Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-07-15
AS A HAIR GRooMER.
How One Woman Earns q Livelihood
Care of the usir-Trimming-

care OF the HAT lFitnmlng
The names OF the occupations which
refined women in reduced circumstance
are seeking nowadays are legion. The
field OF type writing, s~tenography and
telegraphy has long been crowded by
women who have 10 earn their own liv'
ing and the living of families, and who
cannot do manual labor. Places rs pri.
waite secretaries, all sorts Of c~lerkships in
shops and business offices, travelling
agencies" editorships, employ1nents by
the score have been added to that which
twenty five years ago was almost the
only occupation in which a refined
woman thrown upon her own resources
could enCage-that of teaching children.
There are women now who even write
for the papers, and have attained fame
as reporters, tramping about town at all
hours and in all sorts of weather. A re-
potter was introduced by a friend, the
other day, To a lady who was earning a
very comfortable livelihood rs Il hair
groomer.
I'm not n hairdresser," she said, I'm
a hair groomer. don't do up hair at
all. only comb the hair and give il
that general attention which every
woman's hair demands two or three
times a week. There are lots of women
in the city who are in this business and
who would scorn to call themselves pro-
feSsional ~hairdressers.
She was an elderly lady, tall and slen.
DIR. and dressed neatly and with excel
lent taste in black. Her manners were
gentle and refined. Her face had thai
dark, quiet look seen on the faces Of In
valids OF Of wonen who had a good deal
OF suffering. She was living in a re.
spectacle boarding house.
" was corucred and | had to do it, "
she said. IL had TO earn my living sud.
denly, and the only way could think OF
TO do so at my age was TO care foi
women's hair. My mother vas for years
an invalid She had beautiful hair, and
it used to soothe and quiet her to have
me comb her hair and stroke il softly.
In this way / learned TO care for the hair,
especially that of nervous women. There
are a great many women, OF course, OF
the so called upper classes who can't
afford to keep maids and yet who want
their hair cared for regularly. They
don't like TO have professional hair,
dreSsers around them, either. 1t is &c
such women | look for my patronage.
''Wha do ! do to the hair? Well,
first | rub it dry with a soft and then
with a hard brush. don't put a lot OF
water and cleaning stuff upon the hair
at first as some do, but after | have the
dandruff all out. | wet the hair with a
simple solution which | know to be eflec,
tive and not deleterious; then | rub and
brush the hair dry again. Next comes
the trimming. ! pull out the gray hair:
one by one. taking care to pull them SC
that the scalp is not lacerated, and the
hair cells themselves destroyed. There
is a great art in pulling out hairs. You
must pull them in the direction in which
they lie in the scalp just as you would
silver Of wood from your hand, in tho
direction in which 1t entered. Men OF
women can't pull out their gray hair
themselves, for it is utterly impossible
fur them "a SEQ that they are pulling ia,
liars cut on the proper slant. Of course
you know that people are very touchy ol
the subject of gray hairs in their heads
1t makes a woman have the blues for
week when her first gray hairs come
Now, when gray hairs are the result o.
age ! never NEEDLE with them; the only
thing To DO il 10 let them come. Bu'
they are often the result of sickness
or some other little trouble, and II i
then often possible 10 prevent their com
ing. Badness is To he doctorcd In just
the same way. lean never cure. though
and nobody can cure the badness Of poo
pie, like accountants and others, accus
toned to work all day with the glare an,
heat Of gaslights or electric lights beating
down upon their heads. IL their case
the hair cells have been literally burn
out.
well, finally, ! trim the hair. eli
each individual hair separately so rs 4
make it even with the others. Whcl
the hair is gathered up in the hand an,
cut square across in n lumr. rs it were
with the scissors, the Struggling hairs ar
not reached. Tho result is only to max
,he hair shorter and quite rs uncven a
before. Then ! part the hair simply an,
do it up plainly. As told You,
women want their hair done up in an,
Of the fancy styles they mustn't com,
q me.
''How much does it pay me? Well,
generally think | ought to get 81, a
least, each time / visit a lady's house. |
a lady lives a great way up town and |
takes me all the afternoon or morning &
go up and sec her, i want more money, 0
course. And. on the contrary, when tw,
OF three patrons live near each other
why,p can moderate the price a little L
each One. 1t is a humble way Of gettinl
a living, | know, but il is respectable
and | shall stick TO it.nANew York sun