Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/277

 less to rub them from the tip toward the root. Any such proceeding weakens them. When the mode prescribes the hair to be dressed contrary to its usual growth, as in the frisure á la Chinoise, and ''á l'Empresse Eugénie'', this direction must be given them gently, and without unnecessary combing.

After the scalp is washed, the hair should be put up loosely for several hours, and avoidance of exposure to the sun or out-door air for the same length of time is altogether advisable.

Whenever a person with long hair expects to be sick for any length of time, the hair should be firmly plaited, but without straining the roots, and not disturbed so long as it feels comfortable. During and after a fever it is very apt to fall, but will be quite sure to grow again, especially if it is kept closely cut, and some stimulant application, such as we shall describe hereafter, is regularly employed.

This leads us to consider the general question of

CUTTING THE HAIR.

It is curious how people, even professional specialists in the treatment of the hair, differ on the propriety and results of clipping it. Some maintain that it is one of the most important points in its preservation, while others declare it is of no use whatever, or positively injurious. For instance, we have in our hands a book on skin diseases by Dr. Tilbury Fox, a very high