Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-04-14
The Hair Trade

The vastness of the business done in the |
human hair market may be judged from
the fact that two cities alonc-London and
Paris-consuGle annually over 100000
pounds of that commodity, or enough to
load half dozen freight cars. The prices
paid per head average from 50 down 10
twenty cents, according TO the quality and
color OF the material. Golden hair, which
is now so fashionable among her Maj esty's
subjects, sometimes brings as high as 81
an ounce in the English market, while very
fine white hair has been sold at 50 an ounce.
The hair dealer requires as much nice ex-
perience to fit him for his trade as the wine
faster. and relies on a kindred sense to
Judge of wares, his cultured nose enabling
him to tel whether the hair he handles has
been tampered with by unscrupulous mid
die men, and whether it has been cut from
a living healthy body or a corpse in the
charnel, house. Contrary to common be
lief, the hair of men is generally finer than
that of women, locks of flaxen color being
finest of all. 1t is nothing uncommon for a
blonde to brush out ana disentangle seven
" miles as she arranges her wealth oi
golden hair in making her morning toilet
Her dark-haired sister lags behind some
twenty or thirty miles, but may partially
be consOled by the knowledge that great
81 portion of light-haired women live and
die unmarried, and without offspring, than
of brunettes In fact the chances of the
Two classes in the matrimonial market are
shown by statistics TO stand as three to two,
and the result of this conjugal selection is
that fair haired ladies are getting rarer
wear by wear, so that the blonde may be
expected in time to share the fate of the do
DO and megather;um. II further evidence Is
needed, reference may be made 20 the writ
jngs of Caesar, who refers to the Gauls and
Celts as light haired races. The Celts of
to-day are, as a rule, dark-haired; and even
in England, the home of the blue eyed, far
haired Saxon, the original type is almost
lost, and the dark haired Briton is decided
ly in the majority.
With regard to the hygenic aspect OF hair,
some interesting statistics have been COM
piled. Consumption finds most of its VIC
Tins in black haired people; rheumatism
and heart disease are most prone to attack
Individuais with brown hair; red haired
men and women are specially selected by
pleurisy, pneumonia ague and neuralgia;
and light haired persons are most subject TO
skin diseases. Blonde people are most char
,.able and tender hearted, led haired peo-
ole the most obstinate and patriotic, and
black haired people the most positive in
character. They are also known respect
lively as of lymphatic, sanguine and bilious
temperament Regarding the extraordinary
length which the human hair may attain,
IN, rn-
lated by DIR. Leonard: The first Is that of
Mrs. Dr. Prittie. of Detroit, lady twenty
eight years of age, whose hair, which Is
dark and luXJ.riant, measures some fifty
eight inches in length. Then there is the
case of Edwin Smith, of Fairfield, Lenawee
county. whose wonderful beard measures
seven feet six and half inches in length.
Such abnormal growlhs, however, are q
constant drain on the system and usually
result in a chronic state of i'll health. Ac-
cording to time hOn1red tradition, bears
oil or hedgehog oil is the best application
for promoting the growth of the hair. This
belief, like many other forms of old-time
orthodoxy, will have TO yield before the
destroying sledge hammer of science. The
oil Of the bear was doubtless selected by
our forefaihers because that animal had a
very hairy coat, and that of the hedgehog
because his quillhairs are remarkably strong
aud rank: the idea being that man in absor-
hing the product would at the same time
imbibe the characteristic of these animals
jus: as the Malays eat tiger TO make them
selves ferucious and New Zealanders de-
your their enemies to make themselves
dOubly powerful in war. Preparations OF
oocoanut oils if pomade must be employed,
are probably the most beneficial and the
least offensive. Another piece. of super
stition, and a more horrible one, is the gen.
eral belief that hair can grow after death.
Hair growth is just as much living ply
siological action as is the beating of the
heart, and therefore its occurrence in the
case of a corpse is impossible; but some
color is given to the vulgar theory by the
contraction of the skin in Il dead body,
which causes the Too;s of the hair TO project
further than in life.