The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-04-06


be given only by the physician on
seeing the patient will be answered
by note to that effect This de-
partment is especially prepared for
1rhe Herald, and other members
of the North American Newspaper
Alliance. with the eotoperation OF
aHygeia. All questions should be
accompanied by a STAMPED addressed
envelope. ~
1894, In United States and
canada by North American Newspaper
Alliance for The Age HERALD. All rights
The Care OF The Hair
How many hairs on the average
scalp? All! We shall not hazard
guess, because the average scalp has
seldom the crop that it ought to have.
But if they are practically all there,
the number of hairs on the scalp of a
full-grown man or woman is about lOO,-
900. And every one of us would like
to have all Of them. Nevertheless, they
DO take wings or fall by the wayside
DIR. Herman Goodman says there are
two big classes of reasons for this de-
parture of hirsuty. He then proceeds
to say that one of these classes is
which means that nobody
knows any real reason and that the
hair just falls out and that's the end OF
it. The second big class includes all
those cases in which the hair falls out
as the result OF some disease.
In the first big class, the hair may
fall out all at once all over the body
or it may fall out in patches, from the
size Of silver dollar to much smaller
patches. In such cases in which the
loss of hair seems to have some vague
nervous origin the loss is seldom per-
manent and the hair sooner or later
grows back again. After severe fever
there is a tendency for. the hair to fall
out. This usually takes place about
three months after the time that the
fever was at its highest,
There are a number of superstitions
about the hair that merit correction. 1t
takes a hair about six weeks to grow
one inch, and cutting the hair does not
improve its growing qualities. The hair
of various persons varies in thickness,
from $50 to the inch if laid side by side
to as many as 500 to the inch. There is
no hollow tube running the length OF
the hair. This fact viii come as sur
prise to those persons who are inclined
to have the hair singed, on various &C.
casions.
Singing The Hair
Singing the hair is usually recon-
mended to overcome splitting of the
ends and to prevent falling of the
hair, the reason for the latter being,
according to the beauty specialist, that
cit closes the pores and keeps the fluid
in the hair"
The hair has no more sap than a
buggy whip. With the long hair of a
woman, which has a tendency to split
at the ends, the smuggling Of the tips sub
stitutes a charred blunt point of fused
horn for one that is cut clean. But
even in such cases, smuggling is less use
full than greasing the hair lightly, thus
the fat which is lacking in
such hair and which leads to its split
ting.
The hair is not nourished by any fluid
in it, but by the blood that comes to
the hair root. The hair above the skin
surface is a spine of horn, which is
even oiled from without. The only
value to smuggling the hair is the salts
faction of the individual that something
is being done for him and the satisfac-
ton of the SINCE expert that lies in col
lecting a fee,
If one is determined to keep his hair
as long as possible, disregarding such
influences as heredity or constitutional
tendencies to loss of the hair over which
we have no control, he must devote a
certain amount of time each day to
head hygiene. Keep the scalp clean.
How To Care For The Hair
Persons living in the city may wash
good unlimited and undyed soap. After
kkn has ~~voI 4 = a,.k
to rinse repeatedly with warm water
to make sure that all of the soap is
removed from the hair and the scalp.
In drying the hair, it is not necessary
to rub vigorously, but rather to pat it
with warm Turkish towels
After the scalp has been dried,
vigorous circulation of the blood may
be induced by rubbing with the ends of
the fingers, making certain that the
nails do not scratch the scalp. If the
scalp tends to be dry, small amount
of pure olive oil may be rubbed in,
parting the hair and rubbing the oil
into the scalp.
DR.. Goodman gives excellent advice as
to the type Of comb and brush: "a
wide-tooth comb is the only one to use."
The space between the teeth of the
comb should be oval so that the hair
cannot be caught and pulled out. The
brush should be only moderately stiff in
the bristles and should be kept scrupu-
lousy clean. 1t should be washed every
time the scalp is washed.
There is no real evidence that the
wearing of a tight hat will cause the
hair to fall out or that, it will even
stunt its growth. DIR. Goodman sug-
gests that the conditions associated with
wearing tight hats, such as city life,
long hours and little open-air exercise,
have led to placing thu" blame on the
tight hat.
Badness Not Intelligence
The bald-headed man is likely to con.
sole himself with the bromide that mo
grass grows on a busy street" He
likes to feel that badness is a sign of
intelligence and result Of mental Ia
Dor. Badness may make man look
wiser, but it occurs indifferently in the
great and the small and it is no more
a sign of wisdom than long hair is of
genius.
Badness is more likely a manifesto
tion OF a transitional stage in human
evolution. This view has an ardent ex-
ponent in Dr. William A. Pusey, who
points out that it is the tendency of
structures to disappear when they have
ceased to function. The warmth and
other protection afforded by the hair
is no longer of great Importance to
man.. We now use a hat instead of re-
lying for protection on a shock of hair
as did our aboriginal ancestors.
This does not mean, however, that we
can preserve our hair by discarding out
hats. We are the results of our hered-
ity and We would have to discard the
hats of our ancestors for great many
generations that have gone before. Ac-
cording to figures assembled by Jack
son and White, badness is due to hered-
ity in from 80 to 40 per cent of all