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