The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-16

taxes n ROOu loon at InS hHOWo
either don't know a thing about
the answer to that one, or don't
give a cuss. Also my mail is con-
stantly loaded with questions
about how TO stop falling hair, and
what is the cause Of badness, and
| haven't the faintest idea. Nor
does anybody else, although a lot
of them try to kid you into conf
dence that they do.
Just let me ask two simple ques-
tons in reply. "Why are men so
much more often bald than wom-
emf" And-"Why are bald head
ed men seldom gray" If you take
a census on your way downtown
you'll see it's true, but why-that
is question mark. 1t is unusual
TO see a man over So who does not
fall into one Of these three classes:
(1) bald on top; (2) gray without
badness; (3) gray at the tenn
pies, thinner on top.
Premature Gray Hair
The premature gray hair situa-
ton is full Of unanswered prob
lens. Why do many men and some
women gray only at the temples
while the top of the head retains
its youthful hue? If gray hair is
due to some general chemical
change in the body, such as lack
of q vitamin, why aren't all the
hairs affected at the same time
and to the same degree? Prema-
ture grazing is sometimes really
premature-I know of a girl IA
years old who has many gray hairs
and has had some since the age Of
10. She is in perfect health, not
otherwise unusually mature.
And there are dozens of cases
of hair that grayed and then came
back to its original color. Jackson
and McMurtry's textbook on the
hair cites the case Of a man with
black hair and beard who had sud-
den loss Of color from both beard
and scalp, then during the next
five years gradual restoration of
color. Then after a few years he
grayed again, and again came back
to the original shading. The cycle
repeated itself a third time in 30
years. During all this time there
was no Ill health. DR.. G. W. Grif-
fiths reported the case of a fire.
man who had had gray hair for
eight years. He had been blond.
At q fire he was exposed to ex-
IRENE cold for a long time, all but
his scalp, which was protected by
a wool skull cap under his helmet.
Twenty-four hours later his hair
began to turn black.
Experiments Disappointing
Restoration of gray hair" is
one Of those phrases like fountain
of youth" that sounds better than
it works out in practice. It all be-
gan with some experiments on
rats. BY shaking a watery solu-
ton of liver extract, yeast or rice
bran with fuller's earth the thia-
mine, riboflavin and pyridoxine
are removed leaving a solution of
the "filtrate factor" Rats fed
with a diet containing the other
vitamins but lacking the filtrate
factor soon show patches Of gray
fur and other evidences Of senes-
cenee. On adding the filtrate fac
tor to the diet again these symp-
toms clear up. It is known that
this factor contains panthothenic
acid.
These experimental results can
be carried over into natural hu-
man experience, but only in very
disappointing way. The wife of
one Of the most eminent derma-
tologists Of my acquaintance tried
the anti-gray hair factor on her
self and reports that restoration"
Is gross exaggeration: it turns
the hair a kind Of dirty yellow
the color Of old rope.
Incidentally, the discoverer OF
the anti-gray hair factor looks a
good deal more like Santa Claus
on top Of his head than he does like
George Raft. He looks more like
Socrates in the face too than he
does like George Raft.