Random reminder

Press, 6 September 1976, Page 23

Random reminder

EXCELLENT BAH

Hair is a woman’s crowning glory. In this day and age, if nature is not generous a girl need not despair — if the different cuts, waves and dyes do nothing for her. she can always fall back on aiding nature with a hairpiece or full wig. It was not always so. At the time of this tale, all the heroine could rely on was soap and water, vigorous brushing and such remedies as were handed on from mother to daughter. As none of ’hese sufficed to thjcken her scanty locks, she became an avid reader of handy hints. At last she found a tonic guaranteed to make her hair grow and flourish, full of golden lights and the glow of health

The tonic was so horrible it must be good, she

mused mixing equal quantities of sulphur and lard which, as everyone knows, is only the rendered-down fat of a pig . . . “To be applied at night, washed thoroughly in the morning, every day for a week.” After a week’s treatment, the hint assured the reader, vigorous and healthy growth would result. She lay in bed dreaming of glamour, trying to ignore the fact that her present appearance left much to be desired. Her fine and scanty locks, well-anointed with grease, were wrapped in an old towel, and it did pass through her mind that she was lucky living in the depths of the country; she was less likely to be caught at a disadvantage. Perhaps the towel was

wrapped too tightly perhaps it was imagination. Her hair was being tweaked. She lay very still. The autumn night was full of rustlings. She felt she was not alone and mentioned the fact to her sister, whose room she was sharing. She was told tersely to go to sleep, what could possibly be stamping round her pillow and chewing her hair? In the morning it was obvious for all to see that she had been right in her nocturnal imaginings. Though her hair failed to respond — probably one treatment was not enough — she had no doubt it would be more effective taken internally, and somewhere, there would be a glossy-coated mouse — or mice — to prove it.