Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-07-20
TONSORIAL ART.
French Harbers who are Artists and
American BARRIERS who are Barbarians
Americans behind the Times.

if he would challenge Mr.. Chas. G
Driscoll, who won second prize in
recent hairdressing competition il
London, he replied:
"Challenge Driscoll? No. Hemay b,
the champion American barber, but h
| is not the champion barber in America
Besides, hewas defeated by one of m.
Partisan confreres, a professor of tn,
art. Moreover, when 1 issued my
challenge some time ago, the German
American BARRIERS dared not accept
They called me names, and quoted
Latin at me; but they We're afraid t.
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 hi
seat in the BARRIERS chair as often il
the day as he sits down to meal, anG
sometimes more frequently. To have
his hair artistically dressed is as
necessary for him as to partake ot
food. Consequently the Partisan
hairtresser must be an artist of the
first rank. Your German American
barber compares with him as a 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 hairdresser
only through the force of genius or
by being educated up to the posi-
ton"
"How does this genius assert itself
! in youth?"
I'm most children who are to the
razor and scissors born, desire is
manifested at 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 judicious application
of the shears. If the child accom-
plishes his purposes without waking
the cat, he may be considered a born
barber"
"If person is born without genius.
but with decided talents for your art,
how does he develop them2"
In France every facility is offered
to such persons. We have intelli-
gence offices for hair -dressers exclu-
sively. 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 a new coiffure
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 that?"
"a young man who wishes to be-
come a barber serves his apprentice
ship in a 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-
finement of a 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 shool
for barbers7"
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 Paris?"
"Then 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
dressing?"
"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 tastew
''To the ignorance of the German
American BARRIERS, who have sprung
up like mushrooms all over the city
They think all a hair dresser has
to do with mans hair is to cut il
short. They know nothing Of the
art of trimming, of the science OF
physiognomy, or of the dexterous use
of the curlingiron."
"Then the curling iron is peculiarly
effective in the hands Of q French
barber?"
1T is to him what the brush is tt
the painter With it he realizes hi
most beautiful ideals"
"And you don't think the German
American barber is skillful in it:
use?"
"Skillful, sir7 Many of them Dc
not even know there is such thing
They substitute pomatum, cosmetics
and other sticky things for it. Wher
see an American gentleman with ,
fiat, greasy curl on his forehead
always think to myself, My poo
sir! You have not come from th'
hands of a barber. but from the hand,
Of q barbarian"
"And so Americans do not know
the value of the curling iron'"
mo, indeed; unless they are Ameri
can gentlemen who have visited Paris
An American thinks that when he ha
had his hair curled his head will lool
| like that of a colored man."
And this impression is erroneous? !?
Erroneous! 1t is an insult to al
Implement which has done more t.
soften and civilize man than any i'm
plement ever invented. A Frencl
barber uses the curling-ir9p to tax
the kinks out of the hair without tn
} use of greasy substances, SO that j
| will Weld to the most delicate pre: