The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-17
DON'T BRUSH YOUR HAIR.
n Hairdresser Declares that Brush
ing Is n Cause of Badness.
New York Sun.

49, Jun.
thaone hears" said the manager, about
the evu of frequent hair washing, and
many authorities insist that once a month
- oIlen enough for a shampoo. while 9TH
point 10 our ancestors and say that
tnelr hair was better than ours and yet
Shey never shampooed at all. Now their
acts are all right. but their logic is shaky.
IN ola lays people shampOOed less than
We DO ana had better hair than ours. but
the TWO are not cause and effect. There are
Scotes or things that haven't anything 10
10 win shampOoing but that are telling
IN the hair Of this generation. Fast hv-
lhg, nervous strain, improper diet, over
MOikeu brains, all OF those things affect
the hafr. There is nothing that tells the
condition of a mans general health more
quickly than his hair does.
Inc lncessant brushing (, the present
women used to give their hair LOO strokes
Eltn a brush night and morning, and have
Tie halr In spite OF it. An occasional per-
son might do that now, but the good hair
IS IN spite of the brush, not because OF 1t.
L Delleve there is no one thing so deadly
70 halr as much as brushing, and L believe
thaI the popular military brushes and the
pernlcious pompadour brush that went be-
lore are more responsible for the bald heads
OF our young men than all the tight hat
bands and late hours and high living. L
nave experimental for years, and every
thing strengthens me in these conclusions.
Hair grows like a vegetable, you know,
from roots. When one pulls out a hair With
a little white thing at its base one is likely
TO think the white speck is the root. That's
absurd. The roots spread in a network IN
der the skin and the hairs fit into them by
these tiny white bulbs. Now, hair lasts only
from four to five years. Seven years is the
outside limit. So our hair is constantly fall
ing, even when we are in perfect health, but
we do not realize ii because new hair is
constantly coming in. Nature has provided
hair germs to I'LL the place of the hair that
falls.
These new hairs appear first as a soft,
delicate fuZZ, easily pulled out or destroyed
Stiff brushing will wear them out, just as 1t
will wear ont the nan of cloth The hair
roots try to make up for the destruction.
They are forced into abnormal growth and
their life force is depleted. The old hair is
falling. The new hair is not being allowed
TO live and grow. The life force is being eX-
hausted. The hair gets thin, struggling, un-
healthy, dies out altogether, and there you
have your bald man.
There are other queer things about the
brush. Under the microscope the scalp OF a
man who uses stiff brushes looks very
queer. L say a man, because badness and
brushes both cut more of a figure among
men than among women, but the argu-
mentS apply TO both. Well, as / started 10
say, the scalp of a man who uses a stlfr
brush freely looks pink and craCkly. IN
scalp is covered with minute pores, whose
mouths are very close together, about sew
EN- hundred of them to the square lnch.
When a stiff brush strikes them it tears
across these tiny mouths: Under a strong
glass one can see the scratches. A little
moisture exudes from these torn places
The water dries out or this and leaves only
the mucus, which forms a dry scurf. Ine
man who OWNS the head says, Why, I've
got d%andruff,'' and goes TO brushing harder
than ever, when the scalp has merely re-
belled against the brush in the first place.
The brush is unScientinc, unhyS1enlc, un-
clean. The first thing L say to a patient is
Throw away your brush l have scores or
young men, mostly college students, who
come to me in the evenings. 1t is positively
shocking to see the increasing badness
among men in the twenties. When / ask a
boy to throw away his brush he jeers at
the idea. He couldn't get along without 1t.
L say, You have been using brushes con-
stantly for at least ten years and you are
growing bald. Give me six weeks trial and
If you want TO go back to a brush then you
may l honestly believe that not a person
who has given the thing the six weeks
trial has ever taken up his brush again.
Another thing that works havoc in hair
is the cold awter shock. That, too, is par
ticularly prevalent among young men who
go in for shower baths; but almost every
woman or man who takes n shampoo has a
cold water shock after the warm water.
The principle of the thing is all wrong. OF
course the theory is that il closes the pores
and prevents one from taking cold. Inc
theory works out well, in the cold plunge
for the body, after a warm bath. The cold
water closes the pores and drives the blood
from the surface back TO the vital organs.
But 1t is a different matter will the scalp.
There surface circulation is the one thing
that the conscientious and scientific hair
specialist tries to promote"