TO COLOR THE HAIR BLACK

            “WHAT CAUSES THE HAIR TO TURN GRAY.— An English writer has recently asserted than an undue proportion of lime in the system is the cause of premature gray hair, and advises to avoid hard water, either for drinking pure or when converted into tea or coffee, or soup, because hard water is always strongly impregnated with lie. Hard water may be softened by boioling it: let it become cold, then use it as a beverage. It is also stated that a liquid that will color the human hair black and not stain the skin, is made by taking one part of Bay Rum, three parts of Olive Oil, and one part of Good Brandy, by measure. The hair must be washed with the mixture every morning, and in a short time the use of it will make the hair a beautiful black, without injuring it in the least. The articles must be of the best quality, mixed in a bottle, and always shaken before applied.”

            The same recipe was found in the Bible of Wallas Midyette in Hyde County, NC. A search of the internet found it in numerous locations, so it must have been often used.

[Newbern Daily Progress (New Bern, NC) 17 Jan 1860; HIGH TIDES: Hyde County Historical Society Journal, North Carolina,  Volume 4, No. 1, Spring 1983, Page 11; Scientific American, 22 September 1855]