Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-09-18
ABOUT FALSE HAIR.

Where 1t Comes From and Other Informs.
ton of Much Interest.
The wearing of artificial hair is no
modern innovation. It was used not
only by the Egyptians. but also by the
Greeks, the Carthagenians, and es-
pecially by the Romans, among whom
the sale of human hair, particularly the
blonde hair of Germ any, was an ordinary
species of traffic. The most notable
period in modern history. prior to the
present time, in which false hair was
extensively worn, covered a consider
able portion of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, when the peruke
was the order of the day, and all hui
manity became bewigged. To France,
the great fountain-head of fashion, was
due the adoption of this head-dress,
which sacrificed the beauty of nature
to the delicacies of art. The
epidemic. which attacked both sexes
with equal severity, extended to En-
gland, and spread throughout other coun-
tries of Europe. It loitered the longest
in France, where it ragged with great
virulence in the reign of Louis the
Fourteenth, and was not eradicated
until the time of Marie Antoinette,
b
of during fit of illness, the ladies Of
the court, out of compliment to Her
Majesty, wore their hair short, and the
fashion speedily came to an end. Since
then, until few years ago. the use of
false hair has been confined to the wigs
of bald-headed old beaux. the fronts"
worn by elderly matrons and spinsters
of a certain age," and the braids with
which ladies with limited locks were
won't to cap their crowns. These were
always DESTROYS of keeping the appli-
ance of artificial head-gear a profound
secret, though none were enabled to
prevent its being noticed. But, in
these la tier years. Hebe herself has
been Indifferent whether or not we
knew that she was indebted to other
heads for her teeming tresses-
The consequence was that the trade
in human hair assumed prodigious pro-
portions, and it's value increased at an
enormous rate. ''Where does it come
from?" is the question the reader will
naturally ask. AS matter of course,
all products required by the artificial
decoration of the person find their way
principally to Paris, and we according
ly regard that city as the emporium of
the trade in human hair. More than
one hundred tons weight of this precious
ornament, we are informed. has been
annually taken there, and thence dis
tributed in raw and manufactured
state over the whole of Europe and
Northern America.
The hair-crop annually required to
feed the hungry NAV of fashion is al
most entirely collected in France, Bel
gium and Germany. English and
hair Black hair comes from Brit
tany and the south of France, as we'll
as from Spain and Italy, whilst light
hair is the product of Germany and the
northern states of Europe. The fairest-
haired inhabitants of the earth are
generally to be found north of the
forty-eighth parallel of latitude, and
the darkest south of the forty-fifth,
whilst the belt between the two is .
kind of neutral ground populated by .
brown-haired race.
An eminent German has undergone
the enormous labor of counting the
number of hairs In heads of four differ
ont colors In . blonde one, he found
40. 400; In brown, 109, 40; in q black.
1o2. 9e2; and in red one, SO, $40. What
the red and black heads wanted in num-
her Of hairs was made up, however, in
the greater bulk of tho hairs individu-
ally. It Is to the fineness and multi
plicity of hairs that blonde tresses owe
the rich and sillk-lflke character of their
aow.-N. Y. Ledger.