From the Country Life archive: The questionable vacuum caps that promised a 'healthy, vigorous growth of hair'

Early 20th Century advertisers were not as restricted by 'facts' as modern advertisers are compelled to be by law today. A case in point is the series of adverts that ran in the pages of Country Life in the first decade of the last century for the Evans Vacuum Cap Co.

A cross between a modified pith helmet and a vacuum cleaner, this tortuous-looking suction device promised a: '...healthy, vigorous growth of hair' for any gentleman fearful of losing their locks. The device’s advertising copy promised: '… used for three of four minutes each day…. it requires only about ten days to get the scalp loose and pliable', which surely should have rung alarm bells, as the poor gentleman utilising this invention must have been left not only short of hair, but also floppy of scalp. It goes on to promise: '…pleasant and exhilarating' sensations when using the headgear, which will provide a: '…healthy glow, and produce a delightful tingling sensation'.

The hand-pumped contraption (see figure three in the above illustration) promised the wearer a permanent growth of lustrous hair within a: ‘reasonable time'. It was, sensibly, caveatted with the disclaimer that: 'if, however, the scalp remains white and lifeless after the Cap is removed, then the case would be a hopeless one, regardless of all the infallible hair restorers advertised.'

The adverts ran throughout 1905-6, then abruptly vanished. One can only presume because one too many men found their case of hereditary hair loss was a 'hopeless one'.

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