A Wash for Moist, Lax Hair.
Take of essential oil of almonds, 1 fluid drachm; oil of cassia, and essence of musk, of each, ½ fluid drachm; rectified spirit, 2½ ounces; mix, and add gradually, with brisk agitation, 16 ounces of distilled water, in which 1 ounce of finest gum arabic has been dissolved. The hair and scalp should be slightly moistened with the liquid, and the hair at once arranged, without wiping, whilst still moist.
Washes for Dry, Stubborn Hair.
The best and most effective of these consists of glycerine dissolved in any fragrant distilled water, as that of roses, or orange or elder flowers, in the proportion of 1 to 1½ ounces of the former, to 1 pint of the latter. Some of them also contain 15 to 20 grains of salt of tartar per pint.
Egg Julep.
Egg julep, or saponaceous wash, is made as follows:—Rectified spirit, 1 pint; rose-water, 1 gallon; extract of rondeletia, ½ pint, transparent soap, ½ oz.; hay saffron, ½ drachm; shave up the soap very fine; boil it and the saffron in a quart of the rose-water; when dissolved add the remainder of the water, then the spirit, finally the rondeletia, which is used by way of perfume. After standing for two or three days it is fit for bottling. By transmitted light it is transparent; but by reflected light the liquid has a pearly and singularly wavy appearance when shaken.—Piesse.
Bay Rhum.
Tincture of bay leaves, 5 ozs.; otto of bay, 1 drachm; bicarbonate of ammonia, 1 oz.; biborate of soda (borax), 1 oz.; rose water, 1 quart. Mix and filter. Piesse says: “This is a very good hair-wash. It was first introduced in New York by those go-ahead scissors that ‘abbreviate’ the ‘crown of glory.’”
Another.
Bay leaf otto, ½ oz.; magnesium carbonate, ½ oz.; Jamaica rum, 2 pints; alcohol, 3 pints; water, 3 pints. Triturate the ottos with the magnesium carbonate, gradually adding the other ingredients, previously mixed, and filter.—Snively.