When the hair falls out or gets very dry and breaks; when it is excessively oily, when the roots are always damp from perspiration, there is something wrong with the circulation. As before stated, proper scalp massage will, in many cases, bring back a normal circulation, and this means that the hair will renourishment and ventilation which must stimulato ceive growth and arrest decline and decay.
In giving scalp massage, first loosen the hair and part it in the center. Place the hands in the position shown in the first picture and gently push the fingers into the scalp and forward at the same time. Repeat this operation all over the head until every portion of the scalp has been massaged.
The second movement is a rolling motion.As shown in the second picture, the operator places the tips of the fingers on the scalp and presses gently but firmly in a rotary motion. This movement also must be repeated all over the scalp. The third illustration shows the ripple movement. The operator’s hands are first held above the subject’s head. Then to make the movement the hands are brought sharply down on the scalp, the fingers closing at the instant they touch.
To relieve a nervous headache a stroking movement is employed, always from the face toward the back of the head, as indicated in the fourth picture.
Massage at the base of the brain, using the first two movements, as here described, will frequently relieve the congestive headaches from which so many persons, who lead sedentary lives suffer.
In brushing the hair make always a side stroke. Do not brush the hair directly down from the roots. Brush from the front, off the brow, as in the fifth illustration. Part the hair down the center of the back and brush from the scalp toward the front.
Scalp massage bids fair to supersede the old heroic treatments for baldness or prospective baldness, and in many cases where the hair falls out because of a nervous, heated condition of the scalp, a single course of scalp massage will, without lotions or tonics, as they are called, restore the hair to health and vigor.
As in facial massage, great care should be taken in choosing your masseuse. An ignorant operator can do much harm, and unfortunately there are many who give what they are pleased to call a scalp massage treatment from which the unhappy victim derives no benefit, but pays a good price for a positive injury.