p. 17 | Singeing Does Not Prevent Hair Loss

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 12, 1916

Singeing Does Not Prevent Hair Loss

THERE seems to be no end to things that people do to make the hair thick and lustrous. We used to be told that “singeing” was a sovereign remedy to prevent falling hair, and very plausible reasons were given therefor. Now we are told that “singeing the hair ends, in order to prevent the fluid in the hair from escaping like sap from a tree, is based on an entire misconception of the hair’s structure and nutrition. The hair does not contain any more sap than a whip; it is not nourished by any fluid in it, but by the blood plasma that reaches only the hair root. The hair above the skin surface is a spine of horn, which is even oiled from without, and singeing its tips has no effect whatever on either its nourishment or its growth. It is certain that singeing the hair is of no value in preventing its fall; in fact, the only value the procedure has is to the zealous hairdresser, who gets his little fee for doing it—unless it is worth a quarter to the seeker after hair to think he is doing something, even if he is not.”