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Seções: Índice Geral Seção Atual: Índice Obra: Índice Anterior: 7. Sobre Pelos Supérfluos, Manchas e Sinais Seguinte: 9. Sobre o Cabelo – II
(p. 58) 8. SOBRE O CABELO – I
DEAR LAURA, – I propose in my present letter to preface the subject of the treatment and toilette of the hair by a brief account of its structure and physiology, so that you may the better understand the practical advice and suggestions I shall afterwards make.
Hairs, whether growing on the head, or on any other part of the body, are modifications of the cuticle. Every hair consists of a root, which is implanted in the skin, a shaft, or elongated portion, projecting from the root, and the terminal point. At the extremity of the hair-root is a bulbous enlargement, lighter in colour and softer in consistency than the stem; this bulb is contained in a follicular or sack-like involution of the cuticle, called the hair-follicle. Some hairs are more deeply implanted than others; the rule being that the longer the shaft, the deeper is the seat of the bulb. Thus the hairs of the head have roots embedded in the subcutaneous cellular tissue, while the fine hairs on the upper lip, and on the limbs, have short follicles reaching only into the superficial layer of the derma. When a hair is plucked from its follicle, the inner lining of the latter usually adheres to the bulb and is torn away with it, forming what is called the root-sheath. Every hair follicle has two layers, an outer or dermic, full of tiny blood-vessels and nerve filaments, and an inner, or epidermic. (p. 59) Opening into the follicle are the orifices of the sebaceous glands, in which is prepared the oily matter whereby gloss and smoothness are imparted to the hair.
Do not suppose that the root of the hair is, like the root of a tree, the actual source and origin of the hair. A tree plucked up by its root cannot be reproduced on the same spot; unless replanted, it is for ever removed, and the place where it grew will know it no more. But a hair plucked up by the root reproduces itself, because its true point of derivation is not in its bulb, or so-called root, but in the dermic layer of the follicle containing the root, and in a small vascular papilla continuous with this layer, and known as the matrix. The cells formed by this matrix are always being pushed upwards into the follicle and massed together, so as to constitute the tissue of which the hair is spun. Most hairs are composed of three tunics, or tissues; some of two only. The outermost tunic consists of thin flat scales, having an imbricated arrangement, and capable of being detached from the inner layers by means of a strong acid, such as sulphuric acid. The next tunic is fibrous; its cells are elongated, and contain pigment granules, to the number and quality of which is due the distinguishing colour of the hair. The inmost layer, absent in fine short hairs, and ceasing altogether towards the point, even in the strong hairs of the scalp, is more opaque and deeper tinted than the fibrous tunic. It consists of fat granules and colouring matter lodged in large firm cells. A magnified transverse section of a hair shows the three layers constituting it, fitted one inside the other like the annular zones of an oak tree.
The quantity and quality of the hair varies with the temperament, the health, the hereditary constitution and predisposition, and the accidental circumstances of the (p. 60) individual. Persons of nervous and lymphatic temperaments have usually less abundant hair than those of a sanguine or bilious temperament. Again, mental trouble and anxiety cause the hair to fall prematurely, as also does ill-health, especially disorders of the circulation and of the nervous system. A disposition to fret and worry, over-study, and sitting up late at night will weaken the hair and thin it rapidly. Among accidental and easily avoided causes of injury to the hair, the most common and baneful is the use of pads, heavy artificial plaits, fringes and head-dresses, tight-fitting bonnets or hats impervious to the air, and the wearing of night-caps. I cannot too strongly caution you against fixing cushions or padding to the scalp as a “foundation” over which to pile up a mass of curls or “twists.” Not only do such things injure the hair directly, by overheating and drying the cuticle, but they are likely also to cause congestion and headache, and thus indirectly destroy the vitality of the germinal matrix whence the hair grows. Neither must you tie up your hair too tightly, or maltreat it with hard brushes and steel combs. Use a soft brash with long bristles, and, if the hair be thinning, an electric brush; only mind that it is really electric – that is to say, that a battery is attached to it. No brush can really be electric unless an electric current be supplied through it by means of a generator, and this current must be unmistakably felt and heard.
It is better not to use any kind of grease or pomatum to the hair. If you are well, and keep the skin of your head in a healthy state, Nature will supply all the lubricant that is necessary by means of the secreting oily glands attached to the hair roots. If, however, your health is not good, and your hair should become dry and rough, with a tendency to snap easily and to split at the (p. 61) ends, you may now and then make use of a little simple nut or olive oil, which should be well rubbed in with the fingers upon the scalp, and not merely brushed over the surface of the hair. At all events never use lard or animal fats of any kind for this purpose, nor indeed, for any purpose at all in which the skin is concerned. They quickly become rancid, putrefy, and irritate the cuticle, besides being far more apt than any vegetable oil to collect dirt and cause the formation of dandriff.
