A Little Problem For Men Can Bald Heads Be Avoided ?

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 768, 14 September 1929, Page 20

A Little Problem For Men Can Bald Heads Be Avoided ?

SHE liatless habit which hundreds of thousands of persons have been, following on beaches, golflinks, tennis courts and

other outdoor pleasure grounds, has left its marks on many of those who have been compelled to consult a scalp specialist as a result. A New York scalp specialist, who says that he has watched with close interest the manner in which the habit of going hatless has affected the human hair, declares that it has increased scalp and hair troubles. “Since the beginning of the hatless experimenting, I have had an increased number of cases of premature baldness and other scalp troubles that come under my care,” he writes. “Of course, everyone is familiar with the fact that sunlight will cause an irritation which arises from the over - stimulation of the ceils of the skin by chemically active rays of light. This intense sunlight, which so dries and irritates the exposed skin, is exerting the same effect on the hair and scalp—with deplorable results familiar to every dermatologist. “I have been asked many times 'about the Indians and savages going bareheaded —why they are not more' often attacked by baldness. Well, in the first place, they usually wear some -sort of head protection in the sun. In the second place, thousands of years of evolution under special conditions have provided the savage and. the negro with a much more copious flow of natural oil ill the scalp and skin which counteracts the drying-up process which in the more sheltered person leaves the hair lifeless. “For six thousand years or more, as. man has been growing under civilised conditions, he has always worn a covering for his head, a covering for his feet, and a covering for the major portions of his body. It is not mere habit, or fashion, or superstition, which has induced this practice in ages, in all countries and among all races except the savage. Instinct, which is constantly at work, protecting all portions of the body, has given all men this natural impulse. “The human hail- grows from - the subcutaneous tissue which lies directly ■ underneath the true skin or corium, j very much like the nails. It is devel- j oped in a flask-shaped depression j called the follicle. At the bottom of j this follicle or depression lies a papilla j which is the point of growth for each j hair. By an aggregation of new cells, j which multiply at the papilla new hair j is constantly growing. When a nair j is developed at the bottom of the j

follicle or in the papilla it is called the root, which is never permanent; what is root today is shaft next week. Were it not for the re-creation of new cells or new hair, most of us would be bald at the time -of birth and for the rest of our natural lives. We generally lose our first growth of hair before we are born. When re-creating and multiplication ceases, baldness is bound to occur. , “Each hair has. attached to it from five to eight sebapeous glands, which feed the hair and scalp with natural oil. When this nourishment is interfered with the hair becomes dry and brittle, breaks off and dies; that part of the follicle shrivels up and atrophies Going without a hat or a protective head cover dries up the natural oil and eventually kills the cells unless the scalp is extremely oily. It stops the manufacture of new cells and dries up the small granules of colouring matter. “This condition is- seen in its extreme ravages at seaside resorts where salt bathing is over-indulged in without properly protecting the hair. With all protective and lubricating oil dried from the base of the hair, the corrosive sea-salt settles in the follicle and eats at the root of the hair. The result is a rush of worried patients to the dermatologist, or else, if a man feels that such cares are effeminate, we have a case of premature baldness “And even without the additional destroying-effect of salt, the drying of the oil, when exposed to sunlight, and in the destruction of the subcutaneous fat tissue due to overstimulation of the network of blood vessels just beneath the skin, will soon find, in the average person, the §calp becoming tighter and tighter, and the hair becoming thinner and thinner until the familiar bald patch appears. “Of course, good sense in selecting and wearing a hat is advisable. An excessively tight hat will restrict the flow of blood to the scalp. However, now that hats are worn around the head rather .than clamped tightly on top of it, as was- the fashion a generation ago, this cause of trouble has largely dropped out of sight. .Every intelligent hatter will advise a bat too large rather than too small, both for looks and comfort.