Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-06-14
HUMAN HAIR.
TREssEs OF EVERY TINT IN a
PARTISAN MARKET.
Hair-Cuttcrs Who Travel Through Eu-
rope Collecting the CurIs From
Peasants-The Endless Task
ofSorting the Hair.

CCinN0 lOOhh pu tllC IHOTc us n IlAL-
ter of cold business than the women
themselves. know n good many peas
ant girls in Brittany and Auvergnc who
look on their heads-fguratively speak
ing, of course-just' us peasant does on
his field rs crop raising concern, to be
carefully exploited, and if the premature
hawkers do an excellent business in the
agricultural districts, it is just because of
this reason. l don't deny that there are
exceptional cases, but in the vast ma
jority it is not want but u desire for an
inccasc of income that makes girls come
under the scissors"
GLOW is the hair collected"
"'There is Il special class of industrials
known as hair cutters, who travel all the
year round for the purpose. In France
it is Brittany and Auvergnc, where the
avaricc Of the peasants and their poverty
are the greatest, that are alone visited
In no other French provinces could
dealer find it worth his while to travel.
The Frcnchwoman is coquettish and
wants all the hair she can get for her own
adornmcnt. On the other hand there are
many places i'll France which formerly
supplied quantities of hair whence now
not an ounce comes. The reason is that
these places have prospered, luxury has
entered them, and the women buy rather
than SELL.
GLOW do the dealers work."
"In Auvergnc and abroad they pay
periodical visits to the villages and towns,
usually on fair or market days, take u
room i'll IN inn, hang their sign out of the
window and await offers"
"What is tlieir sign2"
"a horses tale attached to the end of
n pole. 1t acts like magnet on the wo-
men, and the dealer has usually more
work given him than he can get through.
In spite of this, however, very high
prices have TO be pad for the crops.
Formerly, before the war, you could get
II womans head of hair in exchange for
handkerchief or an apron, ut the outside
cotton dress was ASKED for. But since
II the girls have learned about our prof
its and want share in them. Nova
days the lowest price asked is So, in ad-
dition to good mcrino dress, and very
often as much rs IS besides the goods
has TO lie given. In Brittany, on the
other hand, the cutter has to go from
house to house, because the Brittany wo-
man has to be bargained with. She in
variably begins by refusing outright, and
Is invariably acquiesces in the end. The
cutters have many specious arguments in
reserve To convince the women that they
should part with their hair.
'Do the cutters travel abroad9"
"Oh, yes, chiefly for blond hair. 4
great quantity comes to Paris from
Sweden and Russia. Sweden, especially
supplies the most recherche blond shades.
Most of the dark hair is cut in NIoravia,
Bohemia and other parts Of Austria
German women are also usually ready to
deal, especially in the Rhine provinces.
Some attempts have been made to obtain
goods from England, but with no results
The cutters usually get knocked down or
kicked out by the husbands, fathers or
brothers. It's Il pity, as some of the hest
shades of ashy blond-thc best tint
grows in England Not much comes di-
rect from Italy. There is Il central hair
market liz Naples, but the staple is comb
ings, not cut hair, and combing have lit
tie value because it is impossible to get
them to curl. All they are good Tor is
padding, chignons, or piutingn
''These cutters buy Oh their own ac-
counts
They are independent merchants.
buying as cheap as they can and selling
rs dearly as possible to the Paris manu-
facturers. The goods are usually sent by
rail in sacks of hundred weight. But
perhaps you would like to come upstairs.
Some sacks are just being cmptied."
1t WAS II curious sight, certainly. \
long room, bare OF all furniture, save II
couple Of barrows. In one corner IL heap
of empty sacks, in the other five or six
filled TO bursting. a couple of porters
were engaged in emptying these OH to the
floor. One hoisted the sack on his back,
and when the other had opened its mouth,
shot the contents out into heap Gu
tered the room just us this operation was
going on, and | declare that what issued
from the bellied sack to the floor looked
like living and serpentine mass. 1t may
sound ugly to say so, but could not help
thinking of IL marvellous take Of cells. Yet
there were poetry and beauty enough in
the motion, for the sun rays touched the
silken tresses as they fell, with an almost
SouHtt, linz pull pom vi
satin, and brought out myriad lights
gold and silver and blue and many shades
of red. AS soon rs each sack was emptied
some girls set to work OH each heap and
began to assert the tresses hastily. One
collected all the shades of red, one the
browns, another the blacks, n fourth the
blond.
THE solting," he said, ''gives me ii
very great deal of trouble. 1t would take
me long time to mention the names OF
all The shades known to the trade. AS to
properly classifying all the shades of
human hair, that is quite out of the Ques-
ton. There are rs many shades as there
arc heads of hair. Roughly we divide the
colors into fifteen classes, black, brown,
dark chestnut, chestnut, light chestnut,
dark blond, blond and clear blond. These
eight classes the trade styles common
colors. In the second division, or list of
extra colors, You have in order of merit,
snow-white,, ashen blond, white, grayish,
gray, pale, blond and red. OF these blond
cendre, or ashcn blond, and snow-whitc