WOMENAND THE HAIR 5

It will be useful here to inform the inexperienced reader that all solutions and compounds which contain nitrate of silver stain the skin as well as the hair, if they be allowed to touch it. These stains may be removed, when quite recent, by rubbing them with a piece of rag or sponge wetted with a weak solution of potassium, of hydrosulphuret of ammonia, or of iodide of potassium; but as this is attended with some trouble and inconvenience, the best way is to avoid the necessity of having recourse to it. The hairdressers commonly adopt the plan of smearing hard pomatum or cosmetique over the skin immediately surrounding the hair to be operated upon, in order to protect it from the dye.

 By very skillful manipulation, and the observance of due precautions, the hair may be thoroughly moistened with the silver solution without touching the adjacent skin; but this can only be done when the hair of the head is under treatment by a second party.

In reference to the tone and shades of color given by the substances commonly employed to dye the hair, it may be useful to state that the shades given by preparations of iron and bismuth range from dark brown to black; those given by the salts of silver, from a fine natural chestnut to deep brown and black, all of which are rich and unexceptional.
The shades given by lead vary from reddish-brown and auburn to black; and when pale or when the dye has been badly applied or compounded, are generally of a sandy, reddish hue, often far from agreeable. However, this tendency of the lead dyes has recently led to their extensive use to impart that peculiar tint to the light hair of ladies and children which is now so fashionable. Other substances, hereafter referred to, are, however, preferable, as imparting a more pleasing hue.

The reddish tint produced by lead, as already hinted, may be generally darkened into a brown, more or less rich, by subsequently moistening the hair with a weak solution of either sulphuret of potassium or hydrosulphuret of ammonia.

The favorite compounds for external use in baldness, and, perhaps, the most convenient and best, are such as owe their stimulating quality to cantharides or Spanish flies, or to their active principle, cantharidine. This application of these drugs has received the sanction of the highest medical authorities, both in Europe and America. The leading professional hair-restorers now rely almost exclusively on cantharides, and all the more celebrated advertised nostrums for restoring the hair contain it as their active ingredient.
Oils and pomades, very strongly impregnated with the essential oil of garden thyme (origanum) and rosemary, and lotions or liniments containing ammonia with a like addition of these essential oils, probably come next in the frequency of their use as popular restoratives of the hair in actual and incipient baldness.
To Have Elegant Hair.—Every girl should have thick, magnificent hair. It is essential to clip the ends of the hair once a month after a child is four years of age. Ammonia and warm water is an excellent wash for the hair and scalp, and gives life and vigor to it when all other articles fail.

Wild Rose Curling Fluid.—Take two drams (avoirdupois) dry salt of tartar; (carbonate of potassa) powdered cochineal, half dram; liquor of ammonia and spirit de rose, each one fluid dram; glycerine, one-fourth ounce; rectified spirit, one and one-half imperial fluid ounces; distilled water, eighteen ounces; digest with agitation for a week, and then decant or filter. The hair to be moistened with it, and then loosely adjusted. The effect occurs as it dries.

To Cause the Hair to Grow very Thick.—One of the most powerful stimulants for the growth of the hair is the following: Take a quarter of an ounce of the chippings of alkanet root, tie in a scrap of coarse muslin, and suspend it in a jar containing eight ounces of sweet oil for a week, covering it from the dust. Add to this sixty drops tincture of cantharides, ten drops oil of rose, sixty drops of neroli, and sixty drops oil of lemon. Let this stand twenty days, closely corked, and you will have one of the greatest hair-invigorators and hair-growers that this world has ever produced.

Lola Montez Hair Coloring.—This celebrated woman published the following, and claimed that it was as harmless as any preparation that would really color the hair: Ten grains of gallic acid, one ounce of acetic acid, one ounce of tincture of sesgurichloride of iron. Dissolve the gallic acid, sesgurichloride, and add the acetic acid. Wash the hair with soap and water; when dried, apply the dye by dipping a fine comb in it and drawing through the hair so as to color the roots thoroughly. Let it dry, then oil and brush well.
Hair Restorative.—Four drams oxide bismuth, four drams spermaceti, four ounces pure hog's lard. The lard and spermaceti should be melted together. When nearly cool, stir in the bismuth and perfume. Prevents the hair from turning gray, and restores gray hair.