HAIR NOTIONS AND BALD FACTS


Twelve men shaved the left side of their chests daily. In each case, when the hair had grown out again, microscopic comparison showed that shaving had no noticeable effect. The illusion of the stubble, when hair sprouts again after shaving, is caused by the changed ratio of the hairs diameter to its length. It allowed to grow, the steel bristles on a morning chin eventually become a silky beard.


MOST of the beliefs people have about their hair and how to keep it are unconfirmed by laboratory tests and the research of specialists. For instance, the myth that exposure to sunlight will raise a crop of superfluous hair was exploded in a series of experiment by Drs. C. H. Danforth and Mildred Trotter at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Late one spring the hairs on the scalp and legs of twelve college girls were microscopically examined and counted. All summer the girls asked in the sun. In the autumn, the microscope showed that the prolonged baking had had no effect on the growth in number or texture, of the hair.

The same investigators also disposed of the common belief that shaving causes hair to grow out thicker and more bristly than before-a superstition which makes women turn to sometimes harmful chemical depilatories, and men keep their razor away from the fuzz on cheek-bones ! Drs. Danforth and Trotter had three girls shave their left legs, from knee to ankle, twice a week for eight months.

Twelve men shaved the left side of their chests daily. In each case, when the hair had grown out again, microscopic comparison showed that shaving had no noticeable effect. The illusion of the stubble, when hair sprouts again after shaving, is caused by the changed ratio of the hairs diameter to its length. It allowed to grow, the steel bristles on a morning chin eventually become a silky beard.

The moral here, for women, is that shaving is safer than scraping the skin with pumice stone or emery boards, or resorting to hair removers, which may cause severe skin infections. The one safe method of permanently removing the hair, electrolysis, is expensive and should be entrusted only to an expert, with approval of your physician.

Another current myth, spread by many barbers, is that singeing “seals” the hair and prevents the escape of its “vital fluid”. The hair has no more sap than a buggy whip ! Wearing tight- fitting hats will not necessarily produce baldness.

Wrong also are the beliefs that the hair should be shampooed as seldom as possible “because moisture is harmful”; that washing the hair twice a week or even daily helps the scalp to “breathe”; that massaging loosens the hair; that massaging with vacuum cups somehow strengthens it; and eminent dermatologists who have made a life-long study of the human hair deplore the millions of dollars spent annually on hair tonics, baldness remedies and expensive “hair-growing” treatment.

Hair is not an independent structure growing out of the skin as wheat grows from the earth, and the human scalp cannot be cultivated like a tract of arable land. Like fingernails, hair is simply another from of the horny layer of the skin itself. Each hair up from a tiny papilla that lies deep in the corium, or body of the skin. Growth pushes the hair upward through a firm tubule, or follicle, which shapes it into a strong slender shaft For a very short distance above the papilla, it is a living tissue, similar to the deeper layer of the skin itself. But beyond that point it is lifeless insensitive horn.

Dr. Hans Friendenthals count of the hairs on the human head, accepted as approximately correct, is 88,000 for red-heads, 102,000 for brunettes, 104,000 for blondes. Normally each of these hairs has a life of from six months to four years, after which it falls out, to be replaced by a new one. So a moderate amount of hair shedding need cause no alarm.

The hair derives its colour from pigment granules present in the cells of the shaft itself. Normally in later life, or prematurely in many cases, this natural supply of pigment may diminish, and the hair turns grey. Worry and nerve strain may be contributing factors, but there is no case on record of hair “turning white overnight” from shock or fright.

Once the hair loses its colour there is no means known to science of restoring it. So-called “hair restorers” are nothing more than dyes, and as such are to be regarded with suspicion. For while certain vegetable dyes-henna, indigo and walnut juices- may be harmless, they are difficult to apply and effective for a short time only. The dyes of the aniline and metallic types may be harmful, and have been known to cause serious poisonings. The doctors say that the best thing to do about gray or white hair is to admire it !.

Dermatologists still dont know all the factors involved in making hair grow. But that is no reason for clinging to superstition. So the dermatologists urge s to save time, hair and money by learning a few simple rules.

Take warning from dandruff, a contributing cause of baldness. Occasional small flakes that appear in the hair are bits of dead skin naturally shed, but the unsightly scurf popularly called dandruff means that bacteria have attacked your scalp. Usually they will succumb to a shampoo made of tincture of green soap. Avoid “dandruff removers” and “dandruff shampoos”. It the condition persists, consult a doctor-and dont try cures recommended by your barber or your friends.

Keep your hair clean with fortnightly shampoos, using a pure toilet soap and water. Prepared shampoos at best are nothing more than this; at worst they may contain borax or alkali-both irritating to the scalp Rinse the hair carefully, and if possible dry it in the sun. After a swim, wash out the sand and salt, then dry your hair with a towel. The male habit of wetting the hair in order to comb it down is considered by some a possible contributing cause of baldness.

Vigorous daily brushing stimulates the sebaceous glands which make the hair glossy by distributing over it the natural oil from the scalp. When the hair seems, too dry and unruly after a shampoo, a little vaseline, olive oil, or sweet almond oil may be rubbed in. If it is too greasy, wet the hair with alcohol, and rub off quickly before it evaporates.

Massaging is excellent, when correctly performed. Dont rub the scalp violently or you will merely pull out the hair. Press the scalp firmly with the fingers and move it about over the skull, thereby stimulating not only the scalp but the underlying fettle tissue which separates the scalp from the skull.

The best medical explanation of baldness is that this subcutaneous fat, prematurely in middles age, or naturally in old age gets thinner and disappears. The scalp becomes more tightly attached to the skull; the hair follicles close up and vanish, and baldness sets in-usually on the top of the head where the skin is tightest. According to this theory, women are bald far more rarely then men because their hair, like a mans beard, is secondary sex characteristic and because their layer of subcutaneous fat is thicker than a mans and atrophies much later in life.

Baldness is of two quite different types. One type accompanies a variety of diseases. When the disease is cured, the hair often grown inn again as mysteriously as it fell out. The claims of success made by baldness remedies are founded upon such cases; the hair would have returned even if no remedy had been applied.

The other types, “common” baldness, is still a profound puzzle. Dermatologists believe that, which much may be done to prevent it, nothing will cure it once the hair is gone. There is much evidence that this scourge is hereditary, and that the tendency can be passed on not only by a bald father but through the mother who is not subject to it herself. Intensive research should some day reveal its cause, probably deep in the obscure chemistry of the glands.

Yet enough is known about human hair for dermato-logists to say that if people only paid more attention to the fundamentals of scalp hygiene, and lee to popular suppurations, remedies and tonics, they would keep their hair longer. The safest advice is “Take care of your hair while you have it-and forget about it when its gone.

Lois Mattox Miller