Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-17

account of the traffic In artificial hair
from which we take the following inter
estiag details: .l
If ooLoRs.
Those who only know false hair from
the curious Jumps of 1t In the hair-dress.
er's windows.s and from q general suspi.
cion that they sse It on the heads of some
OF their friends, cannot form 8 notion Ol
the extent to which the trade in it is car.
ried on. It has wholesale dealers with
large warehouses, and skilled laborers
constantly at work. It Is manufactured
to meet the wishes Of and the purses OF
ali classes of society, from the sixpenny
frisett sold 10 fill out tSe sparse locks OF
the servant of all work to the ten gulnes
head of hair made up to aid the beauty
OF duchess. To visit one of its great
emporiums Ia 10 become wiser If not a
sadder man. There may be seen SAM
plies of hair by the Thousand, all OF which
have been cut from living heads for I42-
ney, to be sold again.
Here is the irOn-gray Of middle-lifs,
the snowy white Of old age, the brown
and black and hkxen of comparative
youth, all roughly twisted up together
like so many plebald horses tails. Some
Of the hair is long, some short, some
coarse, SONS fine, some neglected and
dirty, some carefully combed and clean.
There Is ready demand for sll, and all
will be submitted to some twenty dis
tinet processes before it Is offered for
sale.
It is rather melancholy to find that
grey or white hair is the most valuable
of all and that false hair which is long
as well 80 grey commands the highest
price from the number of old ladies
wishing to counterfeit nature while pre-
serving the Insignia of years. The finest
specimens of this elderly hair will sell
for as much as two guineas an ounce /;
while the very best black or brown will
sell for from eighteen shillings to .
guinea, and the best fl&xen at about 3
guinea and half. The latter variety Is,
be the quantity what 1t msy, about fifty
per cent. dearer than black or brown
hair, while white or gray fetchsa more
than the latter by one hGndred per
cent.
Fair Saxon hair Is still greatly in de-
mand, and as the stock Of il must be kept
up, many of the other colors have to be
stained to the fayorite hue.
DYES.
The liquid dyes invented and improved
during the present generation act chem
ically on the hair without staining the
skin, and are by comparison eissnly and
convenient. Hence, according to the
hsirdressers, the enormous increase In
dyed hair, and the reduction in the sale
of wigs to men. But it is by no means
easy to insure agiven ehsde in hair once
cut from the head and twenty dyings is
no unusual number for 1t to go through
before the coveted color Is attained.
Each time 1t In dipped in the dye it has
to be dried, &c that the process is not 3
littls tedious.
The variety of ladies' head dresses of
hair which are sold ready-made is very
great. There are the curly ringiets Of
the romp, thu fancy plaite Of the dsmuFe
school girl, the porter's knot, the sausage
roll, the snake, the catsrpillar, the black
pudding, the parasol, the door-knocker,
and the birds nest, all of hair.
HAIRDREssER's LITERATURE.
There is, by-the-by, In London, an in
teresting publication called the Hair
dressers' Chronicle, by which It appears
that societies flourish in London and
elsewhere for the promotion Of the art of
hsirdressing, and that the most distin-
guished professors Of the day practice
together In the elaboration OF new cOif-
feurs.
FALSE BRAIDS,
A considerable trade exists in false
braids, moustaches and whlskers. Du-
ring the American war q vast number Of
these were sent from Europe to the Uni
ted States, and . steady demand eontin-
ued until the pesoe. The fact Is curious,
that the demand lasted as long as the
war, and gradually dropped off at its
close.
When art initiates nature 30 wonder
fully, and whereas figures, and profess
sionai figures, show-a large proportion
of the female population avail themselves
OF art, it becomes exceedingly difficult to
draw the line between the two. After
seeing and handling hair taken from
many thousands Of heads, and being
Taught its use, the belief is pardonsble
II morbid, that false locks are almost es
common as real; and that whenever
they are especially beautiful, they should
awaken most distrust,