The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-25
AMERICAS CRY FOR HAIR.
PRICES TREBLED IN THE LAST
FOUR YEARS.
Europe Meets Part OF the Demand OF New
York Women. China q Part and the
Goats OF Turkestan Supply Some More
busy Times In n Blond Hair Factory.

Goats OF Turkestan Supply Some More
Busy Times In n Blond Hair Factory.
In thess days a woman may manage
very we'll with hats and gowns Of domestic
manufacture. but sae cannot get on without
imported hair, for the reas IN that the bulk
Of the human hair used in America ONE
from Europe.
One of New York's dozen Of importers
OF human hair des ribbed the pres mt de-
mand for fa'se hair by saying that his W
importations alone consisted OF seven or
eight cass, at a time. each containing
between 400 and 500 poundi Of hair. To give
an idea of how many separate articles this
quantity Of hair would make, he pointed
out that a two ounce switch is long and
thick, that a curly, hxuriant pompadour
weighs perhaps one ounce, and that a nat
front name of fine quality weighs oven less.
Curly bangs, puffs and curls weigh much
le' 8 han an ounce.
Dealers agree that the prices Of the finest
hair nave almost tire led in the last four
years on account OF the increas ed demand,
and also because hair of the finest qualities
Is SARGE. They add, though, that thirty
years ago New York women who wore the
waved fronts in fashion then paid bigger
prices for them than are charged now for
similar articles.
twenty-five years ago there we're women
who paid $3.50 for a small waved piece of
gray hair which now could be purchased
for little more than half that sum, said a
dealer, and for two reasons;
There WIS little competition in those
days, and good workmeh we're SARGE.
Put the two things together and 1t meant
that the few men in the business had a
SORT Of corner on hair goods
A Frenchwoman who started In bust
ness In this city twenty-five years g thinks
that the difference in price is explained in
part by the difference in workmanship. The
average work turned out formerly was far
better thar the average hair work now, she
believes. Said she:
Il must admit that superb work is done
now and also that styles are far more heau-
tiful, that we have dozens more varieties
thar the hair market included TWENTY-FIVE
years ago and that the working appliances
the NEEDLES. the blocks. the netting, every
thin in fact use1 in the hair business now
tend toward the pro 1uctior OF almost per-
feet specimens Of hair work In n minimum
Of time.
Nevertheless, In spite Of all these advan-
tages, none of us can show higher class ex-
amples Of hair work han those turne l out
in the days when it was the exception for
"A young woman with an ordinary head of
hair to invest in n false pompatour. When
| started in business there was only one
quality of work-the best-handei out to
customers; now there seem to be many
grades, ranging from best TO worst, and
almost as many qualities Of hair"
The best hair dealers all say much the
same thing. Non but frat class workmen
are emplovei in their establishments and
only natural hair of natural color is in their
stock. Chinese pigtails disguised may
adorn the heads Of some Of New York's
most attractive women, but If so it would
not be easy to trace them to a Fifth avenue
or Broadway hair shop.
"Only the best qualities in natural colors
comprise our stock. said one. This applies
even to the blond shades, of which there are
dozens-drabs. lighter and darker; goldens,
fiaxen, ash blond and all sorts of reis-and
which are far more expensive than the
'1rker colors because harder to get. Swe1e1
and Germany give us most of the light
shades.
Undoubtedly thee is co-si ie-able
blond hair in the retail Sc es which origi-
nallv was dark, but it will not be found
in A e. cl1ss concerns
Naverthel >ss, a look ITO the work rooms Of
rerhars the la~gest wholesale hal concen
/, the city would srgges. that the q is little
els, than bleac'led and dyed light hal
in New York. In this rl1ce hlnd 'e1s of
rounds Of block and We y dark b'own
hnir was soaki7g il big watts fllsi with
ble1c'i1g. chemicals, g e't ,qranli las Of
hat, hlaa aha RI "A IN UNIV U 1l1 and G n %
colo- hung il ore pound bu1ches from
clothes lines dying, helrs of the dried
tawny article we e s7reod out on tables be-
fore workmen who made it ready for another
bath.
More hri- 81 the some sort was cooking II
boiling liquids of diTe 'ent shades of colo
or unde going the final dressing at E ill
othe- tables. There wee clothes lines,
too, hung with bu7ches of pu e white hal"
orlv-or to be accurate, cream white hal.
This had jus, eme gel ON a chemical
bath witch changer black into white.
~The e is vey little natural gay o.
white hal" in the market tho MANAGE"
of this rllce confessed frankly. IT le
hair of elderly ,reonle is ant to be thin and
not Over and above he1lthy and natu ally
the owners would not be inclined to part
with it even il delle g wanted to buy.
All SHADES Of & ay witches, falls, waves,
r~ompadours, DE-, are mo luce by mi lgli ig
While and luck o. white aud da"k b own.
All b ldtlte VI nIHlt a a q w TIT I ~ ny
means of bleqches. Thee are dozens OF
slades OF natu al viii e hal and these we
faithfully coun' e felt nv the aid Of acids.
Amy retail de tie will tell you that many
women with white hal object strongly to a
yellow tint in it, othe 8 object to blue white
hal and nowadays the dealer must be able
to meet all these prefe 'ences:
1T Is no nper n question CT women
taking what they can get in the hair line,
hut Of the hair deale- handing out what
the women want. What nature hos not
done and will not do must be supplied by
art
sIs the color of these manufactured
blond shades enduring" the dealer vas
asked.
why. oe- tainly. Jrst as enduring as HI
color of a piece of silk or woollen d ess
goods. Heir growing on the head can't
Re dyed a fest color. for the eoson that it
can't be T. Gated with cer tain chemicals OF
r,,t into a pettle and boiled afte- the fashi n
q false hal. BIT it's dife ent with hair
afte- it has been cut.
what is known in the trade as first
quality heir is bought in Germany. Boheni'.
'Prssia, italy, Sweden and the north CT
France, principally, and f'om healthy
peasant ri Is by pedle 8. so called, VIII, DO
nothing else but travel the c,untrv owe
all the wear round on tia ooko 1t II our
gains in human hair. These men are ex-
pe'ts in. their business nn1 the e a'e mt