Dear Sars,

I can’t believe I’m writing you over something so stupid, but you’re the only person I know of that seems to be able to find the information I need.

I’m a 19-year-old male, and my hair is starting to thin out. It began in 2004, when I was 18, and I started taking Depakote for depression. Apparently, hairloss is a side-effect! Since then, I haven’t taken it, but my hair is still pretty thin. I’m tired of the douchebags I know pointing out that I have a bit of a bald spot on the top of my head. My bangs and the hair in that area is thin, too. A lady at my church is an Arbonne rep, and she gave me this Thermal Fusion crap that didn’t really seem to help very much.

My question is…besides Rogaine and stuff for old men, do you or your readers know of any products on the market that restore hair loss. I seriously don’t think that my problem is heredity…yet. I appreciate any help I can get!

Thanks mucho,
I Can’t Think Of Anything Witty To Say That Doesn’t Involve Dr. Evil Or Donald Pleasance

Dear Donald,

I would suggest taking hair, skin, and nails vitamins in the meantime — my hair is thicker than it was before I shaved it thanks to those bad boys — and in fact I’d also suggest shaving your head, which is a bit more of an acceptable tonsorial fashion choice for a man than it is for a woman.

Some people also have good luck with organic shampoos and conditioners that do not contain sodium lauryl sulfate.

Readers?Email subject line: “hair regrowth.”

Hi, Sars:

With the cooler months on the way, I am in need of a great
recommendation for a sunless tanning product. I have ghostly white skin
when it’s not tan and tend to look a little scary without a touch of
sun on my face. For the past few winters I have been going the
fake-and-bake route, but cost (and skin cancer) concerns have changed
my mind on that.

My complexion is probably what you would call normal-to-oily, so I
definitely need a product that won’t cause breakouts. I also need
something that won’t turn me orange. I mean, seriously: Have you seen
those Neutrogena commercials with Julie Bowen?

Thanks very much for any help you and your readers can offer.

Don’t Want To Be Confused with My Jack O’ Lantern on Halloween

Dear Jack,

I just rock the pale look, so I’m no help here, except to congratulate you on giving up the tanning bed and to advise you to get a sunless tanner with SPF.

But my readers can find you something, no doubt.Email subject line: “sunless tanning.”

Dear Sars,

Hope you (or one of your readers) can help!

I’m actually looking for the author and title of a short story. I think it’s quite modern (i.e. written in the last fifty years — I’m pretty sure it’s not Victorian, anyway). It’s a tale of the supernatural; it’s about a mirror (possibly called a looking-glass or just a glass in the story) that when people look into it, they see something, then disappear, basically.

It starts out with a journalist/historian who wants to research the mirror talking to the person who looks after it (a curator of some sort) as they walk through a museum/historic building to where the mirror is now kept, covered, in an storage room/attic. The legend is that some people look into the mirror and see something (what is never specified) — they comment on this, then leave the room — and are never seen again. The mirror used to belong to a rich family, and then was given to the museum when the lady of the house vanished. It was on display in the museum until a visitor vanished (a boy, possibly a scout? I think with an organised school outing type of thing) after looking into the mirror. I think the mother of the boy tried to smash it after he disappeared, and that’s why it was removed. Other people had vanished in the past too, maybe before the family who donated the mirror owned it. It turns out that there were several of such mirrors made (perhaps by someone who later ended up going insane or vanishing) but this was the only weird one.

The story ends with the curator and the journalist (who’s planning on writing about the mirror) going into the room with the mirror, the curator uncovering it, and the journalist thinking, “Oh, when the woman tried to smash it, she did damage it,” and being angry because he can see a mark in it, though the curator had assured him it was undamaged. Then they both leave the room, and then suddenly the curator is alone, because the journalist has also vanished.

Sorry that was so long…anyway, someone please tell me it rings a bell!

Haunted by not being able to remember

Dear Haunted,

The only thing I could find that sounds close is “The Hungry Glass,” by Robert Bloch — which became a Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner, and the teleplay of that doesn’t sound like quite the same story.

Readers, hit it.Email subject line: “mirror story.”

[10/13/06]

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