Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-04-08
Nets of Hair.

uAIR nets. properly speaking. are
not simply nets for the hair: they
are nets made OF hair. Strassbourg,
now In French territory, and Vienna
are. in normal times. the only cities
where hair nets are sold in important
amounts. Years ago Strassbourg was
the greater center Of this trade. but
since then the Alsatian peasants have
devoted more time 10 the cultivation
Of their fields and vineyards and have
engaged In other industries.
The peasants of Bohemia (Czecho-
slovakia) continue to work at their
hair net making. because their rug
ged mountain country furnishes few
opportunities for more lucrative en-
ployment. 1t now appears that ra-
Their more hair nets are made in Aus
tria than in Alsace-Lorraine, but
Strassbourg buys and sells many of
the Austrian nets.
In normal times Srassbourg sells
annually about 12.o00,00 hair nets
During the last few years, OF course.
trade has declined. for obvious rea-
sons-the change in the style OF Golf
fure and the increased use of nets
made OF silk. The hair nets are made
almost wholly in the homes of Alsa-
tian and Austrian peasants. Weaving
the nets is a work requiring manual
dexterity, that can be acquired sue
q
fingers are supple and the eyesight
good.
This industry and the peculiar skill
required to net hair has become in
part hereditary. The children begin
first TO tie the hairs together. end
to end. to make one long hair. Then
without any implements except a
round piece of wood about six inches
! long and half an inch in diameter
and a needle. the older girls and
| women, and sometimes the men also.
| weave the nets. Each mesh is
knotted in much the same way that
fish nets or hammocks are made. only.
of course. tying a single hair is a
more delicate and difficult task than
tying a string.
The work Is poorly paid. The rate
/ is unusually low at present. To make
dozen nets a day IS a days work
of ten or twelve hours. When the
demand is greater the pay increases
| more or less in proportion. More
is paid for making gray nets than
! for the ordinary colors. The latter
are made with a single hair. but in
gray nets one white hair and one col
| ored hair-black, brown or auburn
are loosely twisted together. These
nets accordingly require twice as
much hair and their weaving is
slower and more difficult work.
Practically ali the hair used in
making hair nets comes from China
No other hair possesses just the right
degree of coarseness and residence to
give that peculiar elastic spring to
the mesh that good hair net re-
Quires. The hair OF the northern
blonde races is too fine and soft and
consequently utterly useless for this
purpose. The black hair of the
southern races, Italian and Spanish,
is a little coarser and more suitable.
, Japanese ndif Is TOO Stln and coarse.
The hair OF the yak has been tried
without much success.
Most Of the Chinese hair used by
these peasants is prepared at Paris.
This preparation of the hair for hair
nets Is a complicated and delicate
process. in which only a few persons
Of long experience succeed. 1t Is a
special and more or less secret
process, which consists in cleaning
the hair. bleaching 1t and washing
out the bleach and then dyeing 1t
| to just the right colors and shades
that style and the market demand.
The nets of Strassbourg are made
in two general forms-the circular
self adjusting cap nets and the fiat
form. Each net is shipped in a
separate envelope bearing some trade
or firm name.