The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-04-13
HOW FAI Sc HAIR is OBTAINED.
Much fit Comes Erena the Ash Barrels
Sf Paris!

X OALftrA
The best false hair comes from
France, where it is sold by the gram
, me at prices which vary according to
quality and color. The most eXpen-
sive false hair is the silver white
variety, which is in great demand and
very difficult to find. This is due to
the fact that men grow bald in ma
jority of cases before their hair reaches
the silver white stage, and women,
whether bald or not, are not disposed
to sell their white hair at any price.
They need it themselves.
Still women growing bald must
have white hair to match the scant al
lowance advancing age has left them.
The chemists have taken the matter in
hand and are able to produce by de-
coloration hair of any color a tolera-
BILE grade of white hair, which how
ever, has blueish tint not at AN ap-
preaching in beauty the silvery soft
ness of hair which has been bleached
by nature.
False hair of the ordinary shades is
obtained in two ways. The better
and more expensive kind is cut di-
rectly from the heads of peasant
women, who sell their silken tresses
sometimes for mere song and some
times for fair price, according as
they have learned wisdom. Every
year the whole territory of France is
travelled over by men whose business
it is to persuade village maidens, their
mothers and their aunts to part with
their hair for financial considerations.
These men are known as "cutters," 4"
and there are at least five hundred of
them in the country always going from
house to house, from farm to farm
and through all the villages in all the
departments, seeking subjects for
their scissors. A good cutter averages
from two to five heads of hair day,
and he pays from IF. to 10f. for each.
1t is estimated that a single head of
luxuriant growth weighs about a
pound.
The false hair thus obtained--at the
cost of the tears and regrets of many
foolish maidens-is the finest in the
market, and sells for an exaggerated
price, which puts it beyond the reach
of the ordinary purchaser Besides,
it is evident that the supply of genuine
cuttings" must fall far short of the
demand for false hair. So the ma
jority of this wavy merchandise is OBJ
tained-yes, ladies, l am exceedingly
sorry, but it is the fact-from the rag.
pickers. These busy searchers of ash
heaps and garbage barrels collect
every day in the city of Paris alone at
least hundred pounds of hair which
some hundreds of thousands of womer
have combed out of their heads during
the preceding twenty-four hours. This
hair, all mixed together and soiled,
one would think, beyond redemption
is sold to hair cleaners atSfrom 81 tc
$3.50 pound, which shows simply
that the fair sex in one city alone
throws away annually about 300,000f
worth of hair, for which they after
ward pay-and it is the same hair
mind considerably over 1,000,000f.
The cleaning of this refuse hair is al
operation which requires careful at
tention. After it has been freed from
the dust and dirt and mud and othe1
unpleasant things with which it ha
come in contact in cutters and slol
buckets it is rubbed in sawdust unit
it shines once more with its pristine
gloss, and then the process of sorting
is begun. In the first place skill
full hands fix the Individual hairs il
frames with the roots all pointing tht
same way, and then they are arranged
according to color. Finally, when /;
sufficient number of hairs of one colo
have been obtained-nor is this mum
Der so immense as is generally sup
posed-they are made into the beautiful
braids which are shown SO seductivelv
in the windows of fashionable coiffeurs
If, as the good book says, wisdom goe
with the hair, she who places on he
head one of these conglomerate braid
might be said to receive portion o
the wisdom of hundreds of thousand
of other women who had worn thos
hairs before her.
It is said that the EEcutters" in France
have piled their trade so industriousl,
that at present it is hardly possible il
the whole Republic to find woman
who will sell her hair. The bushes
has been done to death and now tn
enterprising dealers in false hair ar
sending their representatives throug
Switzerland, Belgium and Norwa
canvassing for unsophisticated lasse
who will allow themselves to be rot
bed of their hair, which is half thei
beauty, for few pieces of silver.-N
y. Herald.