The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1895-07-27
HARVESTS OF HAIR.
GIRLS PART WITH THEIR CROWN
ING GLORY FOR A FEW CENTS.

an Odd Character, From a Man Who
Makes Things Of Hair.
twas quite by chance that the writer
Of this article happened on man who
has spent his lifetime in the manipula-
ton Of human hair, transforming it in
to wigs, crowns, frizettes and all the
other kinds Of ttfalse'' hair and weaving
it into watch chains, eyeglass guards,
bracelets, as we'll as mounting it in lock-
cts, rings, pins, earrings and brooches
and working it up into all kinds of
floral designs and emblems
"a charming head of hair on wom-
an" he said, lis thing of beauty and
indeed a crowning glory, but to hair
worker it is of little value. Even the
longest hair, before it has passed through
the hands of the manufacturers, is we'll
nigh worthless. The hair of a woman 8
head which is 80 inches in length, for
example, would not be worth more than
so cents.
II remember woman coming into
my shop one night and Offering to sell
her hair. She said she was a seaman s
wife, and not having heard from him
for many months was in desperate
straits for money. She wanted to know
how much would give her for her hair,
which was Of considerable length. I re-
fused to cut it off. wouldn't cut any
woman s hair off. It is such democrat
izing, degrading thing to do, and the
fact is emphasized when dire need is the
cause of the sale. However, was in a
position to obtain her assistance until
her husband came back.
"We get our finest descriptions Of
haar,'' continued the subject Of this in
tergiew, ''from France and Italy, whence
come all shades Of black and brown.
France, again, Germany and Spain sup
ply the market with brown, light faxen
and red hair. Gray hair, being found in
every parcel, is described as universal.
son the continent there are regular
hair harvests. During the summer time
you can see at every fair peddlers sur
rounded by girls with their beautiful
hair nicely combed out standing in file
waiting their turn. The peddler has in
his hands pair Of shears, each girl
bends her neck, few ships, and the
hair is off, tied into whisp and thrown
into basket standing at the shearer' 8
side. And how much do you think that
the girls get for this? A few cents, a
guady trinket on bright silk handker-
chief
''Some peddlers travel from cottage
to cottage plying their trade, and the
same performance is gone through. An
average head Of hair weighs four ounces
When sufficient hair is accumulated, it
is sold to the hair manufacturers, who
submit it to a process of cleansing and
sorting into various lengths and shades
It is then ready for the wigmakers,
who buy it as they require it, paying at
the rate OF 20 cents or so per ounce for
lengths Of 10 inches to 10 inches to as
many shillings as there are inches for
lengths Of So inches and upward. The
greatest demand is for hair from II to
"a inches in length. The longest female
hair on record is ~ inches. -
The tycoon of Japan once confscated
the hair Of whole province and had it
woven into ships hawser over quar-
ter Of a mile long. Then he discovered
that steel ropes were in existence, and
now the cable, composed Of the pigtails
Of the unfortunate Japs, reposes before
the eyes Of the curious in Bethnal Green
museum.
The gentleman interviewed possesses
a magnificent trophy Of hair, in size
some 8 feet long by 2 feet high, in the
form Of basket of flowers, every leaf,
every petal and every stem of which is
! composed of ounningly wrought hairs
from the human head. How long it
took to create it, it is impossible to say,
but years unquestionably. He has other
similar displays, mostly the work of
himself or his son, though they pale in
to lnslgnificance beside the monument
of patience in question.
The working of hair into ornaments
has gone out of vogue considerably Of
late years, but seafaring' men even now
are great lovers of this form of memen-
to. Naturally their favorite designs as
sumo the forms Of anchors, compasses
and other things nautical
One day gentleman came to the
subject of this article and desired him
in most mysterious manner to weave
some hair, which he gave him, into the
form Of serpent The head and tail
were to be Of gold, and the tail was to
be fixed into the mouth. The serpent
was to be in two coils and to encircle a
golden heart pierced by dagger. In
order to thoroughly comprehend the de-
sign he had to be let into the secret, and
this was the explanation which was Of
| fered:
The serpent was to represent the ma
ture Of certain Young lady to whom
the hair belonged and who had Tilted
the gentleman in question. The golden
heart was symbolic of his pure and
worthy affection, and the dagger showed
how deeply he had been wounded The
tail Of the serpent being in it's mouth in
dicated that in injuring her quondam
lover she had also bitten herself. The
Tilted swain was most particular about
the execution of the work, sent it back
twice for alterations and finally refused
to have it at all, perhaps discovering the
bathos of his scheme -Boston Post.