Evening star., 1915-01-31
WHEN THE YOUNGSTERS
DISLIKE A SHAMPOO


ously to having their heads washed.
They may go with shouts of JOY
into huge tub whose water comes to
their very chests-no higher. for that
sometimes brings terrors-but the mo-
ment the cleansing soap starts for
their foolish little pates. what shrieks.
what sobs, what bitter indignation.
There is reason for this. AS the
chiid's head is not washed as frequent
ly as it's face and hands, and the first
remembered performance, perhaps. left
a poignant sting of soap in the eyes,
the shampoo takes on the form of an
injustice, some terrible punishment
which has not been merited. 1t is one
of the things inexplica ble-the buga-
boo that must be fought. If. notwith-
standing the piteous protest, the
shampoo is pursued, when the siege is
over there are two exhausted people
mother and child.
But there are ways of washing even
the unruliest little head in peace, and
good one is through story telling
both before and during the awful cere-
mony. In one household of the writ
er's acquaintance there is a maiden
aunt who is dubbed by the family
The Shampoo Story Teller.
First, the mother gets the bathroom
table low enough for little legs, and
all about it, ready to be seized at a
moments notice, are all the imple-
ments of war and stratagem. There is
soft bath towel which will be de-
liciously warm when wanted, and the
carefully made shampoo. This may be
of any soap liked, but the writer pre-
fers to give the maiden aunt's recipe.
1t consists of nothing more than a
stiff suds of water and CASTLE soap.
The night before all this preparation
there has been a preliminary move.
Into Bobby's four-year-old brush or
Dicks three-year- crop quite tea
spoonful of olive oil has been rubbed,
through applying it with the fingers
upon the scalp. The hollow tubes of
the hair drink in this and are protect
ed against the harsh tendencies of the
soap. The oil also loosens dust upon
the scalp and makes the shampoo gen.
orally easier. The masculine owner of
the head won't object to the oil if told
solemnly, with some little Illustration,
that II will make him grow strong and
big.
Jack k-the-Beanstalk's head" SAYS the
maiden aunt, was rubbed every night
with oil If it hadn't been for that he
would never have been able to kill
the bad giant"
The moves toward the actual sham
poo are full of story telling, and Jack
the-Beanstalk gets many a new chap
ter.
so when Jack got up that morning,
as he had gone to bed without his sup
per. his head felt very badly You
know II is quite dreadful not to have
your supper at night. (First sus-
picions allayed with this side issue
He washed his face. but that did no
good. Then he washed his hands, but
that did no good And then Just for
fun he picked up the soap and made
beautiful suds with tit was the
fairy kind. though he did not know
~ And then he covered his head with
II, and. laughing, went and looked at
himself in the glass, and what do you
think he saw?''
Nobody knows, Maiden Aunt pro-
poses to Bobby or Dick to go with her
into the bathroom and try the trick
themselves and "see what they see"
Pouf. the thing is done, though
MAIDEN Aunt has the good sense not
TO depart entirely from the truth.
He say d boy with soap on his
head. she says calmly. "and he knew
very well that he must wash il off.
He did the ceremony begins here) for
he knew that if he didn't he could not
possibly go out in the yard and climb
the beanstalk. When his head was
beautifully clean of soap he put it un-
der the spout of the pump-let's play
the spray is the pump-and then he
wiped it very dry
enjoyed by the story hero, more work
came, and by the time Bobby had
reached the comb and brush stage-the
end of the glorious romance-there he
was child with a washed head, and
not knowing it,
He was completely hypnotized," said
Maiden Aunt when she told the story
And when I was putting on the tonic
i always use perfume after the
hair washings-there he sat with eyes
as big as saucers looking over the
towel out of the window. You know
our bathroom overlooks the church
and there is an ivy running up that
side 1t.
'Look.'' said Bobby, pointing to a
wisp of this, climbing up in full sight
there's hts beanstalk now, and IL
wait long nun he'll go straight up to
the giants"
Possibly storytelling won't do for
all objecters of head washing, and the
story would certainly have to be
changed every time. But 1t Is a good
thing to give il trial and IL it fails
there are "bribes" to be offered. Have
the moment after the shampoo one for
jollidcation. The two or three bonbon.
may be given then, another story told
TO wipe away the last notion of trick
Almost any little device. gone about in
an artistic way. may accomplish the
desired end. What Bobby and Dick and
Kitty need especially is to feel that the
head washer is their friend, and that
head washing does not kill.
For highly nervous and imaginative
Hhild1oD the little stories are splendid