30. (Ure.) Litharge, fresh-slaked lime, and bicarbonate of potassa, mixed in various proportions, according to the shade of colour desired. Used like No. 1.
31. (Warren’s.) From litharge, 1 oz.; white lead, 2 oz.; quicklime (in fine powder), 16 oz.; mix, sift through lawn, and at once bottle the mixture. Used like No. 1. Mixed with water, it is said to dye the hair black; with milk, brown.
32. White lead, 1 oz.; fresh slaked lime, 11⁄2 oz.; litharge and oxide of bismuth, of each 1⁄2 oz.; water, 1 pint; mix, boil 15 minutes, with frequent agitation, cool, pour it into a bottle, add of solution of ammonia, 1⁄4 fl. oz., shake the whole frequently for some hours and the next day pour off the liquid portion from the white sediment which forms the dye. Used like No. 1. It is applied for 8 or 10 minutes for a brown; 30 minutes, or longer, for a black. For the first, it is washed off with water containing a little common soda.
33. The juice of the bark or shell of green walnuts, applied with a sponge. (Paulus Ægineta.)
34. A leaden comb used daily is said to darken the hair, but we have known persons persevere in its use for months without any perceptible change occurring. Premature baldness is a frequent consequence of its use.
Obs. It is right to inform the reader that all those compounds which contain nitrate of silver stain the skin as well as the hair. These stains may be removed, when quite recent, by rubbing them with water containing a little sulphydrate of ammonium (see above) or iodide of potassium in solution; but as this is attended with some trouble and inconvenience, the best way is to avoid the necessity of doing so. The hair-dressers adopt the plan of smearing hard pomatum over the skin immediately surrounding the hair, to protect it from the dye. By very skilful manipulation, and the observance of due precautions, the hair may be thoroughly moistened with the above fluids, without touching the adjacent skin, but this can only be done, in the case of the hair of the head, by a second person. This has led to a preference being given by many to the compounds containing lead, as the colouring matter formed in them does not stain the skin. The hue given by the latter (when pale) is very apt to possess an unnatural redness, but all the shades of colour given by the preparation of silver are rich and unexceptionable. Pyrogallic acid, and the juice of walnuts, also stain the skin, although less intensely and permanently than nitrate of silver.
The detection of dyed hair is often a matter of importance in medico-legal research. The presence of silver may be shown by digesting the hair in a little weak chlorine water or hydrochloric acid, when the resulting chloride of silver may be dissolved out with liquor of ammonia, and submitted to the usual tests. Hair containing lead, when digested in dilute nitric acid, gives a solution of nitrate of lead, in which form it is readily detected. See Lead and Silver.
All the preceding compounds are for dyeing living hair (human); horse-hair, bristles, &c., and other dead hair, may be readily stained by
steeping them in any of the ordinary liquid dyes, more especially those employed for wool and silk. See Pomades, Washes, &c.
HAIRWASH, Golden, or Auricomus, is a clear inodorous fluid, which is said to dye hair blond or yellowish red, and really does so. Sold in bottles containing 250 grammes. When exposed to the air the fluid decomposes with time. This hair-dye is an aqueous solution of hydroxyl contaminated with traces of baryta, and can be prepared as follows:—17 parts crystallised caustic baryta and 3 parts potassium chlorate, intimately mixed in fine powder, are melted by a gentle heat. The mass must be washed with cold water to remove the potassium chloride, and the residue shaken in the cold with a solution of 8 parts glacial phosphoric acid in 25 parts water, the whole being cooled with ice. When the peroxide of barium is decomposed, the fluid should be decanted from the precipitate. (Hager.)