The morning news., 1897-08-16
STRAIGHT WIGS ron NEGROES.
A Whim. of the CoIored People Boom'
nn Industry in 81. Louis.

From the st. Louis Republic
A new fad has truck tho coiored popn-
lation of the town. II Is now the sWaz-
ser thing among the elete Of colCred swell
dom to have hair without any kinks IN It.:
in fact hair like white people wear This
can only be accomplished IN one way, and
that is by application 10 the wigmalser
and many a young c0loTed swell Is now
wearing a wig The fad started here
among the lighter-sl;inned negroes of both
sexes, but soon spread 20 the darker coll
ored, until now many negroes as black
az the proverbia ace Of spades have Ralr
as straight as that worn by any white
man.
The negro gets his knky hair shorn az
short as possible and then gets a wig
made Of hair the color he desires. There
are a number OF young negro women who
can readily pass and do, for white girla
Their skins are rather dark, but Of olive
tint, and when they don their wigs Of
straight hair no one who passes them on
the streets thinks for a second that they
are not what they appear to be-whte
girls. II is the same with some Of the
light-colorel men, One In particular can
be seen frequently on Olive street and
Broadway whose skin In so light that he
had no trouble in passing for a white man
as long as his hair could not be seen. This
was short, black aud knky But since
tHE WIZ lhu lhk iiiAth AAlt lAhF ~ uf ~ hli
right. lie had a wig made Of brown hait,
and as he IS a good dresser he is now a
regular Wilie-boy. and can stand on tho
streets and Ogle white women the same
as other whites. His wig hair rs long,
and he parts il I'm the miCdle and combs
81 down over his forehead, after the Willie
fashion.
A well-knowu wigmaker IN speaking Of
the fad said yesterday: Yes, that fad
has hit the colored people Of 81. Louis
hard, and / am glad Of it. u Is getting
to be "a source of great revenue 60 ue.
and Is revivlng a trade which was almost
dead. When a negro wants anything, he
wants IL bad, and win have II, no matter
what q costs Why, / had "A negro GUS
toner IN here the other day who was al
most borefooted, bu. lee ordered an cxpen-
siye wig and paid for It, too. IN advance
Some very funny things happen some
times I'm connection with this fad ana the
negroes who want straight hair. / sold a
young negro "A wig a short time ago, and
the next day a young colored woman en-
tered and soidsshe wanted a wig exactly
like the one she was wearing. | exam
incd that one, and II was the one that /
had sold the day before. The young man
was her sweetheart and wore that wig
when he called on her She concluded that
she wanted one like Il, and out Of the
Kindness OF his heart he pulled on his wlg
and gave It 10 her. Ia order 10 be nice
to him and reciprocate. she had come 10
get one for HIM.
Another funny thing In connection with
wigs Is that great many colored people
want wigs made OF red hair, and n you
will notice, there are quite number Of
red-haired negroes In st. Louis Wigs DO
Ia. Why ! had n customer the other day
who was about AZ black as q ls possible
for any one 10 be-. and she picked out a
bright g0ldcn-red wig, and IL wearing Il
now. ] suppose az long NJ there are black
people and white people the former Will
Initiate tho latter, and Try 70 look as much
like them AZ possible"