Practical and Competent Advice Concerning the Use of Soaps and Powders; the Washing of the Scalp; and the Best Means for Preventing the Hair from Falling Out.
By GEORGE THOMAS JACKSON, M.D.
Instructor in Dermatology in the Medical Department of Columbia University, New York.
There are certain matters in regard to the care of the hair that have not been taught to some physicians in their student days, and about which they are still some what at sea because they have found no mention of them in their books. About these they seek advice. Perhaps such matters may seem trivial to some of you, but they do not seem trivial to some of your patients. Therefore, they seem to me to be of sufficient importance to warrant my bringing them briefly to your notice.
MANAGEMENT OF THE HAIR DURING AND AFTER FEVERS.
It is well known that the hair falls after fevers of parturition, as well as after other exhausting drains on the general nutrition of the body. The laity know this, and in such cases are constantly asking if we cannot do something to prevent the falling of the hair. After the patient is convalescent, his or her, especially her, friends are eager to have the head shaved and cross-shaved, and cite cases of those who have had this done and now have such magnificent hair! How shall we answer these questions? We can answer the first by saying that nothing can be done during the illness to prevent the falling out of the hair. The hair falls out not because of the dryness of the scalp in consequence of the fever, but because its nutrition has been interfered with by the illness. This we know because the hair will fall in some non-febrile diseases. All we can do is to keep the hair and scalp in order by gentle brushing and combing, and by rubbing into the scalp once or twice a week the least little bit of vaselin or oil. To the demand for permission to cut the hair short or to shave the scalp, we should give emphatic denial. It is a serious business to shave the scalp of a woman, and it chiefly benefits the barber, who, by the way, is the one most urgent to have it done. It dooms the woman to months of wearing a wig, and to many subsequent months of remark from the thoughtless and cruel because she, perforce, is a member of the short-haired sisterhood. As it is impossible to say how much of the hair will fall, and as it is rare for enough to fall to render "doing up" impracticable, there seems to be no reason to subject the woman to the positive annoyances of the shaving with the advantages so exceedingly doubtful.
Well, shall we do nothing but simply fold our hands and let Dame Nature look after the hair? It would be much wiser to do this than to do some things that are done; but we can do more. We should allay the fears of the patient and her friends by assuring them that although the hair may fall for a few weeks, it will grow in as well as before the fever if they will obey directions. They must be directed to brush and comb the hair every day. At this they will throw up their hands in horror and exclaim: "Why, doctor, I am afraid to brush my hair as so much comes out." We can tell them that that need not disturb them in the least, for only the already damaged hair can be pulled out in that way, and that the sooner this is out the better. Once or twice a week a little pomade composed of a drachm of precipitated sulphur in an ounce of a good, soft, cold cream should be gently worked into the scalp. Every two or three weeks the hair and scalp should be washed, and a little of the pomade applied as soon as the hair is dried. As soon as the patient regains her strength, if she follows this method of caring for the hair, she will be rewarded by having as fine a growth of hair as she had before, if not finer. Of course the older a woman is, the less the probability for this much-to-be-desired outcome.
HOW OFTEN SHALL THE SCALP BE WASHED?
This is another question often asked. We can answer that once in two to four weeks is sufficient, so far as the hair is concerned. In fact, it does not seem to make much difference to the hair whether it is washed or not. It is more cleanly to wash the hair, and that is the greatest reason in favor of doing it. It is bad to wash the hair too often, and daily sousing of the hair, as is the too common practice, is pernicious.
SOAPS.
We will be asked what soap is best to use in washing the scalp, and many women who make their living by caring for the hair have some mysterious soap which they use, vaunt, and try to sell to their customers, but the composition of which they will not reveal. As a matter of fact, except in a very few conditions of the scalp, it makes little difference what sort of soap is used, provided it is made by a good manufacturer. The most convenient soap is one that is liquid, such as the tincture of green soap. Whatever soap is used must be thoroughly washed out with plenty of water. After washing the scalp a little pomade or oil must be rubbed into the scalp to take the place of the natural oil that has been removed by washing.
THE USE OF POMADES.
The men of my father's generation habitually used pomades on the scalp. To protect the chair coverings from the grease on their heads tidies came into vogue. Then the pendulum swung the other way, and now pomades of all kinds are tabooed. That there has been a great increase in baldness among young men of the present generation is a general impression, although I know of no statistics to support or refute it. Some fifteen years ago, when I first became interested in the study of diseases of the hair, I accepted the teaching of the time that pomades did no good, and, becoming rancid, did positive harm. With enlarging experience I am becoming more and more convinced that I was wrong, and that one reason why the hair is lost so early nowadays is because the sons have forgotten the teachings and practice of their fathers in regard to the use of pomades. They neither use pomades nor seek to stimulate the natural oily supply to the hair by systematic brushing. Instead they daily wet their heads with water to enable them to arrange their hair. By not using pomades and by wetting the hair instead of brushing it, their hair becomes more and more dry, dandruff increases, and their hair falls. I believe that if boys were trained to brush their hair thoroughly every night and morning, and had a little pomade that will not turn rancid, such as contains sulphur or salicylic acid, for instance, rubbed into their scalps once a week or so, and avoided wetting their heads, baldness in the rising generation would not be so prevalent as it is in this.
CUTTING THE HAIR.
We are sometimes asked how often the hair should be cut. It makes no difference how often it is cut. It is purely a matter of taste. No one would think of asking how often the nails should be cut, but cuts them as often as they become too long for comfort or taste. Cutting the hair will neither increase nor decrease the amount. It will stimulate the fine hairs to become coarser, but when they have reached their normal growth cutting will have little influence on them. It is always advisable to direct that the split ends of the long hair of women should be cut off above the cleft, as this will prevent the cleft from traveling up the hair. It is best not to have the hair of a girl cut after she is ten or twelve years old, because if left to itself and given adequate care it will grow more silky than if it is cut.
SINGEING.
Of all the foolish fashions in regard to the care of the hair, that of singeing is the most ludicrous. It is founded on an antiquated idea, and is a revival of an antiquated fashion. Away back in the dark ages it was thought that when the hair was cut it bled from the cut ends, or, at least, lost some fluid nutritive substance. Therefore, it was argued, we should singe the ends to prevent this loss, just as it once was the practice to sear wounds to stop hemorrhage. As the hairs are not hollow tubes like arterioles, and neither bleed, exude, nor ooze in any way when cut, the operation has no foundation in fact, nor does it do any good. I have seen scores of barbers' customers who have gone about like singed cats for months, and without benefit.
—Read before the Medical Society of the State of New York, and reprinted from the Medical News.
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