Health: How to get it and keep it. / The hygiene of dress, food, exercise, rest, bathing, breathing, and ventilation.

by Walter V. Woods

Hats.—In the advancement from barbarism to civilization, the head was the last part of the body to be covered. Nature originally furnished, in the form of a thick mat of hair, all the covering that was necessary for the head. Baldness was then unknown. While the demands of modern society must be complied with, and hats must be worn, the nearer we can approach to Nature’s plan the better.

A hat should be light, loose, and well ventilated. A heavy hat presses with undue weight upon the scalp. A tight-fitting hat interferes with the free circulation of the blood. A hat that is close in its texture, prevents the escape of the heated air within, and not only produces a sense of oppression but is believed to be the most fertile cause of baldness. Silk hats for men are especially objectionable on this ground. All close hats should be supplied with efficient means of ventilation. The head, like any other part of the body, perspires, and if the hat is removed in a cooler atmosphere or in a current of wind, a cold in the head is apt to follow.

The chief cause of baldness is pressure of the hat, which constricts the blood vessels and so interferes with the nutrition of the hair bulbs. It is probable, also, that the shutting off of air and light by the hat promotes baldness. An unhealthy condition of the scalp results, the sign of which is an excess of dandruff.

Baldness is almost unknown among savages, who wear no hats, and is comparatively rare with men in the tropics where very light hats are worn. Laborers are less prone to baldness than business or professional men. They generally wear soft hats or caps, which are often pushed to the back of the head, so that the scalp gets plenty of light and air. There is no good reason why, if properly treated, the hair should not last as long as the man. Wear a soft, loose, well-ventilated hat, and wear it as little as possible, and never keep it on in the office or house.

In hot weather and in tropical climates hats should be of a light color, with a considerable crown and ample brim. In the United States, the ordinary straw hats, if not too closely made, answer every requirement. For the intense heat of Africa or India, more elaborate head-gear is found necessary. The ill effects of special exposure to the sun’s heat may be reduced by wearing, in the crown of the hat, a thin sponge, or even a handful of grass or leaves, or other light, porous substance.

From the standpoint of health, but little criticism can be made against the head-gear of women. Nature has provided them with a splendid covering of hair for warmth and protection. The woman’s hat, or bonnet, is largely an object of adornment. Fashion, at times, dictates an unequal distribution of its weight, or an over-burden of ornament, or a lack of protection to the eyes, but, for the most part, it is light, loose, and admits of free ventilation. Veils are more or less injurious to the eyes, and if worn so as to cover the nose and mouth, prevent the free escape of the exhalations from the lungs. The dyes used in veils have, in some instances, been productive of face eruptions and other disorders.

The Neck.—The improper clothing of the neck is responsible for much ill-health. The high collars for men, the tight-fitting high collars and neck bands for women, the scarfs, handkerchiefs, and other neck apparel in winter produce an excess of heat. Cold air is inhaled, and the result is some form of sore throat.

Fashion makes greater demands upon the powers of endurance, or resistance, of women than of men. To go warmly clad through the day, and then to put on a ball or party dress, exposing the neck and shoulders to repeated currents of cold air, requires a degree of vitality that many do not possess, and the physician’s and undertaker’s labors are increased by the victims of fashion.

The neck should be comfortably clad, and kept at the normal temperature as nearly as possible. It is the sudden change from an over-heated neck and chest to that of the opposite extreme that causes the trouble. The boy who, with scarf tightly wrapped about his neck, fights his mimic battle with snowballs until the perspiration flows from every pore, and then throws aside jacket and scarf while he rests, and the girl who, in furs and tippet, skates until she becomes thoroughly heated, and takes off her wraps while she stops to breathe, have many imitators among the older boys and girls in the world.