The morning call., 1890-04-13
WIGS AND SOME
WIG-WEARERS.
Facts Cleaned From a Local
Dealer.
Street styles-The Best Customers-Theatrical
Wigs and Those Who Wear Them.
The Hair Crop.
Written for THE SUNDAY CALL

Written for THE SUNDAY CALL
VGSTyIGS? Oh. no. it isn't such bald
NISKE2 subject as you'd suppose" said a
w MY leading wig-maker in this city the
other day. "They are gradually coming in
more and more all the time for street wear.
For you must know there are street wigs
and theatrical wigs. OF course, the fashion
of wearing them Is not near as prevalent
here as in Europe. There they are the rule,
not the exception, Tor bald-headed people.
Men especially are still too careless here
about appearances. More's the pity, too,
for their own sakes. 1 mean that in tn is
variable climate, if wigs were more worn
when needed there would be big reduc-
ton in doctors bills. Neuralgia, for ex-
ample, wouldn't be nearly as common as it
is now. For the same reason weak-lunged
men are advised to wear boards. One re-
suit, however, of wigs not being so gener-
ally detected is that we turn out much finer,
more artistic work, so as to prevent the
possibility of even a suspicion of the innO-
cent fraud You know a man has a holy
horror of being stared at in the sire ct or in
his Office for the purpose of discovering
whether his hair is his own or not.
THE proportion in this city who wear
them? Well, Ishould say one-half of one per
cent, the proportion of men and women be-
ing about the same. There Is this difference
though between them; men wear them for
use, women for ornament. Of course, old
ladies will take to a wig under a doctors
orders, and young ladies' who have lost
their hair or are prematurely gray, will
wear them to preserve their appearances
"Our best customers? The young men,
by long way See this little affair? Don't
know what it is, Ell? That's a toupee.
just a little patch that you can clap right
on the bald spot and which properly
trimmed to suit the hair defes detection.
A dab of waterproof paste keeps it all right
Tor month or so. Then It's such
feather weight. a tOupee wont scale over
y TO q ounce, while full street wig runs
t. y to . ounces. These, for men, cost
81 TO SIS. Ladies wigs run from S12
to $40.
Last? Oh, Pm sorry to say. with care,
as with clothes, they'll last all too long.
Some mems wigS-wOTse luck to them, and
all good wig-makeTs Will cry Amen to
this-will last thee or four years, others
not six months.
WHERE THE HAIR COMES FROM.
NEARLY all the hair used here comes
nom New York, where it is imported
raw under 20-per-cent duty, as against
95-peT-cent duty on the manufactured
Originally it comes from Europe, where
they have regular hair markets. France
supplies the Al quality. Why, large Par
islan houses have agents scattered all over
the country buying hair. In dark hair you
can't beat the Normandy peasants for
quality and length. Don't smile, but they
actually grow hair crops for market just
as a California farmer does Strawberries
or asparagus! Aye, and they pay more at
tentlOn to them, too. No, sir! did not say
they irrigated; but they do tend it and
brush it, and take the best care of il, wear
ing little caps day and night to preserve its
color and appearance. Now, IN Germany,
the habit of wearing the hair in braids and
plaits takes off from the market value, as it
is more exposed to the sun and weather.
Those extra fine, silky, drab varieties of
silvery blonde hair come from the north
of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The
Swedish is the best of these, consequently
the dearest, for next to that auburn red
that Patti has dyed her hair, drab fetches
the biggest money. Italian hair again,
ranks as only third quality.
"How about hair cut off cOrpses? Why
that's all gammonl Dead hair is no good it
is too brittle. No, l wOuldn't swear that
odd tresses off dead woman's head haven't
found their way into the market, but how
often? It's just such silly idea as the
scare about infection in the hair cut off
hospital patient After all the cleansing
process 1t has gone through there can't be
a shadow Of risk. The hair has been all
hand-rubbed with sort Of coarse fourth
els that is to say 'carded,' pretty much
the same way as wool.
Gray wigs are not very salable If an
elderly party invests in a wig, he or she
generally orders one several shades lighter
than nature would allow. Everybody has
weakness for wanting to look as young as
possible. Besides, except bleached hair,
genuine White hair Is mighty scarce and
dear, worth from SO for short up to $50
per ounce for long hair, and that comes ex-
pensiye.
HOW HAIR IS SOLD.
Yes, hair sells both by weight and
length. 1t takes about sixteen to seventeen
yards for an ordinary street wig for a man.
As for the ladies', when one tint goes out
and another comes into fashion, they pre-
lei buying new wig to dyeing their own
hair, custom fast going out. The best
dyes, how ever, of the present day are per-
fectly harmless, if they only knew it. An
other slap at the wig-trade, constitute these
harmless dyes
Theatrical wigs are the bestpaying
branch OF the business. Yet, so far, in this
city it is mostly confined to retouchtng and
refixing. You see, big travelling companies
come here all fully equipped, and only want
their wigs fixed up after playing in them
right across the continent. The cost? Oh,
anything from So to $50, and from that up
to $50 for specialties. That rich auburn
tint that l spoke Of, which Patti affects, runs
into tall money.
has some very good ones Of this shade.
Fanny Davenport's selection, too, is not to
be sneeZed at. In get-ups old jeffersOn'S
wigs stood him IN $50 to S75 apiece right
throuGh-al real hair-a direction by the
way, 10 which stage fashion is now tending,
except for court wigs, representing pow
dered hair, in George Washington style.
For these yak is used, from the top of
the 1hibet Mountains, where it can be got
perfectly white costing as much as human
WnHt1l fhnnUh az rot doxr
the mountains the color gradually gets
darker and cOarseT, more like hOrsa-hair
Taking of prices, that blonde wig that
Nine. Aibanl wore here the other day in
'Otelo' cost $50 in London. For char
acter make-upS, erhapS, George Osbourne's
is the cOmple.est wig outfit in America.
So. too. Stockwell, +. +. Mackay, George
Knight and the CooDers are splendidly fixed
IN this respect. Men are much harder to
suit than women on the stage. AS long as
a woman knows her getup suits her and
that she looks pretty, she doesn't bother
about the wig suiting the character. Fanny
Young, though, is an exception. She al
ways wigs entirely in keeping with her
part In theatrical wigs actors lay special
stress on the lightness of a wig and
will pay prOportionately more for it;
but it must be well made. An actor desires
to look as natural as possible and can't
abide the thought of looking 'wigged,'
LADIES SWITCHES.
Switches? Well, they cost 81 to $40
according to color, weight and length. The
highest-priced is that mousey shade. But
the switch business is steadily going to the
mischief since that cruel fashion has set in
OF plling up the hair on the back and on
the top of the female head divine
Who are my customers2 Well, Pm
Just not going to tell you. When one of
my patrons buys a toupee, or a wig or
switch from me they don't expect am 90
ing to give them away to the first man
who asks me. All l know is if did there'd
be wigs on the green for me with a
now"
Italian-Swiss Loan Association.
The third annual meeting of the Italian