The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1867-04-11
Living and Dead Hair.

! By living and dead hair is meant hair re-
moved from the head while the owner was
alive, and, GU cOatrGrie, hair removed af-
ter death. To counoisseur or one in the
trade, the two are possible Of easy dIscrimi-
nation; but purchaser would have some
difficulty 10 determining whether the hair
offered for sale was Of an ante moyt6m or
post a20rtem date. 1t is asserted that post
norton hair can never be made to equal
the other in gloss or appearance. 1t may
be washed and secured, steamed and fum-
gated, but the faint Of disease will always
cling to it, This portion of the subject is
necessarily horritying one and yet the
truth must be told Of this dead hair a
vast quantity Of it is in the New York, as
well as in the London and Paris markets. -
Peddlers in the New England states often
return to New York from trip with sever
al pounds of hair, which has been secured
from the loved heads by loving parents, aud
exchanged for soap, pins, or something Of
| that sort. This is a reality and its correct
ness may be ascertaned by visit to any
dealer in hair, who will tell you the article
is frequently offered him for sale, and, of
course, q refused Indignantly by HIM In
our city hospitals, too, quantities of hair
are procurable. 1t Is not then to be won
dered at when it is stated that taints of
scrofula, fever, cholera and all such diseas
es Turk in the hair that is used for the adorn
ment of the human head. The London
Lancet on this subject speaks thus: The
fact is certain that many ladies carry about
them in their ''chignons'' the seeds Of ring
worm-an intractable malady, There is
also novel species of false hair in the mar
ket. 1t is called the church yard" hair,
and consists not only Of the shafts, but of
the roots also, and hence must have been
pulled from the scalps of the dead If
the Lancet were to go farther still it would
not be far out as as regards the truth of its
statement There is not an infectious dis
ease known that does not convey itself in
the hair of the sufferer, and yet this
''church-yard' hair in smooth braids forms
part Of the cbignon that may be worn by
the most fashionable of fashionables. Thus
| does death Turk amid their waving tresses
and all the Ellis that flesh is her to- lie hid
den in the depths of gorgeous coifures.
CHIGNoNs AND THEIR COMPOSITION.
a chignon may be purchased for S1,5O
and at 8ny SUM up to $50. A chignon of
human, and what is said to be living hair.
cannot be had under ten dollars. By far the
majority sold average under this latter
price and so must consist of the article
cheerfully characterized by the ''Loncet' as
''church-yardn or at best hospital hair
Each week men make it their bushes TO
visit the various BARRIERS shops in the city
and Purchase the vari- coored clippings Of
the week. These clippings of course are
neither clean nor choice, and yet seven
Fights of the chignons in the market are
stuffed with this questionable material
The outer covering is composed Of a thin
layer of the prepared article, but the bulk is
made of the refuse of the BARRIERS shops. -
Horse hair and sleeps wool also form in,
gradients Of this fashionable head-dress. -
The shifts are many to which those young
ladies resort who cannot afford TO pay the
high prices for the better article, though il
scarcely seems that there could be much
choice 10 articles, none of which are very
desirable. Consequently the sooner woman
kind universally discard their use the bet
ter for all. They never bave been hand
/ some ornaments, and decidedly not the
cleanest appendages Let them be cousign
ed to the furnace or the ash barrel, and
permit speedy dissolution of their ele
: ments to destroy gregarines, pedunculi in
: lection, and all the many hidden terror for
which they are remarkable