The ugly-girl papers

by S. D. Power

Care of the Hair.—Children’s Hair.—When to Cut it.—Ammonia Washes.—Glycerine and Ammonia.—Pomades.—How to Brush the Hair.—Cutting the Ends.—German Method of Treating the Hair.—Southernwood Pomade.—Hair-Dyes.—Dyeing the Eyebrows and Eyelashes.—Superfluous Hair.—Depilatories.—Washes for the Eyelashes and Eyebrows.

St. Paul approved himself no less a connoisseur of female beauty than a censor of decorum when he wrote, “If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her.” This is in no wise inconsistent with the other apostolic passage which discourages ornate hair-dressing, for abundant shining hair needs less care to arrange than a scanty crop that must be disposed to the best advantage. The woman whose magnificent chevelure reaches to her waist, thick as one’s wrist when tightly bound, needs no braid nor cataract, finger-puff nor snow-curl, nor band of gold or amber to crown herself. Every girl ought to have such hair. Mothers should remember that such gifts of nature form a dowry which has no little weight in the incidents of a woman’s life, and should cultivate assiduously the locks of their daughters. It is not best to keep them closely cut: after five years they should never be touched by scissors, save to clip the ends once a month, as hereafter explained, but should be smoothly braided in long Marguerite plaits, the most convenient style, unless the mother is ambitious of seeing her pet’s hair in curls. Hardly any locks will resist good discipline, if taken in the downy stage of infancy and submitted to papillotes. It is a mistaken notion that a luxuriant growth of hair in childhood weakens the head. Nature is not in the habit of providing superfluities. The Breton women are noted for their magnificent hair, which is allowed to grow from childhood. The barbarity of the fine comb should be abolished in civilized nurseries, and a daily or semi-weekly wash with ammonia or soap substituted, with a thorough brushing afterward. A child’s head is too tender for any rasping process; even knotted snarls should be cut rather than pulled out. Send tow-headed children into the sun as much as possible, that its rays may affect every particle of the iron in the blood, and change the flaxen colors to more agreeable shades.

When the hair has been neglected, cut it to an even length, and wash the scalp nightly with soft water into which ammonia has been poured. This may be as strong as possible at first, so that it does not burn the skin. Afterward the proportions may be three large spoonfuls of ammonia to a basin of water. Apply with a brush, stirring the hair well while the head is partially immersed. Do this at night, so that it may have a chance to dry, for nothing is so disagreeable as hair put up wet and turned musty. Wring and wipe it thoroughly, then comb and shake out the tresses in a draft of air till nearly dry, when it may be done up in a cotton net. Night-caps heat the head and injure hair. Ammonia is the most healthful and efficient stimulus known for the hair, and quickens its growth when nothing else will do so. A healthy system will supply oil enough for the hair if the head is kept clean. If the scalp is unnaturally dry, a mixture of half an ounce of carbonate of ammonia in a pint of sweet-oil makes the most esteemed hair invigorator. Glycerine and ammonia make a delicate dressing for the hair, and will not soil the nicest bonnet. Pomades of all kinds are voted vulgar, and justly. The only excuse for their use is just before entering a sea bath, when a thorough oiling of the hair prevents injury from salt water. It should be speedily washed off with a dilution of ammonia.

When a growth of young hair is established, it ought to lengthen at least eight inches a year in a vigorous subject. Hair is an index of vitality. The women of the tropics, with their abounding health, have luxuriant chevelures. Among Spanish and South American women hair a yard long, in a coil as thick as the wrist, is the rule, and not the exception. The warmth of those latitudes favors the secretions, and stimulates every organ to its fullest development. To obtain like results, we must try to obtain the same conditions of luxuriant health. A good circulation is essential to fineness and pleasing color of the hair. The scalp must be stimulated by frequent brushing, as well as by the ammonia bath. A lady of fashion decreed one hundred strokes of the brush to be given her celebrated locks daily, and those who have tried the experiment find that it is not at all too much. Given quickly, this number occupies three minutes in bestowing, and surely this is little enough time to give a fine head of hair. Once a month the ends of the hair should be cut, to remove the forked ends, which stop its growth. The patrons of a certain New York school of high repute will remember the young daughter of an Albany gentleman, whose wonderful hair was the pride of the establishment. The child was about ten years old, and her heavy tresses reached literally to the floor. She was not unfrequently shown to visitors as a phenomenon, veiled in this flood of hair. On inquiry, it was found that no peculiar treatment was given it beyond cutting the ends regularly every month for years.

An old authority gives the following as the German method of treating the hair. The women of that country are known to have remarkably luxuriant locks: Once in two weeks wash the head with a quart of soft water in which a handful of bran has been boiled and a little white soap dissolved. Next rub the yolk of an egg slightly beaten into the roots of the hair; let it remain a few minutes, and wash it off thoroughly with pure water, rinsing the head well. Wipe and rub the hair dry with a towel, and comb it up from the head, parting it with the fingers. In winter do all this near the fire. Have ready some soft pomatum of beef marrow, boiled with a little almond or olive-oil, flavored with mild perfume. Rub a small quantity of this on the skin of the head after it has been washed as above. This may be efficient, but in this age women prefer the cleanlier method of stimulating the hair without pomade.

If any ladies are as fond of stirring up cosmetics and washes as were the wife and daughters of the Vicar of Wakefield, they may try these highly recommended recipes:

The following is said to be an excellent curling fluid: Put two pounds of common soap cut small into three pints of spirits of wine, and melt together, stirring with a clean piece of wood; add essence of ambergris, citron, and neroli, about a quarter of an ounce of each.

Rowland’s Macassar Oil for the hair: Take a quarter of an ounce of the clippings of alkanet root, tie this in a bit of coarse muslin, and suspend it in a jar containing eight ounces of sweet-oil for a week, covering from the dust. Add to this sixty drops of the tincture of cantharides, ten drops of oil of rose, neroli and lemon each sixty drops. Let these stand three weeks closely corked, and you will have one of the most powerful stimulants for the growth of the hair ever known.

Take a pound and a half of southernwood and boil it, slightly bruised, in a quart of old olive-oil, with half a pint of port-wine or spirit. When thoroughly boiled, strain the oil carefully through a linen cloth. Repeat the operation three times with fresh southernwood, and add two ounces of bear’s grease or fresh lard. Apply twice a week to the hair, and brush it in well.

Where a hair-dye is deemed essential, the deplorable want may be met by this recipe, which has the merit of being less harmful than most of the nostrums in use: Boil equal parts of vinegar, lemon juice, and powdered litharge for half an hour, over a slow fire, in a porcelain-lined vessel. Wet the hair with this decoction, and in a short time it will turn black.