Page:The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living (1909).djvu/186

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

in the hair, loosen the skin from the scalp, stimulate the little cells in which the hairs grow and prevent baldness. The tight scalp is a common cause of falling hair, and massage alone will cure it. The scalp masseuse generally goes to the homes of patients, charging from seventy-five cents to one dollar and a quarter for each treatment.

If you take up this work, study the constitution of the hair. Familiarize yourself with all sorts and conditions of scalps. Learn what the oily hair needs and what is best for dry, harsh hair. Keep a schedule or history of every case you treat, just as the trained nurse watches every change in her patient's condition and marks it in her report. Learn to make your own tonics.

Scalp massage is particularly desirable when a patient is recovering from fever, and in such cases the treatments should be given three times a week, gradually reducing the number and frequency as the condition of the scalp improves. Scalp masage is also desirable for anemic children, and a most profitable field for the sealp masseuse is the prevention of baldness among men. If you have men patients, always insist upon their coming to your home, and you are quite within your rights if, during the treatment, you have your mother or a friend sit in the room with you. The masseuse who wishes