Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1883 — Care of the Hair. [ARTICLE]

Care of the Hair.

When not the consequence of old age, baldness is a disease, says a doctor, and it is a far more terrible enemy to overcome than white hair. No healthy person should begin to be bald till after 50 years of age, and yet* a general lamentation arises of young people, barely in their twenties, losing their hair. Here, therefore, must be some defect of constitution, some disease of the hair that should not exist. Headaches, and indeed almost every kind of suffering, whether of the mind or body, frequently cause the hair to fall. Too much study or thought or application of any kind have a similar effect. Women are less subject to baldness than their, brothers. Man works more with his brains, generally speaking, than woman. He also indulges in drink or other excesses more than women, and, as a rule, keeps his head covered more than women do. An Italian proverb says that hats kill hair. Hygienic precautions may do much toward maintaining the hair thick. I knew of a man who kept his hair thick, almost black, by never wearing a hat all his life- At 80 he married a third wife, and had a third family of children. You must not expect, however, that your hair will never fall, even in health, nor need you be dismayed when you see your hair come off when brushing or combing. Hair falls at certain seasons, as dead leaves from trees, to make room for new ones to grow. If, however, you see too many come off, and the fall continues too long, then cut the hair as you would cut a faded plant; it will grow stronger, richer afterward. If people cut their hair regularly, hair-dressers would have little to do, and wig makers would be ruined. Frequent washing in cold salt water is also recommended to prevent the hair from falling, and daily friction is good.