THE PEOPLE of old Siam (Thailand) believed that a spirit called Khuan dwelled in the human head and that it had to be carefully protected from injury of every kind. Consequently, the act of shaving or cutting the hair was accompanied by many ceremonies: The Khuan would feel mortally insulted if the head in which it resided was touched by the hand of a stranger.  Read Column
 

Graying of the hair is a nearly universal phenomenon in the human race, one that has excited an immense amount of almost fruitless investigation for thousands of years. The scientific term for this natural change in the hair pigmentary system is canities (from the Latin word canus, meaning gray, white, hoary), a condition that people in most civilizations have been loathe to recognize as “normal.”  Read Column
 

THE WORD ‘HAIR’ is a simple, uncomplicated name for the slender threadlike outgrowth which appears on the epidermis of some animals. But the moment hair falls into the lap of science and medicine, it is caught up in a language that is virtually unintelligible to the uninitiated.  Read Column
 

Ceruse, a popular cosmetic in ancient times, was composed of lead carbonate and lead hydroxide — both cumulative poisons.  Read Column
 

Through the Ages, artists have adopted the beard as the badge of a free-thinking, somewhat non-conformist individual.  Read Column