Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-11-25
Human Hair Fair.

very lew 0l our gente rehuers, prOUaUly, eV
er heard of or imagined such thing as hu
man Hair Fair. As few, perhaps, ever though
OF inquiring into the source OF the beautiful
tresses which are seen every day in those or
| mories of Venus, the windows of the hair-dre5s
ers. We are reminded, however, By late
French paper, that this Is the season OF the an
nual hair fair at Morlaas in the Lower Pyrenee:
| in France. Morlaas is near the city of Pau, and
it is from Pau journal that We derive some &C
count of the fair the present season.
The hair dealers were crowding into the
place from all points, from Toulouse and even
| from Bordeaux; and the young peasant girls o
the neigGborhood, famous for their fine and a.
bundant heads of hair, were hocking to the
market like sheep, to be shorn of their locks foI
the adurnment of other heads. Even young
husbands accompany their wives, to insist upon
their despuiling themselves, for trtling consid'
Grafton, of their beautiful heads of hair. Twen'
ty francs is the highest price which is gwen foI
the richest head of hair and majority OF the
damsels part with their locks for O tenth part oi
that sum.
This singular maket is held in the open street
and attracts crowds of curious as well as inter
ested persons. Girls are seen to be sheared IN
public, while others are waiting their turn, Win
their caps in their hands, and their long han
combed out and hanging down to their waists
The shearers are men as well as women. ooInt
of our fair readers will conclude that this Is {
degrading scene. But how else could the STOCK
of wigs. and trizettes, aud bands and top pie
ces, and curls, which is needed to prop up the
tottering beauty of the sex, be supplied2 Tons o.
black silken hair sheared in the manner describ
ed, from the heads of peasant damsels OF the
south )f France are imported into this country
annually.
There are tairs in other places in the south o.
France and in Brittany, where adventurous vir
tuosos buy up and shear the crops OF the fair
haired dansels. At first blush, it would seem
that female vanity would etfectualy prevent
such traffic as this. But cupidity and indo.
lence are stronger passions than vanity; and
fashion even lends aid to this singular custom oi
parting with the finest ornament to the person
which nature affords.
In Brittany, particularly where the finest and
most siken black hair is procured, it is the uni
versal fashion, from childhood upwards, to wear
caps so close as completely to conceal the hair.
The peasant girls have particularly fine hair, and
! in the greatest abundance. 1t is 50 common a.
not to be a mark of beauty and the people are
morally incapable of appreoiating it as intrln'l
cally beautiful and attractive. 1t is truth
which ought not to be told, perhaps, in the pres
ence OF our ladies, that the charming trizettes
and tresses which beautfy the heads of our
blooming bellies, may possibly have been shorn
from Breton damsels of very filthy and loath
some habits. The Bretons are neither Normans
nor French, but more Welsh than anything
else : and they are wild and savage and as idle
and dirty as human nature can well be and ex
ist The poorer women wear their dresses till
they become dirty, patched, tattered and ragged
so that the material of which they were made
can scarcely be traced. The houses of the peas
ants are generally built of mud, and without
conveniences. The chesnut furnishes TO con-
siderable extent the food Of the poorer classes.
Although inabiting fine country, capable OF
rendering them prosperous and wealthy, the
Bretons grovel on in supine ideness and dirt
No wonder the women sell their hair, which is
abundant and marketable. The people are &C
customed to subsist upon the spontaneous crops:
In the Pyrenees the people are industrious and
frugal, and the women are accustomed to re-
gard fine head of black or dark brown hair as
only luxurant burden.