Evening star., 1901-05-04
GRAY HAIR R==5CLUB
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81
Figures and Facts Collected by Its
Committed 81,
WHY RAVEN LOCKS TURN WHITE
Premature Bleaching is Alarmingly
Contagious, Too.
CURES FOR THE TROUBLE
CURES FOR THE TROUBLE

| Written for The Evening Star.
| The "Gray Hair Club is much exercised
| In trying to find cause for the early bleach
ing of it's collection Of locks. This organi-
| zation Of brindle-headed women is the nat
| ural result of alarm felt at the rapid in
| crease Of prematurely whitened hair, and
| disgust at the professional hair specialists
| inability to deal with this alarming situa-
| ton.
| According to statistics that the club s
| committee on investigation has collected
| there are seven women in twelve who, at
| the age of nineteen, begin to show signs of
the failure Of coloring fluid in their hair. I'm
| less some providential and mysterious con-
dition arises to increase and stimulate the
| flow of this natural pigment these seven
women at twenty-five will be decidedly
gray, at thirty-fve white, and, what is
| still more distressing, their bleached tress-
| es will thin out, luster and curl will dis
| appear and the scalp oil escape. In days
| of yore a womans hair usually retained
| it's youthful richness and color until her
| turned white nature blessed her with a
| crown of enviaby silken silVery floss. It
| is safe to say that nobody envies or emu
| lates the gray hair of the modern woman.
| It's texture Is harsh and brittle, and it's
color so cold and cruelty unbecoming that
| the prettfest youngest face looks pale
| and old In such frame.
Contagious Disease.
| Now that the club has got realizing
sense Of the deplorable condition of its
own and it's afflicted sisters hair, it has
| looked about to discover the cause of the
appalling increase in this scalp disease or
| weakness. So far 1t has discovered very
nearly three hundred and sixty-five ade-
quate and proven sources OF the trouble;
| also it has been able to smash some time
| honored traditions, as, for instance, that
dear old belief that gray hair was heredi-
| tary and that too frequent use of water
| injured the scalp. Gray hair is not hered-
| itary, but, what Is far more terrifying, it
| is conta gious
According to the scientific investigators
| Of the club it is indecent and injurious to
| use comb, no matter how many times it
| has been washed after It has passed
| through the head Of a brindle-haired wo-
! man. Members of the club who have in
| cfpien1 cases of grayness are warned about
| keeping fresh anti casSafsson the head
! rests of reading and arm chairs and using
fresh tides at brief intervals. 3 For hair
! that shows the fatal signs yetfts not be-
| yond the hope of salvation, baths of dis
| titled water only are allowed. Hard water,
! If nohe other can be procured, must first
| be boiled and then softened with little
refined boraX before the hair isewashed in
| It, If the hair lacks In grease assery little
crude petroleum must be Tubbed into the
| S.''p "AN'h ~ 40 VI ~ ANStoiC k4ic ilON VI
| oil.
Under no conditions does the,,club's re-
| ceipt for hair bath permit soap The
proper ablutions require the water at a
milk warm temperature and poured
| through the length of treSS and over the
scalp. No pulling or wringing or violent
| scalp friction must result. With soft old
linen the hair can be sopped almost dry
| by normal evaporation without the assist
ance Of artificial heat. Tbis process is
| followed to avoid tangling, and then break
| ing the hair in pulling it apart A broken
| hair means bleeding hair, a hair that is
apt to let great deal Of it's coloring fluid
| escape.
For a carefully treated head no scissor is
| ever to be used in clipping and regulating
| the length. taper must be sklfully en-
ployed to cauterize the ends and cut away
the split and broken strands. If there is
dandruf on the scalp the scalp is exposed
| by making many partings, and, with a
| long, narrow and very soft white brush,
the white scurf is dislodged. When the
| scurf is of the objectionable soft yellow
| quality a brush shaped like whitewash-
er's broom is used, and it is dipped fire.
| quently into a special qunine preparation
| until the whole scalp is painted over with
| the cleansing liquid.
Restoring the Lost Pigment.
| AS soon as the scalp shows white and
| clean following the hair bath hair re-
| storer Is applied, and this restorer the club
| owns and brags Of as it's most precious
! secret. 1t Is q liquid-a dark and agreea bly
| odorous liquid-the chief ingredient of
| which is the juice of an herb that grows
| In tropical America, and which among the
| Indian women of the southern tribes has
| been known since long before the times of
De Soto, Cortez and Balboa as a pure and
perfect tonic for the hair The Aztec prin-
| cesses undoubtedly used it, and its value
lies in the fact that in one sense It does
not dye the hair at all, but eXcites and in
creases the flow of the scalps own coloring
| matter.
A bunch of gray hairs dipped in bottle
| of this liquid, or even allowed to lie for
| hours in it, win come out as white as they
went IN, but II the liquid is gently rubbed
| with little chamois-covered sponge into
| the scalp there comes over the gray hair
in two or three days faint yellow tone.
This is followed by an ever-deepening col
or, until after two weeks use not one
gray hair Is to be seen. The locks become
a bright, agreeable brown, shining and
vigorous deeper or pa1er, in accordance
with the original shade that once pre-
vailed.
Club call this their elixir and they
unite to pay the salary of an efI-
cient coiffeur, who makes fortnighdy
rounds among the club members, washing
brushing, applying tonic and giving elec-
tricity where 1t is needed. Sometimes she
applies the current at the back of the neck
Of the reclining patient Sometimes the
electricity Is blown into the loosened hair
and sometimes it takes the form of scalp
massage done with a tiny brush.
| The club holds that until a woman comes
TO forty years or more woman does in
deed make mistake to let her hair turn
She must not, however, pull out the gray
strands as they come, nor use the PERM
cious peroxides that are offered as mere
external but vulgar and obvious veil fol-
her infirmity. She should join the Gray
Hair Club, defy time and misfortune and
remain brown or gold OF hair until hel
wrinkles demand the frosts Of age to lend
| them dignity. FANNY -ENDERS.
Children's Friendships.