| Copyright (c) 2008 Duanphen Singhaphan | | | | it tight and then doubled it over to make a soft hair |
| One thing above all stood out in my mind in my visit | | | | brush. We still like to brush our hair with this." |
| with Lieutenant Colonel Nelson R. Moon some years | | | | His wife Carol, who had remained silent in the |
| ago at his home in Riverside, California, in company | | | | background for awhile, then spoke up with these |
| with a lady friend of mine. He told us that "if you | | | | comments. "Both my mother and grandmother would |
| want information about good hair care, don't look to | | | | make hair tonics and washes from the different |
| any hairdresser for that; instead, look to Native | | | | grasses that grew in abundance on the plains or in |
| American wisdom of the past to find useful things | | | | the meadows around us. Sweet grass and common |
| for the present." From a cultural perspective, I could | | | | bear grass were the two most often used. They |
| see just how true that was. White men who visited | | | | would be boiled in water, cooled downs and then |
| Native American tribes throughout the U.S. and | | | | rubbed into the hair every day. Such grasses leave |
| Canada in the last couple of centuries had always | | | | the hair smelling sweet, almost like clover. In fact, red |
| remarked on just how fond these people, especially | | | | or white clover tops may also be used for this. They |
| the men, were of their hair. In fact, they usually | | | | would sometimes mix in cedar leaves for better |
| considered their hair to be the most important part | | | | aroma and medicinal effect. I've discovered in using it |
| of their bodies, and would naturally lavish a lot of | | | | in my family, that it has kept our hair from falling |
| attention and care on it. | | | | out." |
| In 1970 T met an Indian couple named Adolph and | | | | Along more disgusting lines, they talked about the |
| Carol Hungry Wolf. At that time they resided near | | | | use of bear grease, buffalo dung, and deer urine for |
| Glacier National Park in the top part of Montana. I | | | | the hair, that many braves in "the Old Times" were in |
| never really learned their particular tribal affiliation, but | | | | the habit of using in their hair. "But now we are |
| have reason to believe it was either Blackfoot or | | | | educated and know better," Adolph said. We know |
| Crow. They provided me with some interesting | | | | that such things are not socially acceptable by the |
| information on personal hair care that might prove | | | | Whites. So we rely on plants instead." |
| helpful to some readers of this book. It is passed | | | | One thing which Mr. Hungry Wolf emphasized, that is |
| along in that spirit. | | | | worth repeating here, is "to always brush or comb |
| "Combs were not known in the Old Days, but the | | | | your hair every day," because that seems to "keep |
| hair was often brushed," Adolph told me. "A primitive | | | | the hair from getting old and gray and falling out." I |
| brush consisted of a handful of flexible twigs, bound | | | | think what he meant to say was that as long as |
| together with buckskin. The most common brush | | | | your scalp get plenty of exercise every day and |
| among our people then was made by inserting a stick | | | | blood circulation to it, your chances of going gray or |
| of wood into a porcupine's tail. Our ancestors also cut | | | | bald will be drastically reduced. |
| off a handful of horse hair from the tail end, wound | | | | |