The Penn's Grove record., 1882-05-13
Notes on BARRIERS.

LuCLn ROIDks
Notes on BARRIERS.
About as odd a combination of dis.
contented "proletsires that it is pos
sible to conceive is the strike of the
hairdressers, the immipence of which
was yesterday announced by our Paris
correspondent. 1t appears that in
some districts of the gay capital the
tonsorial fraternity have decided to
fix the s um of twenty-five centimes,
or twopence halfpenny, as the lowest
price for their performance of the
operation of "easy shaving" Now,
few Frenchmen shave themselves, for
the simple reason that French rszors
sold at moderate prices sre ofvery infe.
rior quality, while good razors are
very dear. The working classes have
become highly indignant at the enact
Dent of the twenty-five centimes
minimum as the tariff for tune barbe
simple" and have revenged them
selves by Withholding the customary
" p%ourboises from the hairdressers'
assistants. Consequently these hard
working subordinates, or BARRIERS
clerks" as they used TO be contemptu.
ously termed in England, have threat
ened to strike zen masse" unless the
masters compensate for the loss of the
" pourboires by an augmentation in
the wages of the assistants. As for
the master "e~oiffeurs," denounced on
the one hand by their exasperated
customers, and threatened on the
other by their rebellious "garcons,"
their position has come to resemble
that which, according to the old
Scotch p'overb, was the case of "the
toad under the harrow, when every
tooth gave her a tig." The masters
are deferred from lowering their
charges by the fact that by the rules
Ct their society any employees accept
ing less than the minimum rate is at
once liable to a preliminary fine of
two hundred francs, or eight pounds
sterling.
In England, absolute free trade in
shaving has long prevailed. There is,
INDEED, an ancient Company of Bar
Der Surgeons, the seventeenth in pre-
cedence among the City Guilds to
which Henry VIII. gave a magnif-
cent picture by Holbein, while Charles
III. presented them with a drinking
cup made from the trunk of the Royal
oak, richly mounted with silver. B
the Barber Surgeons Company never
exercised any Jurisdiction out of the
City proper, and from time immemo-
rial the Londoner has been privileged
to enjoy the luxury of "a penny
shave The upper and middle
classes in England, as q rule, shave
themselves, and since the custom of
wearing the full beard has been re-
vived The art of shaving may be said
TO have declined in aristocratic Lon
don. In the more densely populated
quarters, however, shaving goes on
from early morning until late ut night,
and constant practice on boards OF
every texture makes the penny
shaver" a very rapid and toll rably
skillful executant. He sweeps the
chin of the working man clean in a
minute, and the the SOL of toll adj
minister's some water to his counte
nance, rubs it dry with the j~ack-towel
hanging behind the door, pays his
penny, and departs. They manage
these, however, very differently
abroad. The Partisan coiffeur " has
been already glanced at but the ItaI-
ian and the Spanish BARRIERS are quite
as skillfui artists as their Gallo confre-
reu nor is the German at all behind
the tonsors of the Latin races. 1t
may be that foreigners are vainer of
their personal appearance than Eng
lishmen are. The Americans are GER
tainly very much vainer He who enters
a "toilet studio" in the United States
for the purpose of being "barbedn
or shaved must be prepared TO sacri.
flee from twenty TO forty minutes Of
lis time. Everything is done in a
solemn, deliberate and artistically
complete manner. The actual slfav-
ing is only n of a series of elaborate
processes to which the customer is
bound 20 submit. w hen the parts OF
his face require TO be denuded of hair
have been infinitely goue over with
the keenest and most dexterously
handled Of rszors, and the features
nave been refreshed with scented
spray, and dried with "poudre dc Tiz"
the operation of " fixing" commences
The customer is shampoosd, kneaded,
"machine brushed" and fine
combed." bay rum" and other
mysterious liquids are applied TO his
hair, bIilliantine gives his mus
taches gloss, and "pommade Hon
groise" renders them spiky; while
finally there gently meanders round
his head the tropic gale and fragrance
of the curling longs. For being pro
perry " baIbed F" and properly fixed
a customer at New York or at Chi.
cago will pay at least fifteen cents-
say seven-pencs halfpenny.