Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-06-25
HAIR COLORIST TALKS.
SHE HAS HUNDREDS OF WOMEN BY
THE SCALP EVERY YEAR.


Patrons Are Chiefly Elderly Women
Who Fear Gray Hair-About Hair.
color hair for living.
In the last year I have had COZ women by |
the scalp.
learn about fifty dollars week cleaning, |
coloring and drying wigs, but my salary Is
only fourteen dollars week. Occasionally
get a quarter of dollar, a she'll comb or
a well worn hair ornament from a custom
er, and the firm allows me to keep all the
handkerchiefs, wells, fans and umbrellas
that are left in the toilet room.
Women are not generous as class, nor
just as rule. They regard me as sort of
old war horse, an6 accept as their due all
the vitality ana muscular effort | can be-
stow. 1t takes a great deal of physical
force to give head of hair chemical bath,
lather it properly and dry it in couple OF
hours. Iwork from 9 in the morning until
5 in the evening. and when l get home
assure you 1 am as lame in my arms and
back, and as completely used up as a wash
erwoman.
But there is no monotony in the bust
ness. Every customer Is a study, and, my
stars, how they will talk I declare they
ought to be 1nuzzled for the protection of
husbands. The histories of New York peo-
pie which get every month from these
lazy. idle. rich, reckless women would
make book of horrors that if published
would give society fever and ague, chills
and spasms.
Some of the information, non-scanda-
| lous. is often amusing. For instance, the
wife of a Tammany man told ne that
| Mayor Grant had sixteen tooth brushes in
his toilet room. She went through his
! house during a recent absence and found
many things to admire.
Another lady, a pupil of Mrs Edmund
Russell, confided to me that she was a
/ Delsarte student and had been trying to
teach Bishop Potter how to pronounce the
benediction, la Delsarte, he was so very
graceless in the use of his dimity draped
arms and hands. She said that the dis
tinguished bishop was very good natured
about it, and was improving very much in
the uplifting of his Episcopal palms.
FACTS ABOUT THE BUSINESS.
A complete change has come over the
hair business in the last twelve years.
Formerly gray hair was dyed and dark
bleached, but neither dye nor bleach is used
any more for several reasons.
One is, that the powerful chemicals
needed to turn black or brown hair blond
frequently penetrate the brain and produce
fever; another reason is the very trying
character of the blond hair against the
face. Almost no shadow or relief is thrown
by white or yellow hair and unless the
woman is young and fairly good looking
with small features, the bleached wis
makes her absolutely ugly. Most children
are fair haired, but afte" eight or ten year:
, nature darkens the gold to bronze, brown
or auburn, and it stands to reason that i
a girl of sixteen cannot wear bright yellow
ringlets certainly an adult of twenty-slx o
fortysiX should not attempt to do so.
On the stage or in the soft radiance of
| chandelier candelabra, assisted by patche
: and powder, any one can don blond wig
but to appear in it in the searching rays o
: daylight would be madness.
: Now all the hair of fashion is colore
a whatever shade it will take. When a won
an begins to get gray she becomes alarmed
and unhappy 1t mortifies her to have tn
: fact published, especially if she is publ
5 character, with her income dependent upol
e personal appearance as we'll as talent. Sh
J. may be in society, and anxious to live owe
: again the gayeties of youth in the soclet
e of her children. If her wrinkles and crow:
feet cannot be rubbed out by hand mas
sage, they can at least be filled III by rlc
q powder and toned down under the draper
d of lace scarfs dotted wells and hair front!
r 1t only remains to rub out the lines of 81
y yer from the back hair to convince societ
d that her devotee is not old.
It There is scarcely a middle-aged woma
on the stage who has not been obliged
color her hair, and the example set by til
e actresses and singers who began the
| in, hafo hn q
IS rons and spinsters of .ociety have followet
z | have had my hands in the hair of nearl
< every prominent singer and actress on til
stage and have pulled the wool over tt
eyes of half the women in the Four HUI
s dred set.
J. ALL KINDS OF HAIR.
IS Young women have their hair colored
d initiate their elders and old women to hit
b. the gray. Now, coloring hair is prett
much like k, lsomining, and unless the o.
orator understands the art the work wi
n be streaky. This streakiness is what do
1, the mischief. A woman finds that instea
7r of copper color her hair is multi-color
q chestnut, iron rust, sassafras and mu
II brown alternating. This of course is ammo
ing, and results in making the victim tt
. habitue of the hair establishments. She n
j." only goes from one house to another Fl
- treatment, but gives herself shampo
;;S with washing soda, strong ammonia, l.
and other preparations in the hope of &c
ting one fast shade of red or brown.
j. They come to US in all stages of mottlin
n, The hair is generally straw like or dea
$. the oil ducts being parched, and very Fl
quently it is so elastic that it can
stretched like the rubber stems of import,
flowers.
lie In this business we become very we'll a
an quainted with our patrons-that is to sa
IA with their defects, and frequently wi
d. their Skeletons Although a woman MI
It's not give us her name, we put initials, &C
ed sip and random talk together and learn b
ce identity Yod would be surprised to kno
re- what very poor material society women a
ed made Of They have no hair, no compile
TO- ion, no figure, very little eyesight, and II
he uuently manufactured teeth.
T, | never receive a new customer witho
saving to myself, ''What a fool you q
making of yourselfp But then, busine
is business, and if were to tell the WON
that a colored name would keep her
Ao misery, cost great deal of money, trout
I, and ridicule and deceive no one but herse
~ I should be bounced from the staff. /
~; no use trying to fight nature. When i
- time for the silver crop it will come in sp
of everything. If my little old mother W
foolish enough to want her gray hair C
ored cows tail red like Bernhardt's, carr
Is red like PATHS, or brindle brown like Fa
ng ny DavenporG's l should advise her to ha
" her scalp shaved and wear wig. III
m would save time, annoyance and none
JOO But if all the old ladies followed her {
re annie there would ba no further usa for