The times., 1901-04-21

/
There is more false hair worn in the
United States than in all the rest Of the
| world put together. This isn't because
American women are so marveiously i'll
supplied with their crowning glory. but
simply and solely because they have the
price to pay for reinforcing their own
locks.
Il saw an announcement the other day
said a hair importer to a writer in the
| New York sun" that London ner-
chants use five tons of human hair an
nually. Humph, There is more than five
| tons Of human hair sold every month
| here in New York, OF course, that
| doesn't mean that it all stays in New
| York. IL it did every woman in New
| York would he wearing a Bath bun as
! big as a loaf Of bread in few years.
| This city is the distributing point for the
| whole country. though. and the FIVE tons
a month estimate is no exaggeration.
| When it comes to human hair this
| country is the consumer; never the pro-
| ducer There's no American hair for
| sale. There may be isolated cases where
| a girl or a woman sells her hair. but she
| doesn't do it unless she is hard up, or
| unless she wants to have her hair cut
| for some particular reason; because Of
| severe headaches, for instance Even
| when an American woman does cut her
/ hair she doesn't sell it unless very poor
! The bulk of the hair supply comes
| from France Italy, and Russia, but the
very best hair comes from certain
provinces in Bohemia and Austria Ger
many and Sweden don't furnish much
/ hair for the market. because almost no
| body is allowed to cut it. In Germany
| there are just two men who have the
| hair-cutting privilege, and they have had
! it for a couple of hundred years"
How much is hair worth at whole
| saIe?'
That depends on its length. it's quality,
and its color: most of all on it's color.
Natural white hair costs most IL you
can get hold of some pure white hair
| twenty inches long you can sell it to any
| jobber for SO an ounce. Yes, $75 an
| ounce. But 1 advise you not TO sit up
| nights thinking how you are going TO
| spend the money. for white hair twenty
! inches long doesn't grow on one head in
a million"
( But white hair is common enough
/ Grey hair is, but not white hair In
| the first place, woman's hair generally
| grows thin as she grows old, so that even
! when you have found your white hair
there's not likely to be much OF it. And
| even so-called white hair isn't white 1t
| is generally white only at the temples
and around the edges. 1t the ends il is
/ yellowish and toward the neck il is
darker, sometimes quite the original col
| or. Pure white hair is almost impossible
| TO find
Next in value come the extra shades,
| such as mouse drab and pink drab and
genuine deep black. Blonde hair doesn't
| bring a high price to it's wearer, because
| we can produce the shades artifcially and
| the imitation cannot be detected. OF
course, we can dye hair black, but the re-
suit is never perfect Red hair brings a
| fairly good price, but we can get plenty
| of it.
The poorest supply of hair so far as
| quality goes is from Russia. We get a
great deal from there. but it is cut from
| the heads of peasant girls who work in
| the fields, without hats. in all sorts of
/ weather and whose hair is never cared
! for-at least not while they wear it.
That is the trouble with false hair.
| IL is cut in ninety-nine cases out of a
hundred from peasant women who live
away from civilization and who are absO-
| lutely wanting in cleanliness
1t isn't pleasant, is it? But we thor
| oughIy wash and cleanse every bit Of
hair we handle and the retailer of course
I does the same When we get the hair il
| is tied up Just as it was cut from the
head We have TO comb it, straighten it
out, sort il into lengths and either sell 1t
in that shape to dealers who make it
up themselves, or make II up ourselves
| for sale to the small dealers.
But how about the cost2
"Oh. yes. Well, We pay SIS a kilo-
| that's about two pounds-fOr ordinary
hair When we have sorted Il there is
/ good deal which is short, so that we
| have to sell the sorted hair at good
/ deal more than 80 a pound. Extra shades
| bring higher prices according TO their
rarity. The weight of an average head
| of hair isn't more than half a pound. so
| you see there's no great money IN IT Tor
| the women who sell their hair IL We
pay $3.50 for half a pound, after al the
trouble the nrst buyer has had You may
| be sure ne didn't pay anything ike Jnat
sum for it,
That's one reason there's no American
hair on the market The women over
here aren't poor enough Those VINO nave
medium-long hair would see you further
before they'd sell il TO you for few dol
lars. You go to an Italian peasant girl
that never sees the color Of money and
offer her or lire for her hair. and she'd
let you pull it out if you couldn't get 1t
any other way. Go to a woman here and
offer her a dollar for her hair and shield
throw you out. If she didn't, her nearest
male relative would
That's the reason America is such a
good market for hair The people here
have got the price to pay for it. And
they've got it now more than ever. We've
sold more hair during the last f0Gr years
than we had in ten years before that.
Take a servant girl in New York. If
her hairs thin she wont think anything
of taking 81 out of her months wages and
buying a switch The switch viii last her
a good many years. anyway: IL really
wont cost so much in the end. Not any
more than she used to pay for jute.
What did she do with jute?'
| Wore it instead of hair. oh. my, yes!
| I remember the time when servant girls
| used TO buy jute switches. They had TO
| get a new one almost every Saturday
night. Paid quarter for them. It's
| cheaper 10 buy the real thing.
| But do you sell much false hair TO poor
| women"
| well. if it weren't for the poorer wo-
| men we'd have to go out Of business. 1t
! ain't the rich women that keep the hair
| Of swell HAIR dealers with rich customers
! There aren't more than dozen of them
/ in this city.
of course. they get fancy prices for
| what they sell. If a rich women has
| confidence in the dealer she'll pay any
/ thing for exactly the thing she wants.
| Well even suppOsiug the man made $50
switch 20 the rich woman there are
| hundred women buying switches from
| the questionable dealer. who Is content
with a profit of 81 30. It's all right lie
makes $50 70 the swell dealers $50.
But why do the rich women buy so
Iittle?''
I'm the first place because there are
so few of them to buy. Another thing.
they take care of their hair and keep it
better. And then too. they care more
| than the poorer woman does about being
caught wearing false hair. They can
make better show with a small amount
OF hair too. They have time TO fuss with
| il. maids 10 make the most of il. You
see there are a good many reasons
rs the hair which grows on corpSes sold
and wOrn2'
People say so. but / don't believe much
| in it. / shouldn't think IL would be
| good The hair sympathizes with the rest
Il