Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-03-20
WIGS AND WIG-MAKING.
All About False Hair and Where
It Is Procured.


The German and Norman Peasant Girls
Furnish Most of the Supply-whatT They
Arc Paid for Their Tresses-The
Cost of First-Class Wigs.
There Is more poetry and romance woven
into the history of an auburn wig more
tender sentiment twisted into the tradi-
tons of blonde toupee, says the New
York Sun, than the bald-headed man who
wears them ever dreams Of The soft
locks that shelter his poll from the draught
that chills and the mi gratory fly that fain
would choose his shiny pate for the scene
OF It's revels and wanderings, once waved
above the bright eyes Of some fair German
peasant maiden or saucy, sparkling Nor
man lassie, who bartered them for a
trinket Of gold or silver for her Sabbath
day adjoining. just why these peasant
women possess such abundant tresses has
never yet been satisfactorily explained,
but the foreign women, particularly the
French and German, who toll IN the fields,
shielded from the sun only by the small
close cap which covers their hair, but
does not shade their faces, invariably
have beautiful, fine, soft hair, and it
Is from them that all the best hair in the
market is obtained, in the following man
ner. Most of the women have too much
hair to be covered entirely by the close cap
without being SO tightly braided or twisted
as to be uncomfortable. Accordingly the
Itlnerant hair buyer fills his pockets and
pack with bright ribbons, fine caps, beads
and trinkets, and wanders through the
fields where the women work When the
noon-tide lunch has been eaten he spreads
his tempting wares beneath some shelter
ing tree, and the shy, bright-eyed lassies
steal up tlm1dly and pick out the brooch or
long earrings or pretty ribbons for their
Sunday cap for which they long, then snatch
of the little caps from their hair, unbraid
and shake out all it's shining beauty for the
peddler's inspection, and when a bargain is
made they sit down on the ground while he
carefully ships out here and there tress
so cunningly that it is never missed. Usu-
ally girl sells about half her hair, but if it
be very heavy two-thirds of it is sometimes
cut out, leaving the remainder long and
smooth, to be braided up with no trouble
and wound about her head Pure white
hair is most expensive because extremely
rare. A woman old enough to have white
hair has usually very little left, and that
is short, yellow at the ends, and split and
broken. After this the yellow blonde hair
is most difficult to find, auburn hair, and
what hair-dressers designate as drab
shades
The art of ig-malking is dignified with
the most ancient of histories. There is a
perlwig in the British Museum of
Egyptian origin supposed to be 1000 years
old, and Xenophon mentions that Astyages
wore an immense wig. Roman Emperors
supplied the lack of natural hair with
artificial substitutes, the wig of the Emperor
Commodus being highly perfumed and
sprinkIed with gold dust; and even the
South Sea Islanders understand the art Of
wig-making. After the decline of the
popular fashion of Louis XIII establish
ment, that no gentleman could appear with
out wig, wigs were rarely worn at all,
because they were so crudely fashioned as
to deceive no one as to their purpose, but
Mr.. Rouchfuss, the Oldest wig-maker in the
city, asserts that there is now a revival
of the custom and continually increasing
demand for wigs and toupees, though this
is not noticeable, because thele are so many
more bald-headed men than formerly that
the percentage of wig wearers is small and
wigs are so cunnlngly made as to defy de-
lection. Physicians frequently recommend
the wearing of wigs as a preventive of or
cure for catarrh and neuralgia and influenza
"All kinds of people wear them" Mr.
Rouchfuss asserts, from the fastidious
man of unlimited means, who buys "a new
| WIZ COSJlllS INGubN -uNS QO1AdIS Ut Thirty
dollars as often as once a month"; to the
man who only can afford one once a year
| and then takes a wig that some fussy man
| has discarded after once or twice wearing
| because the color didn't please him or some
| thing in the style didn't quite suit. These
we sell cheaper, like the misfits in the
tailors' establishments; but we never make
any real insists"
How often does any one need new
wig?'
| "Once In three or six months, according
to the care they give il. People with wigs
are with wigs just as they are with cloth
| ing Some men will wear a suit and look
| dressed III it when you can see your face in
| the back of the coat and carry a vahse IN
| the knee OF the trousers. 1t is the neat
way they put 1t on and the care they give
1t. Just so with wig.''
! "How do you fasten on toupees?"
with peculiar preparation like paste,
| which comes in d long stick and Is hard uu-
| til a small piece is broken off and worked in
the fingers like putty. Three or four of
these pieces will fasten a toupee on so a
blizzard can't blow IL off, but it loosens easily
with the fingers when we wish to re-
move it,
| "What is the most expensive wig made?"
"a pure white ventilated wig costs $40 or
$50, and plain welt wig in a color comes as
low as SIS. Toupees run from $40 to SIS.
OF course, ladies' wigs are more expensive,
sometimes going as high as 800, according
to the length and color OF the hair But
very few ladies wear wigs, for there are so
many little devices by which women conceal
their lack of hair; and they are cunning
enough in the arrangement of the few
tresses they have to make the most of
| them"
(Which are hardest to please, women or
men!'
There's very little difference. They are
both hard to please at first. They are ac-
customed to seeing little or no hair and
any thing we can make looks unnatural
Old wig wearers have their particular hob
bies, but they are easily satisfied. One of
my customers wears a toupee that weighs
four ounces, one-quarter of pound, you
see, when whole wig only weighs an ounce
| and quarter. That's because he wore it
years ago when they made wigs like floor
mats, because they didn't know any better.
| There's one advantage that wig-makers
have, and that is they keep their customers
A man that puts on wig can never take it
| off. He would as soon think of dressing
himself without his coat as without his wig,
and he would feel as strange without it as
other men would feel in the street without
any hat. 1t looks easy to make wig, but it
isn't, and not every man can make them.
artists in other professions"
AN ARMCHAIR SERMON.