How to select a comb or brush for your hair

• What to avoid.
• Gauging the stiffness of brushes.
• Wire brushes and their effects.
• The proper care of brush and comb.

There is altogether too much guesswork in the selection of the comb and the hair brush. The average individual usually purchases these accessories on the basis of their appearance—not for their practical utility.

The chief value of a comb is to separate the individual hairs so that the brush may reach the scalp and remove from it any particles of dust or dead matter that may have lodged there. Also to disentangle snarls in the hair, as well as to facilitate its parting.

What the comb should be made of

The comb should be made of hard rubber or bone, with perfectly smooth teeth, set well apart. It should be sufficiently blunt pointed to avoid scratching or injuring the scalp. In selecting your comb be sure that there are no roughnesses or irregularities on the surfaces of the teeth, as these tend to catch and tear the hair.

Combs are generally made with a fine half and a coarse half—the fine half being employed only in arranging and dressing the hair. The disentangling and combing of the hair should, of course, be done only with the coarse half of the comb, as to perform these operations with the fine half would tear and injure the hair and scalp. Metal combs, unless they are exceptionally blunt, should never be used.

The comb should never be used as an instrument with which to pick crusts off the scalp. All crusts must be removed by much more gentle and effectual means.

Above all things avoid the use of a comb on the tender scalp of a baby. In fact I might almost say that a comb—unless necessary for the purpose of removing "nits," or lice eggs from the hair, should have absolutely no place in the toilette accessories of an infant. For the injudicious use of the comb has been the cause of countless aggravated cases of eczema, and loss of hair in later life.

Combing the hair is valuable for two especially good reasons. It assists in the polishing process, and gives the hair roots the benefit of the massage and strengthening influence secured from the slight strain upon the roots. If the hair is short this is not important, and the value of a comb is confined entirely to arranging the hair.

Needless to say, the comb should be thoroughly cleaned every few days by immersing it in alcohol, Lysol solution, or boiling water. Or, better still, use a tablespoonful of ammonia in a pint or so of hot water. Soak the comb in this solution for from fifteen minutes to a half hour. Then scrub the comb with an old nail brush, until it is thoroughly clean. Rinse and set aside to dry.

How to choose and use the brush

The most important accessory of the hair toilette is the brush. This should be selected with great care—and it should always be kept scrupulously clean, so as not to constitute a possible source of infection.

The best kind of a brush has bristles well set in groups rather wide apart. The middle bristles of each group should be somewhat longer than the bristles on the outside of the circle. Brushes in which all the bristles are of even length, and the groups set close together, do not penetrate to the scalp as readily as the brushes made with "searching bristles."

The brush used on an infant's head should have long, soft bristles, so as not to irritate or scratch the scalp. It should merely be employed for polishing and smoothing the hair.

For children whose hair has grown, a somewhat stiffer brush will be necessary. Girls and women should use a rather fine, long-bristled brush—used always with long sweeping strokes, so as to avoid tearing the hair.

The best brushes for men to use are the so-called "military brushes," of a fairly stiff texture. These if used in a proper 'way, help greatly to remove all dirt and foreign matter from the hair, leaving it lustrous, healthy and full of life.

Wire brushes are entirely too stiff and unyielding to be used safely by any except bobbed-hair women, or by men whose scalps are sufficiently tough and rugged to stand the rather severe treatment from a wire brush which even when carefully used often irritates the scalp.

Hair brushes like combs must be cleaned frequently and scrupulously. Many people complain that brushes become too soft for use after frequent washing, especially if hot water be used. If the brush be rinsed in a basin of water to which an ounce of alum has been added, the bristles will retain their stiffness. Lukewarm water with which a little ammonia or borax is mixed will cleanse a brush satisfactorily.

Brushing should always be very carefully and thoroughly done. Children should be taught the proper methods of caring for the hair, and encouraged to take pride in its healthful appearance.