HEALTH NOTES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 23 November 1927, Page 3

HEALTH NOTES.

THE SCHOOL CHILD. CAKE OF THE HAIR. (Contributed by the Department of Health.) Beautiful hair is a great adornment, and is worth some trouble to obtain. Neglected scalps become unhealthy, and are the starting point of many skin diseases. Moreover, the hair is liable to infection with vermin. The following suggestions on the care of the hair and scalp will be found helpful to parents: — . .... Brushing and Combing. —Teach children to take a pride in their hair. Brushing and combing is an important part of the hair toilet, especially for girls. Each child should have its own brush and comb. Children may be taught from an early age to brush and comb their own hair. The hair should be well brushed morning and evening, and kept free from knots. Washing.—Wash the hair thoroughly once a week. A super-fatted or mild soap should be used in preference to a strongly alkaline soap. Save ends and scraps of soap, boil them, and keep liquid in a jar ready for use. Wet the hair and soap it freely; wash this soap out carefully; apply a second lot of soap and rub the scalp well. This second lot of soap should lather up at once. Then thoroughly rinse all traces of soap oft of the hair with several lots of clean warm water. Finish with cool or cold water and dry well. It is good for the hair to dry it in the sun. If the hair is very dry and wanting in natural grease after washing part it successively in different places and rub a little cocoanut oil or vaseline sparingly into the scalp along the partings. Half a teaspoonful or less is enough to use. (Cocoanut oil is 1 better than vaseline, as it is easier to Wash out.)

Dirty hair brushes soil a clean head. Brushes and combs should therefore be washed once a week with warm water and washing soda or ammonia. Rinse in cold water to stiffen the bristles. School girls should wear their hair well tied back or have a short "bustercut.”

Head-lice arc very common. Even the cleanest children may become infected, but with proper patient treatment the trouble can always be got rid .of. The condition must never be neglected, as one infected child readily infects many others. Moreover, the irritation caused by these insects may lead to sores on the head or enlarged glands in the neck, resulting sometimes in abscesses. It is not sufficient to get rid of all living lice; the eggs or nits, which will be found as small whitish specks firmly glued to the hair, must also be destroyed, otherwise a fresh brood of lice hatches out of the nits in about a week. Thoroughly saturate the hair with kerosene, cover with rags soaked in kerosene, tie the head up in a towel or put on a bathing cup, and leave so for the night. Next morning wash the hair thoroughly with soap and hot water to get rid of all the kerosene; use plenty of soap. comb the hair with a tinetoothed comb to remove the dead lice. Repeat the kerosene treatment the next night.

Note. —To prevent kerosene irritating the skin of the face and neck, smear the skin near the roots of the hair with lard or any mild ointment or fat before applying the kerosene. Caution. —Kerosene is highly inflammable, and must not bo used near a lire or open light. To remove the nits (after killing the lice). —The removal of all nits is very important. Thoroughly wet the hair and scalp with strong vinegar, and then comb with a line-toothed comb frequently dipped in the vinegar. Hot vinegar is more effective. If the nits do not readily come off by combing, separate the hair into strands and scrape them down with the back of a knife-blade or some such object as the lid of a tin match box. Vinegar should not be used if there are sores on the scalp.

Alternative Method of Removing N its .—Take two tablespoonfuls of cutup soap and one dessertspoonful of washing soda; boil in a pint of water till melted. When cold, plaster thoroughly through the hair, tie up in a towel, and leave all night. Wash the soap and soda out of the hair in the morning and proceed to remove nits by fine combing or scraping as described above. (As the soda is somewhat drying to the scalp rub in a little cocoanut oil or vaseline. See section I. above.) Repeat this soap and soda treatment twice a week till all the nits are got rid of.

When there arc sores on the head as well as lice. —Cut the hair very short. Bathe the sores thoroughly with warm water or boracic lotion to soften the crusts; gently remove all crusts, and then rub the following ointment into the head. The ointment: White precipitate ointment and vaseline, in equal parts. Repeat the bathing and ointment night and morning till all the sores arc cured. Wash the scalp each day to get rid of all stale ointment. Note. —When the sores improve, it is best to treat with kerosene as described above, because kerosene is more effective in killing the insects and their eggs than is the ointment. To prevent recurrence of the trouble. —(1) See that treatment is thorough. (2) Wash all brushes and combs, using any well-known disinfectant in strong solution according ito the direction on (he label. (3) Hats and caps carry the infection. Remove linings and boil them; or iron with a hot iron, particularly the seams. Wash and iron hair bands and ribbons. (4) Examine carefully all bedding, follows, cushions, and clothing, as these also may harbour lice and nits and reinfeet the hair after cleaning. Washable articles should be boiled or soaked iu a hot disinfectant solution. (5) Examine the heads of all other members of the family ,and treat them also if infected.

Precautions to prevent infection.— (1) Never neglect the regular toilet of the hair as described in Section L, and always look through the hair carefully. (2) Forbid children to exchange hats or caps. (3) Girls should wear their hair short, or well tied back.