Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-10
How to Take Proper Care Of
Little Daughters Hair.
SHAMPOO AND MASSAGE
WHAT TO DO WHEN THE GOLDEN
LOCKS GIVE WAY TO BROWN.
How to Braid the Hair and When Not
to Use a Fine Comb-Sun-
ming and Curling.

Written for The Evening star by Katherine Morton.
MY Dear Miss Morton: Can't you help
me? My little daughter only ten years
| old, is losing her beautiful golden hair.
| The old hair is falling much faster than
! the new is starting and her pretty braid
| Is diminishing day by day, SO that have
| to braid 1t loosely now to give 1t the ap-
pearance of thickness, whereas formerly
| 1 drew 1t tight. Dandruff appears upon the
scalp, and no matter how much I use the
fine comb cannot keep 1t out. Moreover.
the color is changing rapidly. The golden
| tint Is giving way to brown, although I
shampoo the hair every week In ammonia
and water to keep it light. Please give me
your advice and confer an inestimable IA
| vor upon AN ANXIOUS MOTHER"
There Is no showing Of Partially in Sc
4 lecting the above letter. 1t is only one Of
| scores almost Identical and In answering
| more
| OF the mothers who write to me about
their little daughters nine cut Of ten are
| bemoaning the condition of the golden
| locks. There is a note of pathos in many
of the letters. 1t is easy to read between
| the lines and to see the fat yellow curl of
| the baby days that is folded away in a
| drawer and know that as the brown steals
| in day by day the guardian Of that curl
| sees her baby vanishing from her sight.
| No matter how dear the grown-up daugh-
ter may be, it hurts to lose the yellow
| headed fodder
Right here I might we'll be cruel and
| get it over and done with On this point
| Of the changing color l have no help to
| offer. Pretty as the golden curls were, you
have no right to cling to them If nature
| intends otherwise. Ills of the hair can and
should be treated but the darkening that
| years bring Is natural and should not be
arrested. The other day 1 was admiring
| the beautiful color of eleven-year- old
! girls hair. 1t glinted like all the tresses
that the poets have immortaliZed.
| How beautiful 1t is. Are you afraid that
1t will change with timer" I asked her
| mother in all innocence. A little later
| CHANGED to part the golden locks, and there
| in the parting was revealed a quarter inch
| of dark brown hair, the undying growth at
| the roots. Peroxide of hydrogen had been
| applied to that baby! 1 had been entirely
| that anyone would use artificial means to
improve upon the beauty that youth and
nature had given to a little child.
Bad Taste to Use It.
Peroxide Of hydrogen does not injure the
hair, but its is abuse of good taste
| When nature means one to have blond
| locks she gives the eyes and lashes and
skin that harmonic with them. With
every year that child's complexion will
grow away from her hair until finally the
| falsity is apparent. Just at present her
| Hdl is d SHduc lNaC might De natural
sidering her years But she is condemned
| to a peroxide slavery, tnting every few
weeks, or she must go through the miser-
able and humiliating process of letting the
| hair grow out In its natural color wearing
! two shades of hair until the reforma ton is
| complete.
The use of borax and ammonia is much
| to be condemned. The Anxious Mother"
will find the hair kept light, to be sure, by
! her persistent use of the drug, but the
young hair will become brittle and dead In
| appearance. The light color will have no
| hint of gold How much better to keen it
| in a healthy condition and let 1t take on
the brown it is tending to-a brown that
may prove, under encouragement of the
brush and massage and summing, to contain
all sorts of wonderful bronze lights dark
| to be sure, but far more beautiful than the
| other If it harmonizes better with the
childs coloring. Remember that artists find
| the only beauty in harmony. Nothing is
beautiful or ugly of itself 1t is only one
of the other as it finds itself in appropriate
surroundings.
L feel genuinely sorry for the little girls
| loss of hair and it surely can be remedied
| You can save that pretty head of hair nv
massage, the basis of all hair treatment
| or why not teach her to do the work her
| self?
What It Means.
This is the principle Of scalp massage
The scalp, which produces the growth of
hair, is naturally loosely attached to the
IT,
| is true when 1t is in a healthy condition,
but in an unhealthy condition it becomes
| attached to the skull and needs loosenine
| Place the tips of the fingers mot the nails)
upon the scalp, holding them in one spot
| and move the scalp In circling manner
| peneath tnem. Place the tip Of the thumb
| opposite them upon the scalp and hold il
still, letting 1t act as a sort of brace for
the fingers while they work. Move the
! ringers from spot to spot until all the scalp
cd nr,-
| find the skin growing loosen upon the skull
| Move the fingers always in a circling way
| and toward the crown of the head never
| letting them move upon the SCALP but maxi
| Ing the scalp move under them
Besides loosening the scalp, you have an
other object; namely, that of stimulating
| the flow of blood to the roots of the hair.
| This Is necessary in order that all the little
hairs starting to grow may be properly
| nourished.
Learn the Knack.
When you once acquire the knack of mas
sage you may be able to teach it to the
daughter and make it fun to her to mas
sage her own scalp every night. Unless she
can do 1t correctly however. better impose
the task upon yourself. If she is careless or
is annoyed by the task, she may handle the
hair roughly and break It, Tell her about
the blood that is to feed all the hungry
| little hairs, and see how interested she will
be-
In every case 1t is better to give mas
sage a months trial at the least before
a tonic is added. Nature responds SO
readily to a slight encouragement in the
case of a child that it is better to let 1t
do her work If 1t will. If at the end of a
month or two. there is the least i'm
provement to be noted keep on with this
treatment alone. If the dandruff is no bet
ter and no new growth of hairs to be
seen when looking closely into the parts,
then some simple medicine may be used.
Vaseline is excellent rubbed into the
scalp twice week, although 1t is disagree
able, The following tonic may be used,
eighty grammes bay rum, 80 grammes cas-
tor Oil. ten grammes tincture eantharides.
1t should be applied to the roots of the
hair before the massage
Note that by her own confession the
Anxious Mother drew the braid tight"
Fortunately. she Is now obliged to braid
the child,s hair loosely The more liberty
hair Is allowed the better for It, A tight
braid, day or night. checks the growth.
II a child's hair tangles badly 1t may not
be best to leave 1t entirely unconfined, for
the subsequent combing may cause much
breaking; but a loose braid is possible.
This Is the best way to send Miss Golden
locks to bed; Braid the hair loosely in one
or better, two braids, so that there may