples of the civilized world,
in all ages, have done what they could
TO keep it in vigorous condition and TO
restore it when decay sets in as We'll as
10 beat nature at her own game in color
~ ic mo
ont by the handful and a man sees ep-
proaching signs of no hair on the top of
his head they are ready to accuse Dungil-
son of sounding dwelling sentiment In
deed. mankind al large is of one mind in
relation 10 the convenience of hair and ats
value as a concomtant of personal beauty
Ir is not TO be denied that some barbar-
jans. like the Chinese, remove large plots
of gardens or even tracts of their hair, but
even they regard the pigtail as their piece
de resistance, as sacred thing.
In ancient times the Hebrew women
were excessively proud of their long locks
and gave them so much attention that
IsaiafT.prophesied that an already overbur-
dened Providence would "smite with a
scab the crown of the head of the daugh-
ters of Zion" and instead of weli-set hair
there should be badness among them.
Then, as now, a love of fine hair was
not confined to woman. The long-halred
Absolom wasn't the only man in judah
who petted. his tresses, for Josephus says
In his antiquities that Solomon's horse
guards daily strewed their heads with
gold dust. which glittered in the sun. The
ancient Greeks delighted in long hair as
much as the early Egyptians aDominated
it, the latter, for sanitary reasons, being
required to keep their heads shaved. How
ever those who could afford it were per-
mitted to wear ventilated wigs and 1T was
q universal practice among the women of
all classes to blacken their eyebrows and
lashes. This they do to this day.
The Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans
also wore artificial hair and bought large
quantities of human hair, favoring the
discarded blonde shocks of the Germans.
They were also well acquainted with the
arr of dyeing the hair and practieed it as
siduously. In fact fad of that period
was the increasing of the number of eff
fects producible with or upon the hair.
The Greek maidens used to sit on the
walls of their city hours at a time in the
sunlight with their hair blowing to the
four winds. They believed that the sun,
being yellow. would influence the color OF
their hair but the modern woman has
other and better reasons for giving her
head frequent sun baths. Both the Ro-
mans and Greeks had many superstitious
icated the hair of their infants to some
god, and brides, successful warriors and
sailors saved from peril at sea did the
same, and everybody EXCHANGED the value
of his or her locks by all sorts of oily
and medicinal preparations, or, at least,
tried to do so.
The Perslans, young and old alike, even
to-day dye their hair and beard every
week, using two powders for the purpose.
f6.a huiE a
yeowish golden co.or, and the other an
indigo bearing plant, lends the fine shade
Of crows wing black. The ancient Gauis
were also proud of their long hair both
the men and women, and their conqueror,
Julius Caesar, could have inflicted no Sc
Nerer humiliation than compelling them to
cut it, cropped head meaning to them
badge of servitude. The Danes and
Anglo-Saxons and most of the Northern
nations likewise valued long hair, and
nearly all of the peoples mentioned spent
hours and hours rubbing in pomatum and
in dressing and adorning their hair.
In modern times the high estimation in
which a beautiful head of hair is held is
as great perhaps greater, as at any time
in the worlds history The estimation is
certainly more intelligent and artistic.
Hair is regarded as important in man s
beauty and is one of the essentials of
feminine loveliness and fascination. Indeed,
all persons except the indecent and UNI
c0uth do all they can TO improve their
looks by improving their hair, and the in
terest taken in the hair at the present day
is shown by the enormous sums spent in
hair restorers. tonics, dyes and cosmetics.
Complex civilization and the curling iron
are largely responsible for the tremendous
demand for hair restorers. Our great
grandmothers didn't know anything about
them, and they considered it a sort of dis
srace to buy anything out of a store, as
trey put it. with which to renew their
hair. unless it was a little sTeet-scented
vegetable pomade; and they had beautiful
hair. too. but il was all due they said,
to constant, systematic and prolonged
brushing.
Fifty strokes on each side of the part
night and morning" was the invariable
rule followed by gentewomcn in those
days. Those who had maids required them
10 do the brushing, but those who were
not so fortunate brushed for themselves.