Are You Becoming Bald.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 9 October 1914, Page 2

Are You Becoming Bald.

FACTS THAT MAY SAVE YOU

Baldness is a matter of head-gear. The doctors are fairly well agreed upon that. Men grow bald more frequently than women because of the hats they wear. It is true that women wear bigger and often heavier hats than men, but they attach them to their hair and not to their scalps, hence they permit ventilation and do not constrict the veins, men's not only permit no air to enter but constrict the blood vessels all around the head. Consider the scalp of man. It if a thin layer of muscles covered with thick skin, stretched over a hard, bony surface. Through this small arteries leading to a network of capillaries which end in veins. The skin is full of the follocles, or roots of hairs, and of glands which se crete copious supplies of grease and perspiration. These hair roots and glands need a plentiful supply o' blood, and anything that tends t( cut off this supply tends to impoverish the hair. The tight band of a hat constricts all the arteries, but to a much lesser extent, as these are more deeply seated and have strong muscular walls, while the veins are close tG the surface and have no muscle in their thin walls. The checking 01 the flow of blood through the veins causes it to stagnate in the- capillaries, to buck up, as it were. And the top of the head is just that part of the body which • the blood finds moat diflicult to visit, as it has to be pumped up higher there than anywhere else. Thus there is congestion of venous blood in the scalp. The hat alsc keeps the head hot, another bad condition. The scalp, again, v that part of tho body which is most exposed to dirt. A woman's hair gets dirty also, but it is so thick that it protects the scalp from the dirt. A man's short hair, on the contrary, catches all tho dirt., but does not prevent it from reaching the scalp. And the scalp of the average man, with its grease and perspiration, is an ideal culturemedium for the growth of microbes. The remedy for baldness, then, is light, well ventilated, soft-brimmed hats, and scrupulous cleanliness. — "Popular Science Siftings." •