Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-07-21
TONSORIAL ART.
French BARRIERS who are Artists and
American BARRIERS who are Barbarians
Americans behind the Times.

When Nj. Henri Poujoi was asked
if he would challenge Mr.. Chas. o.
Driscoll, who won second prize in a
recent hairdressing competition in
London, be replied:
Challenge Driscoll? No. Hemay be
the champion American barber, but he
is not the champion barber in America.
Besides, he was defeated by one of my
Partisan confreres, a professor of the
art. Moreover, when I issued my
challenge some time ago, the German
American BARRIERS dared not accept.
They called me names, and quoted
Latin at me; but they were afraid to
meet me in the arena with razor,
scissors and curling iron"
You speak of your victorious Paris
ian confrere as a professor. Have
they regular schools and professors
of hairdressing in Paris"
"The Partisan gentleman takes his
seat in the BARRIERS chair as often in
the day as he sits down to meal, and
sometimes more frequently. To have
his hair artistically dressed is as
necessary for him as to partake OF
food. Consequently the Partisan
hairdresser must be an artist of the
first rank. Your German-American
barber compares with him as sign
painter compares with a great artist
in landscape, portrait or genre. A
French barber cannot attain his rank
unless he is born and bred to it. A
man in France can be a hairdresser
only through the force of genius or
by being educated up to the posi-
ton"
"How does this genius assert itself
in YOUTH"
razor and scissors born, desire is
manifested mt an early age to clip
domestic favorites, to watch until the
cat of the household falls asleep
behind the stove and then to try if
the contour of its back cannot be
improved by a judicious application
of the shears. If the child accom-
plishes his purposes without waking
the cat, he may be considered born
barber"
IF person is born without genius.
but with decided talents for your art,
how does he develop themF"
I'm France every facility is offered
to such persons. We have intelli-
gence offices for hair dressers exclu
ively. A school is attached to each
of these offices. Moreover, many of
the skillful BARRIERS in Paris are pro-
fessors. If barber from the prov
inces wishes to learn new Couture
he can obtain instruction from one
of these professors. In the large
towns no barber can get much Gus
tom unless he has studied in Paris.
But even before he comes to Paris
he must have served his apprentice
ship, for in Paris there are no ap-
prentices."
'How is thatf"
"a young man who wishes to be.
come a barber serves his apprentice
ship in city like Marseilles or
Lyons for two or three years. Then
he makes what we call in hair-dress-
ing ateliers the tour de France, add
ing to his experience and skill as he
travels from place to place. Finally
he goes to Paris to receive the re-
fnement of true artist, just as
American painters 60 to Paris or
Rome or Munich for what may be
called the finishing touches"
"Then Paris is the finishing SHOOT
for barbersi"
Exactly. No matter how much
they may have learned in the prov
inces, they can always add to their
knowledge in Paris"
"And when they have learned all
there is to be learned in Parish"
''Tben they have nothing more to
learn. The art of hair dressing, like
all other arts, reaches its climax in
Paris, where both the customers and
the hair dressers show the highest
degree of good taste"
"You do not think, then, that the
Americans have as cultivated taste
as Parisians in the matter of hair
dressingp
Even your most prominent public
men, my dear sir, are uncivilized in
this respect. Look at General Grant!
The poorest man in Paris has his
beard better trimmed"
"And to what do you attribute this
lack Of good faster
ITO the ignorance of the German
American BARRIERS, who have sprung
up like mushrooms all over the city.
They think all hair-dresser has
to do with a mans hair is to cut it
short. They know nothing Of the
art of trimming, of the science of
physiognomy, or Of the dexterous use
of the curling IRON"
"Then the curling iron is peculiarly
effective in tho hands Of French
barber7"
1T is to him what the brush is to
the painter. With it he realizes his
most beautiful ideals"
"And you don't think the German
American barber is skillful in it's
usoi"
"Skillful, siri Many of them do
not even know there is such thing.
They substitute pomatum, cosmetics,
and other sticky things for it. When
see an American gentleman with a
fiat, greasy curl on his forehead I
n1wava think fO mvae1f INV NOR