Smyrna times., 1865-11-22

and cleansed) is known as church-yard halr
How this hair is obtained is a mystery which
the trade does not care to fathOm. When we
SO often hear of the desecration OF church
wards, and the shoveling away OF the OLD pones
and decayed collins, we may perhaps make a
ebrewd guess at the source from which this
hair comes.
II must be remembered that hair is almost
;ndestructible There is beautiful wig of au-
burn hair now in the British Museum, which
had lain in the tomb of a Theban mummy for
upward of two thousand years before it found
its way to the national collection, yet that hair
is as fresh as though it had just come from the
hands of the hair-dresser, and the curl is so
strong in it that it can not be taken out even
by the application of heat.
There can be little doubt that the majority
of the long English tresses come from the heads
of criminals, who are compelled to part with
their hair Fever, also, places its contributions
in the merchants hands; and there are still
tanned, of a yet more repulsive nature; but
enough has been said to show that when lady
buys false locks she little knows the curious
and mysterious tale each individual hair posi-
bly, could tell her.
Raw hair comes from abroad in bales tied up
in "leeches. and containing hairs of various
lengths. The first step in its preparation is to
cleanse it of its oily matter. This is done by
rubbing it in fine sand, which completely alb
serbs all the fatty matter it contains. 1t then
carded by hand, the workman throwing the
lock of hair with great rapidity over the iron
teeth of the card, and speedily reducing it to q
regular smOothness. The next step in the pro-
cess is to select from the different leeches y
the different lengths they contain; these lengths
are then matched with others; and in this man
ner the cech, as it is offered for sale, is per
haps the product Of a dozen heads. The man
ufacturer has two markets to Supply-the de-
mand for simple uncured locks for the purpose
of plating, etc, with the natural hair, anC
curled hair, for the needs of the wig and from
makers, and for the thousand and one fashion
ings in which hair-dressers now tempt ou
blooming bellies. The curl is permanently 6xet
by twisting the hair tightly round small cylin
ders of wood, and then boiling them for con
siderable time in water
The rarer kinds of hair, both in color, quail
ty, and length are so valuable that they arr
sold even by the merchants by the ounce. Th
longer the hair is the more valuable, other con
ditiOns being equal. In general there is tn
greatest demand for the medium brown colOrs
But the precious colors are bright golden an
white. We scarcely need look into the fash
iOnable hair-dressers' windows to perceive tha
fair golden hair is now the rage. AS very fey
persons, however, possess just the true tint
the true opalescent gold which changes wit
every motion of the head-the color, in short
which is the ideal of the poet-ladies are give
to bleach the hair down to the required tone
and to mix, we may say flavor, their tresse
with the precious hair, just as your frauduler
/ Hambro' sherry manufacturer Havors his made
up with a little of the true growth of Cadii
I This golden hair is now being sold by ti
ounce, at about three times the price of silve
: But there is rarer hair still. Youth al
beauty in the race of vanity are outstripped
age. Gray hair is in great demand and wht
' fine and soft commands an almost fabulo,
: price.