Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-02-26
N MANICURING.
Wives of Wealthy Chinese Merchants
Hire the "Barber" to Treat
Their Fingers.

Lovely wOman has the same weak
nesses in Picking and Canton as in New
York and Chicago. The coiffeur, mil
liner, dressmaker and bootmaker are
as important to her as 10 her Ameri-
can sister. Like the latter, she dotes
upon ~manicuring, but on account of
social conditions there are no profess
slonal manicures to employ twice or
thrice a week. Either she attends to
her own nails or else she depends upon
a junior wife, a servant, or a slave
to do the work for her. The wives
of wealthy Chinese merchants in New
York's Chinatown usually hire the
barber" to look after their tapering
fingers, says the Post, of that city.
Her ideal fngernail is not that of the
occident, at least SO far as shape is con-
cerned. Where the western makes as
a standard a simple oval which is al
most parallel to the curvature of the
finger, a Chinese lady of fashion wants
hers to extend well beyond the finger
tips, so as to form an ellipse whose
major axis is at least twice the minor.
The flesh at the base is pushed back
as far as possible, so as to increase
the lunette or moon, while at the side
it is encouraged to operlap the nail.
The ends should be at least a half
inch in length beyond the line where
they separate from the skin. The rea-
son of this last requirement is that
the length shows that the owner does
not work. Yet, as every Chinese wom-
an does work. she keeps up the fiction
by several odd ~expedients. One is to
wear finger-caps when working and
when asleep. These are often bought
by Summing parties in Pell street for
souvenirs. Another is to use gloves
or mittens, or even stockings upon the
hands when engaged upon household
labor.
In a manicure equipment there are,
first, toilet soap, and, second, soap
wood; the latter being also employed
for shampooing. There is also a jar
of unguent, which corresponds to
American cold cream. For polishing
powder they use pulverized cuttlefish
bone mixed with sandalwood, sawdust,
or dried tea flowers. For applying the
powder, they have a small brush look
ing very much like the western tooth
brush, or a fine silk towel. For improv-
ing the color of the nail many washes
have been invented. Nearly all seem
manufactured upon a general formula
of an alcoholic base tinted pink and
containing a solution of some gum
lacquer, which, when dried, remains
moderately elastic. The nail-scissors
are small, like those of the west, SO
far Is the blades are concerned, but
the loops are altogether different. The
thumb loop is of normal size, while
it's mate is large enough for two or
even three and four fingers. This con
struction gives a firmer grip and more
accurate cutting quality. Curious i'm
plements are the cutting tweezers.
These have straight or convex edges
and are employed to remove callous
or dead skin, trim nails, and to cor
rect the growth of tissue on the tip
Of the finger below the nail. For pol
ishing the under side of the nail, es-
pecially near the quick, little sticks
of hard, elastic wood are used. These
are cut with varying heads. Some
come to q point, others to chisel-like
edges, while a third are cut into brush
like ends which will carry a large
amount of polishing powder. Many
Chinese women, instead of cutting the
sticks, chew the ends into little
brushes.