The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-26

III PURE WHITE 1T COSTS MORE
THAN ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD.
Little OF II for Sale--8a 200 Wig for a
Chicago W0man-Ash Blonde the Shade
Next I'm Value-The Stages Demand for
Wlys-Spirhtuallstic Mediums Swindle.

] OF two young thieves who were accused
OF stealing 800 pounds OF human hair from
| a dealer.
There is probably some mistake about
that case" remarked another dealer. IF
the hair they stole was only average
| quality American hair, and they had 800
| pounds of IL, its value was in the neighbor-
hood Of $4,000. If it was fine imported
hair, its value could easily have been
$3.50. 900.
Hair is the most expensive commodity
! on the market, short Of radum and dia-
| monds 1t costs more than its weight in
| gold. Some hair costs 500 an ounce.
That is 81 600 pound. II the youthful
sneak thieves had made away with hair OF
this quality. their swag would have been in
the neghborhood OF S4sO, 900
But this expensive hair necessarily ex-
lists in very small quantities. That is why
is 1t 80 rare and 30 expensive.
This particular hair which costs 500 an
ounce Is the pure white hair, uncolored by
age, cut from the head OF living person.
and measuring at least thirty inches.
Shorter hair Of the purest white commands
high price, but in order to get the record
value the length must be at least thirty
inches.
And in all the Unted States there is
probably not pound and q half Of this per-
feet white hair for sale. Many aged people
have it, but those who do will not sell.
Elderly people with long white hair should
not be tempted to cut it off in the hope Of
getting 500 an ounce for 1t without first
having an expert inspect it, IL 1t is tinged
with yellow its value is reduced to almost
nothing. We can get plenty Of long white
hair tinged with yellow, but the pure white
is extremely rare and very expensive.
"A wig made for the wife OF Chicago
bank president by me two years ago OF this
pure white hair, cost the lady 200. And
it took me nearly year to collect the hair
from all over the country. l used about
five ounces in the wig.
Girls who live in Harlem or the suburbs
sometimes get dead broke while down town,
and want to know that they can sell their
hair for. A mother once brought her
fourteen year-old daughter in to me to
ask if / would buy the daughters hair.
refused, because l don't make business
| Of buying hair raw, as we say.
Il should say that hair on young girls
l head, II about thirty inches long and OK
| fair quality would bring the owner from
| IS to $40, according to length and thickness.
| But an American girl who sells her hair for
| this trifling sum Is acting very fo0lishly.
OF course, II she is only IA or 10 It Will grow
| long again, and cutting the hair does i'm
prove the growth, but l never advise any
American girl to part with her hair.
THE most expensive shade, next TO the
| white hair have mentioned, Ia what is
known as ash blonde. 1t Ii a mouse -colored
| hair, very rare--not the pale peroxide blonde
produced by artificial means, but the natural
| pale blonde. Hair OF this kind Is easily
worth $50 an ounce, but very few people
| have It.. ~,
aThe cheapest kind Of hair is black Chi
| nese hair, out from the queues OF Cinnamon.
| You can buy this hair for IS pound. II IA
| used only for stage purposes, In making
what we call Mkado wigs
This is the busy season OK the year lor
| wig-makers. estimate that between now
| and the first of September, when the theat-
rical season opens, the output for the sea-
| son will include about 400 soubrette Wigs
| with fluffy curls to be worn by rough SOU
| brettes; about / 500 white wigs for use IN
| the many Shakespearian plays that are
| scheduIed for production; about 800 Oriental
wigs for Biblical plays; about 500 Japanese
wigs for several big productions; about 6Oo
brown George wigs for, general use and Tor
| Shakespea rian plays; about the same num-
| her of fright wigs for Use in the rough.and-
! tumble farce comedies; and numbr OF spe-
| cial wigs made for certain persons
| They seasons output will also include
no less than l 500 fluffy wigs for chorus
! girls. These chorus girls buy them singly
and nav for them themselves, whereas
| the mana cement usually pays for the wigs
of a big production. The chorus girl in
vests in wig made for herself because
| il Ia easier and prettier to wear a Wig every
night than it is to curl her own 9rn mar 4, for
a rough black wig to $500 for a very nne
production. l charged $50 for most
| peculiar wig which I made few months
ago; ~ ,,o VA
fused to give her name, called on me and
said she wanted wig to be worn with her
own hair, which would reach to the floor
She was a blonde, and | succeeded after
some difficulty in getting the hair she
Il made it up SO that it fastened under
! her own hair, and when she put 1t on it
| touched the ground and looked real She
refused to say why she wanted it or who
abe was. She paid me the $3.50 ard | have
| never seen her since. Since she was not
| an actress and didn't look like an advertise
ment for hair oil, can only conclude that
she wanted to appear in some amateur
theatricals.
@There are other people who wear wigs
too Some OF them are spiritualstio me-
| diums For long time was puzzled by
| orders from the Middle West, accompanied
by photographs Of elderly men. l was
requested to make up wigs and boards
80 that they were exact copies OF the par
! ticuar style of hairdressing shown In the
| photograph
II never found out until afterward that
| the orders came from a clever fakir who
posed as a spiritualistic medium. The
| photos he sent me were pictures OF prom
| inent dead citizens in small Western
| towns.
ale had a confederate who visited these
| towns a month or more in advance OF the
| fakir, This confederate collected photos
OF prominent dead citizens These were
| sent on to me, and ! made the wigs and
boards required
"Thev were delivered to the fakir, and
at the proper time during a seanoFan ex-
act reproduction OF the dear departed
| would appear az an apparition from the
| cabinet. A confederate, cleverly made
up, posed IA tho spirit.
Needless to say the advent of the spirit
OF prominent citizen created consterna-
tion. and the fal,ir was voted a marvellous
spiritualst. don't know where the fakir
is now, but he coined so much money that
think deserve percentage Of his profits
for the way he imposed upon me and made
me an innocent accomplice OF his decep-
ton
THE WOMAN AND THE BUTTER.
Pursuit OF a Pet Idea az Exhibited ON
Train From Chicago,