THE HAIR OF YOUR HEAD

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 1 May 1926, Page 9

THE HAIR OF YOUR HEAD

"N°. one’s hair ever turned white 1 11 a night—n nd never will.” This recent statement by Dr L. A. Hausmau, who has devoted years to the study of human hair, shatters a favourite belief. Human hair is a* complex structure of cells growing in three “layers.” The colour of hair is determined bv tin amount and quality of certain materials deposited in the inner layer by small cells at the hair-root beneath the scalp. “The first indication of our loss of vigour,” declares Dr.Hansmar, “is the failure of these cells to make any more colouring matter. They can .just about make the hair—but they cauriot paint itj too. Hair, after it emerges from the is a dead structure like a finger-nail, arid this means that no changes can go on in the hair after it leaves the scalp except artificial changes, such as dyeing or ‘permanent’ waving. ’ ’ It is a. rare occurrence to find a redhaired person as a patient in a lunatic asylum. Inquiries made a few years ago at 20 large asylums revealed a complete absence of red-haired inmates. Those who begin to. go bald ea/lv in life may be comforted to know that where there is baldness there is no fear of consumption. Of old maids, the overwhelming majority have fair hair. For some reason the dark-haired of each sex marry earlier than the light-haired. And an advertisement, inserted in the papers circulating in two large provincial cities, offering a reward for information regarding unmarried red-haired women of 40 or more, elicited no replies. By the way, red hair of the violent type can be darkened to an attractive auburn by taking a spoonful of olive oil after meals for a few weeks.

FACTS AND HALF-FACTS

A scientist states that the average numbers of hairs'on healthy heads are as follows: Fair hair, 140,000; brown, 109,000; black, 103,000; red, 90,000. One hair, in good condition, should be able to bear a weight of 7-Alb before breaking. Hair grows much faster in the summer than in any other season of the year. This is due partly to the heat of the sun, and partly to the opening of the pores of - the skin, and the escape, in the form of perspiration, of body poisons which, unexpelled, arrest the growth of the hair. It has been_ noticed that those whose work induces perspiration nearly always have luxuriant hair. Our eyebrows, now merely _ ornamental, were once * ‘bushes’’ of hail', and 'served the twofold purpose of shielding the eyes from the sun’s rays anc l—of greater importance —holding up the perspiration that formed on the forehead, to prevent it trickling into the eyes. It is said that the present bespectacled world is the result of the gradual disappearance of eyebrows and the consequent poisoning of the eyes. Why should one child’s hair be curly and another’s straight? The explanation, where neither parents, grandparents, nor great-grandparents have had curly hair, is that ‘ defeircd heredity” is responsible. Some remote ancestor has had curly hair. The “curly germ,” if one may put it that, way, has been passed along the line of'life, but has not taken effect for hundreds of years. Then, for some reason, it does, and a curlyhaired child is born. Originally all Pair was straight; curly hair was produced by. wrong dieting. The oldest hair tonic, made for an Egyptian queen, consisted of the paw of a dog and the hoof of an ass boiled in oil with dates.