Cause of hair troubles

• How the hair depends upon health.
• The effects of fevers, syphilis and skin diseases.

If there is any one fact in connection with the hair that is definite and certain it is that hair health depends very largely upon physical health. If the general health is good, if the body is well nourished, the hair undoubtedly will have a better chance for life and vigor than if the body is toneless, anemic, and generally run down.

The hair never looks well when one is ill. In typhoid fever and other greatly weakening diseases, it is frequently lost entirely. Falling hair and approaching baldness usually indicate that the bodily powers are waning, unless the cause is local, instead of constitutional. Hard work or dissipation—anything which will produce a nervous strain, or which tends to undermine the general constitution, will show clearly their effects upon the hair.

Dr. C. Henri Leonard, in speaking of this subject, says :

"Hair is just as much a living physiological process as the beating of the heart; both depend upon circulating blood for their food, and when this is denied them, both cease to live.
"Even the heart receives no life from the blood it propels throughout the system, except it first force it into the arteries that feed its muscular substance; it draws no nourishment from the mass of blood that surges through its ventricles every twenty-four hours; it would cease to beat instantly if left alone to this for its life.
"So, too, the hair; concentrate all the blood in the system at its roots, and it will get no nourishment unless the blood first traverses the minute capillaries that go to feed its papillae, which furnish life and substance to the cells ceaselessly at work therein, building up the hair-shaft cell on cell."

The condition of animals is often told by their hair

A horse when sick loses his fine lustrous coat of hair; a diseased dog shows his condition by his frowsled, ill-kept covering. And, in fact, all through the animal world this extremely intimate connection of bodily health with the hair health is clearly proven.

The fur of fur-bearing animals is practically worthless unless at the time the animal is killed it is in a good state of health. Therefore, let it be distinctly understood that, in many cases of loss of hair, but little if anything can be accomplished until the necessary attention has been given to building general constitutional vigor, through proper diet, exercise, breathing, bathing, etc.

For information along these lines the reader may refer profitably to my other books, which treat in detail the different subjects pertaining to the culture of general physical health.

Why sickly persons sometimes have beautiful hair

In contradiction of the theory that the condition of the hair is greatly controlled by the condition of the general health, attention is frequently called to apparently weak, even emaciated persons, who have thick, lustrous heads of hair. It is frequently said of such persons, that all their strength goes into their hair. There are exceptions to all rules, though whenever the exception occurs, as mentioned, there usually exist easily explained causes for it.

Some very emaciated persons are weak simply because they have never developed their bodies. Notwithstanding their weak appearance, however, they possess great vital strength, and being proud of their hair, it is naturally given a great amount of attention.

This, of course, vastly improves it, and the body, in many instances, can be similarly improved by proper attention. It would also be well to remember that such fine heads of hair can be cultivated or developed, just as can any part of the body.

An athlete proud of his arms, spends most of his time in feats requiring their use, and frequently he develops a beautiful pair of arms, while the other parts of his body have remained undeveloped and unshapely.

Constant attention given to an ordinary head of hair will in nearly every case make it thick, heavy and lustrous, just as proper attention to the development of the body will greatly increase it in suppleness, strength, and symmetry.

This is an argument I do not remember ever to have seen in any medical work or book on health or hygiene with which I happen to be familiar. A little thought and observation will convince of the truth of this, however.

The effect of fever on hair nutrition

Everyone has observed that during the course of an exhausting fever—or after convalescence has been established—there is a pronounced tendency for the hair to fall out. Sometimes this continues to such an extent that the person becomes completely bald. And often this condition of baldness persists for life. This condition is brought about by the burning up of the layer of fat that lies between the scalp and the tables of the skull, in which the hair roots are imbedded, and from which they draw their supply of nutriment.
When during the progress of the fever this layer of fat is consumed to supply the demands of the body for heat and energy, there is nothing left for the hair follicle to cling to. Consequently the hair drops out for lack of support and nutriment.

For the thing that makes hair possible at all is that it derives a definite proportion of its nutriment from the layer of fat in which its roots are imbedded.

So when this is lost, the hair is lost. Nor will it come back again unless the layer of fat comes back again—or, in other words, until the normal nutrition of the scalp is restored.

Loss of hair is syphilis and skin deseases

For somewhat similar reasons there is a pronounced loss of hair in the second and third stages of syphilis. The reason is that the poison of the disease affects the general nutrition—the general nutrition affects the local nutrition. Consequently the hair, being one of the least vital appendages of the body, and one of the appendages we can best do without, is the first thing to be sacrificed.

Nature therefore cuts off the supply of nutrient material, so that she can save her energy for the repair of more vital organs.

In various of the skin diseases—in addition to the diminution in supply of available nutriment—there is actual destruction of the tissues of the hair caused by parasites, germs, and other causes, that produce diseased conditions.

The thought I desire to leave clearly in your mind now, however, is that no person who desires to keep his or her hair beautiful, lustrous, and full of life can afford to neglect the fundamental laws of eating, drinking, sleeping, and exercise that make for robust physical cleanliness and general hygienic welfare.