Page:Love and its hidden history.djvu/185

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the master passion.
37

required by those whose hair is in a perfect state of health. A comb and a brush are all that are necessary, and nothing else should be used by such. Occasionally, however, the hair becomes unnaturally dry, loses its brilliancy and suppleness, breaks or splits at the slightest touch, and easily entangles. Pomatums are now useful, and the best is this simple one:—

Ox marrow, 1 ounce. Oil of bitter almonds, 2^ drachms.

Mix.

With this disposition of the hair to split and break it is better not to get it cut until its condition is improved.

"The hair often becomes too greasy and moist, from an excess of secretion which is deposited in a crust upon the scalp. This not seldom causes baldness. It is to be remedied by scrupulously avoiding all .oils and pomatums, and applying a little powdered starch at night, and carefully brushing it out in the morning. This wash, too, may be employed with advantage:—

Water, 6 ounces.

Carbonate of soda, 36 grains.

Dissolve and add the yolks of two eggs, well beaten.

"There is a common but a false notion that frequent cutting of the hair is favorable to its health and growth. Mothers thus often despoil their infants of their first silken locks, with the idea that the second hair will be much more rich and abundant. ' This is an error.. The most beautiful and abounding heads of hair I ever saw,' says Dr. Cazenave, ' were those which the scissors had never touched.' Mothers, not satisfied with trimming the hair of their children, often have it shaved or cut close to the scalp, when they find it losing some of its brilliancy or falling out. Except in certain rare cases of disease, the total sacrifice of the hair is unnecessary, and the second growth is never equal to the first. Getting the hair trimmed from time to time may be allowed as a matter of convenience, but it does not produce the benefit generally attributed to it.

"Baldness, whether produced by age or any other cause, is seldom curable. Women are, fortunately for them, much less liable to the loss of their hair than men, who, moreover, often become