Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-08
WHEN YOUR HAIR DROPS OUT.
All About the Wig You Wear and How
II is Made.


| II is Made.
| THE GERMAN PEASANT GIRLS FURNISH TEE HAIR
AND GET TRISKETs IN RETURN-To FASHION
THE WIG REQUIRES DEFr FINeERs-REAL GOOD
WIGS COST MUCH MONEY.
From the New York Sun.
There is more poetry and romance woven
into the history Of an auburn wig, more tender
sentiment twisted into the traditions Of blonde
toupee, than the bald-headed man who wears
| them ever dreams of. The soft locks that shell
ter his poll from the draught that chills and
the migratory fly that fain would choose his
shiny pate for the scene of its revels and wan
behring's once waved above the bright eyes of
some fair German peasant maiden or saucy,
sparkling Norman lassie who bartered them
for 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, in
variably have beautiful fine soft hair, and it is
from them that all the best hair in the market
Is obtained. In the following manner: 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 uncomforta-
BILE. Accordingly the itinerant 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 sheltering tree,
and the shy. bright-eyed lassies steal up tim
IDLY and pick out the brooch or long earrings
or pretty ribbons for their Sunday cap for
which they long. then snatch off the little caps
from their hair, unbraif and shake out all its
shining beauty for the peddler's inspection.
and when 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. Usually girl sells about half her
halr but If 1t 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
Occasionally poor women go into the hair
dresser's establishments in this city and offer
tresses for sale. but this seldom happens for it
is a lamentable fact that American women
have less hair than those of any other people.
and that more bald men are found here than
elsewhere. The cause for this is unknown, and
If it could be discovered, together with
remedy for the same, the wig makers occupa-
ton would be gone. and the discOverer would
know how it feels to be a millionaire.
Among the lace makers in France. where
women weave the rarest and most delicate
frost-like laces on a cushion with pins and
bobbins, there is guild of workers who wind
their bobbins with fine white hair, instead of
thread. and tossing it in and out over the pins,
weave web-like Brussels net Of hair instead
OF floss. A piece of this beautiful material
forms the parting and foundation of the wig,
into which Is tied the hair, a single hair in a
mesh of the lace along the parting, and two or
three hairs in place all over the rest of the
wig. 1t is a wOmans def, skillful fingers
that do this fine work, of course, by means of
tiny needle no larger than the slimmest cam
brio needle for sewing with an intinitesimal
hook at the tip scarcely visible to the naked
eye. wig-maker has as many wooden block
heads as a shoemaker has lasts. and upon one
of these the wig foundation is carefully fitted
and fastened while the hair is tied in, and over
this block a woman bends two whole weeks to
make single wig, with tuft of hair in her
left hand. into which the needle flies, catch
ing Invariably only the number of hairs re-
quired, about one hundred times in an hour.
The art of wig making is dignified with the
most ancient of histories. There is periwig
In the British museum of Egyptian origin sup
posed to be 1000 years old, and Xenophon
mentions that Astyages wore an immense wig,
hair with artificial substitutes, the wig of the
Emperor Commodus being highly perfumed
and sprinkled with gold dust; and even the
South Sea Islanders understand the art Of wig
making. After the decline of the popular
fashion of Louis Kills establishment, that
no gentleman could appear without a wig.
wigs were rarely worn at ALL because they
were SO crudely fashioned as to deceive no one
as to their purpose, but Mr.. ROUGH
fuss, the Oldest wig maker in the city,
asserts that there is now a revival of the
custom and a continually increasing demand
for wigs and toupees, though this is not
noticeable. because there SO many more
bald-headed men than formerly that the per-
centage of wig-wearers is small and wigs are
so cunningly made as to defy detection. Ply
sicians frequently recommend the wearing of
wigs as preventative 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 wig costing S25 or $50 as often
as once month, to the man who only can
afford one once a year, and then takes wig
that some fussy man has discarded after once
or twice wearing because the color didn't
please him or something in the style didn't
quite suit. These We sell cheaper, like the
insists in the tailors' establishments; but we
never make any real misfits."
How often does any one need new wig?'
"Once in three or six months, according to
the care they give it. People with wigs are
just as they are with clothing. Some men will
wear a suit and look dressed in il when You
can see your face in the back Of the coat and
carry a valise on the knees Of the trousers. 1t
is the neat way they put it on and the care
they give it. Just SO with a wig. l have
customer out west, military man, who is away
there among the Indians sleeping in a tent
most Of the time, and with most inconvenient
arrangements for the care of his clothing and
for toilet purposes. He buys new wig about
once year, and even then the old one is as
good as new. only that it has faded. That's
because he takes care of it. Then have Gus
toners here in the city, hurried business men,
who jam on their wigs all in a twist, cracking
the paper at the same time. and they come back
in three months with them perfectly ruined.
There's one class of customers that never get
wigs in the wrong place or hurry too much in
their adjustment, and they are women. Work
or worry. fire or thieves, never hustle a woman
into getting the parting of her wig crooked or
a single hair in an unnatural place. but a man
viii stick a toupee on SO that it will show a
streak of badness between that and his hair,
just for the sake Of catching a car five minutes
earlier. and then come in here and wonder why
it doesn't fit
How do you fasten on toupees?"
with a peculiar preparation like PASTE
which comes in a long stick and is hard until 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 it off, but it loosens easily with the
fingers when We wish to remove it."
What Is the most expensive wig made?'
"A pure white ventilated wig costs $40 or
$50, and plain weft wig in a color comes as