There are very many causes why the hair should comb out, and as it is absolutely necessary to know which cause is at work before attempting to cure it, we will discuss briefly the chief causes that are common.
Undoubtedly the gravity of hair combing out is greatly exaggerated. If you comb out a few hairs every morning and save up the several combings to see how much hair you lose in the month, you will be surprised and annoyed at the result. Many girls do this and fancy that there is something wrong with the hair and that they are going bald.
It is natural for the hair to comb out. The life of a hair is of very varying duration, but it only lives a certain time. At the expiration of this time it dies, and a new hair springs from the same root. If it were not for this, what do you think would be the state of the hair at fifty?
Now let us look at the causes of the hair falling out excessively and the resulting condition—baldness.
When the health is disturbed, the hair often falls more rapidly than before. After severe illnesses it is not uncommon for the hair to fall out wholesale, often producing absolute baldness. In both these cases the hair almost invariably comes back as strong as before when the health has returned.
In men, age is a cause of baldness, and there is no reason to think that this cause acts less powerfully in the fair sex. Absolute baldness is not common in women, but their hair gets thinner and shorter after they have passed the meridian.
The fashion of tying the hair with a ribbon or fillet will cause the hair to fall out by compressing it and therefore interfering with its nutrition. If you remove the fillet occasionally, it will do no harm to the hair. Curling the fringe with hot tongs is a very common cause of bald foreheads. If the tongs are used properly, that is, if they are not overheated, they will do little or no damage to the hair. But usually women curl their hair with tongs that are nearly red-hot, thereby singeing and killing the hair, which consequently falls out, and in the end leaves the forehead bare.
The commonest causes (and fortunately the easiest to remedy) of the hair falling out are affections of the scalp.
Dandruff, scurf or seborrhœa, as it is better named, is a condition of the scalp in which the sebaceous glands, which secrete the oil which lubricates the hair, are out of gear. They secrete too much oil of a very inferior quality. The hair loses its lustre, becomes brittle, usually dark in colour, breaks, falls out, and becomes covered with scurf. What this is exactly due to is not known. It is probably the result of a microbe. It usually becomes manifest about the age of thirteen or thereabouts, and may exist throughout life. It can hardly be called a disease, but if neglected may lead to the various forms of eczema that attack the scalp. The treatment for this condition is to wash the hair about once a week with the following lotion: Borax, one tablespoonful; carbonate of soda, one teaspoonful; glycerine, two tablespoonfuls, and water to the quart. After washing and drying the head well, rub into the scalp a very little sulphur ointment.
Often a girl will come complaining that her hair falls out from one part of her head, leaving a bald patch. This is called "alopœcia." Of its cause nothing is known. It is very common in girls when about fifteen years old, but it may occur at any age. The hair always grows again on the bald places, but it may not do so for a year or more. Painting the bald spot with a tincture of iodine is as good as anything, but it is Nature, and not drugs, that cures the affection.