The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-09-11
A LITTLE TALK ON THE HAIR
catholic Universe

! e4ily IOIlB-IlOi TOO long, not
OF that length that might have at
IIacted attention. or caused her to look
/ Lhe freak, or resemble an illustra-
Ion Tor some hair restorer concern
! When she was seated upon a low chair
and the pins were loosened from the
rich coils, they tumbled about her
| shoulders and lay on the floor in shin
ing heaps like little shallow pools OF
water No one could deny that she
! possessed lovely hair.
Alter had been a guest with her at
the same place for a week and had be-
come quite we'll acquainted | noticed
That she never brushed her hair or
LuSSed with it, but only combed it ar
ranging 1t but once q day unless by
accident it became disarranged, while
the other guests at the place. who pos
SeSSed no such hair as hers, We're con-
tlnually fussing and brushing and
dressing what little they had. Finally
| yentured to speak Of her hair asking
why she never brushed ii.
She smiled at my query. SAYING she
never had used a brush, and then she
showed me her comb. 1t was a large,
strong comb, commonly designated as
coarse" and Of the very best make
and material She used this alone in
dressing her hair; she looked upon all
brushes as an abomination for the hair.
l asked her if she had never expert
mented in using brush. She said no.
she mad never even experimental with
one, and never would; she considered
her prejudice against brushes practical
enough, declaring that she believed that
the use Of hair brushes led to scant,
faded and dry hair. 1 mentioned some
thlng about massage, but ] saw that
she entertained the same feeling to-
ward the last named treatment, SO !
said no more. But / remembered that
on one occasion, some years ago,
physical teacher assured me most ear
nestly that she owed her abundant
though rather short. locks to massage
and the hair brush in the hands of an
expert hair specialist.
But Keeping to myself certain reser-
Vations of feeling, and admitting that
my acquaintance had strong evidence
to bear out her theories, 1 asked her
If she never used any kind of hair
tonics, or if she depended solely upon
nature and her big comb.
She said that in the fall and spring
it had been her wont to use a certain
mixture of castor oil and bay rum.
This she rubbed or pressed gently into
the scalp; this remedy had come down
in the family and she added that all
the women of her family, for gener-
atioRs back. had been noted for their
abundant hair. She went on to point
out that the aversion to oils for the
hair was foolish III her estimation. that
the presence of natural oil in all hair
should teach us that the hair should
be treated-if treated at all-with a
tonic containing a certain amount of
OIL She declared that. castor oil was
I'D 20 oh 4
women long ago. who, tradition as
sured us, possessed finer heads of hair
than the women Of today. I am sure
am not positive about this, but she
seemed to be so, and she may be right.
1t certainly seemed reasonable enough,
when she expressed her views, that il
ali the oils were washed constantly
from the hair it must become dry, brit
tie, streaked and liable to fall out from
lack of nourishment.
'All this nonsense one reads about, ."
she said in her slow, smiling fashion.
concerning so many stroke IN con1bing
the hair. and massage, and brushing to
give lustre, etc, is sheer barbarism
surely if one has eyes to see she may
note any day what poor hair most
women have who are employed out in
public; their hair is never long, and
and it all comes of a fussy, fiinicky no
ton that the hair must be brushed and
three or four times a day"
At this point I remembered reading
that Il great Partisan hair dresser once
said that the perfect art of dressing the
hair was to make it appear as though
its owner had slept in it, without dis
arrangement careless couture, fluffy
without being at all frowsy.
an dressing the hair" she said
kindly, zone should be very careful not
to pull or jerk, or break a strand-all
such treatment eventually spoils the
finest hair
I smilingly bethought me Of a certain
editor Of one of the many new cult
magazines, VINO narrated in his publ
cation how he attained an abundant
growth of hair. Noticing with dismay
that his hair was becoming thin and
faded. and greatly desiring a heavy
supply OF hair, he set himself severely
N the task of thinking in new supply. |
he set to on what was left |
pulling out handfuls by root and |
ranch In a short while, he said, there !
lppeared a new growth Of just the kind |
If hair he wanted, and so he gave this |
evidence as proof of the efficacy of the |
,ew doctrine he processes. ] wondered !
uhat this woman with the beautifully |
ong. even and glossy hair would say |
q this for [ had watched with what |
n refulness she conbed out the strands, |
70 as not to break one
what do 1 use in cleansing my hair |
md scalp?" she repeated after me,
.miIingly. "Well, prehaps you viii |
mile. too. when I tell you that l have
,ever used any shampoo at ALL but just
lain baking soda-the sort we have In
mr. Kitchens. Did you know that MOTH
no gives such gloss to the hair as
"a king soda as a wash, and castor OIL
. fonic'-and she laughed outright
4 nv doubtful face. Just try 1t" she
old Il have a cousin who has the
,1ost beautiful shining black hair IN
he world. 1 know, and she uses simply
reak soda water as a cleanser.
Now / simply repeat this converse
io,, on the hair for what it is worth.
me woman who advocated the merits
9 tbe homely remedies told of mere
.ar+ain 1v possessed fine and lovely hair
Nc incontrovertible fact presents 1t
of. She still wore her crown OF neau-
tf,i hair. and she was a woman VINO
90, - reached the youth of middle age
"a. sa,1,eTyIere between twenty and forty
a,,d surely her testimony IS worth ~
/