In order to keep the hair and scalp in a healthy state, it is, of course necessary that they should be scrupulously clean. But beware of using irrigations of cold water with the intention of thereby cleansing or strengthening the hair. Nothing causes the hair so soon to thin and become grey and scanty as the frequent use of shower-baths of cold water. The best wash for cleansing the hair and scalp that I can recommend is made by putting into a quart of hot rain-water a piece of lump ammonia about the size of a Brazil nut, and two tablespoonfuls of solution of soft soap. By the time the ammonia has dissolved, the water will probably be cool enough for use. If you prefer carbonate of soda instead of the soft-soap solution, a piece about the same size as the lump of ammonia will suffice. Dry your hair well after washing with a rough towel – not “Turkish” however, else you will get your hair filled with cotton “fluff,” than which nothing is more troublesome to extricate. It knots and rolls in the meshes of the hair, and can only be forcibly dragged out with a comb. The wash just mentioned is particularly suitable for fair hair, because both ammonia and soda tend to produce and preserve an auburn or golden hue. Bark-haired persons should use the yolk of egg beaten up with a little subcarbonate of potash or borax and warm rain-water. Some brunes use red wine – (p. 62) the ordinary vin rouge of Continental countries – mixed with an egg and a very small quantity of soda. Red wine owes its colouring to the skin of the black grapes from which it is made, and it contains therefore a large amount of tannin, which is an excellent tonic for the skin and hair roots. If hair is scanty from hereditary tendency, or is becoming thin through constitutional ill-health, I advise the use daily of the following mixture:
Tincture of Cantharides ..................... 2 ½ fluid ounces. Jamaica rum ..................................... 2 ½ fluid ounces. Glycerine ........................................................ ½ ounce. Sesquicarbonate of ammonia ..................... 2 drachms. Oil of rosemary .............................................. 20 drops.
Mix; then add –
Distilled water ................................................ 9 ounces.
Shake the whole well together.
A quinine wash, the efficacy of which I have myself tested and seen demonstrated, is thus composed: –
Sulphate of quinine ....................................... 1 drachm. Rose-water .................................................... 8 ounces. Dilute sulphuric acid .................................... 15 minims. Rectified Spirit ............................................... 2 ounces.
Mix; then further add: –
Glycerine ........................................................ ¼ ounce. Essence royale, or essence of musk ..... 5 or 6 minims.
Agitate until solution is complete. Next day decant the mixture, and use it once or twice daily.
Another formula, probably as good, and very popular, is thus composed: –
Liquor of ammonia ...................................... 2 drachms. Oil of sweet almonds .................................. 2 drachms. Spirits of rosemary .......................................... 1 ounce. Otto of mace ................................................. 1 drachm. Rose-water ................................................ 2 ½ ounces.
A more homely and simple recipe is the following, (p. 63) the value of which is undoubted in cases of thinning and falling hair. I have witnessed its good effects and can answer for them. Stew one pound of rosemary for some hours in a quart of rain-water, then filter through calico, and add half a pint of bay rum: bottle the mixture, and rub some into the roots of the hair night and morning.
A little more elaborate, but similar is the following, for strengthening and improving the growth of the hair: –
Box-leaves ........................................... a small handful. Boiling-water ........................................................ 1 pint.
Infuse this in a teapot until cold; then press out the liquor, and add to it: –
Jamaica rum ..................................... 2 ½ fluid ounces.
If you find it difficult to procure the box-leaves, you can use good black tea-leaves (1 ounce) instead; but tea is not suitable for fair hair, because its tendency is to darken.
Other hair restoratives and stimulant lotions of infinite variety can be compounded. I have mentioned the foregoing as specimens of the best, or, at least, the best with which I am acquainted. In special cases, physicians may be called upon to devise special formulae. In most ordinary cases of rapid loss or thinning of the hair the use of a hair-stimulant should be associated with careful cutting at intervals; but, concerning the science of hair-cutting, I have now no time to speak, so I reserve it for a future letter.
A lady who is, like myself, a qualified medical practitioner, and may therefore be presumably exonerated from the charge of superstition, tells me that she has reason to believe in the influence of the moon upon the growth of the hair and the proper periods for cutting it. Thus, (p. 64) she says that the hair, if cut when the moon is young, grows with its increase and lengthens without thickening; if cut when the moon is waning, the growth in length ceases, hut the hair increases in thickness.
Seções: Índice Geral Seção Atual: Índice Obra: Índice Anterior: 7. Sobre Pelos Supérfluos, Manchas e Sinais Seguinte: 9. Sobre o Cabelo – II
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