The prices of hair range all the way from $15 to $200 per pound, (a wide range, but certainly not too large,) and is rated according to hue, length and texture. The smallest price paid is for the short, coarse hair of the poorest quality, and which can be used only for certain purposes. Hair of the ordinary colors range in price from $15 to $100 per pound, but that of gray and white from $100 to $200 per pound, and even then is not considered exorbitant. In fact, hair is worth any and all prices. We know of one dealer who had in his possession a very small quantity, weighing but a half pound and measuring seventy inches, for which he was offered four hundred dollars! and, strange as it may appear, he refused to accept it. White hair is mostly obtained by being picked from the gray, and it not unfrequently happens that many hundred pounds have to be assorted before being able to secure one single pound of pure white. It is mainly used in the manufacture of wigs, and it frequently puzzles the dealer to prepare one for a customer that will exactly match, and this, with the scarcity of the article, cause the extraordinary price.
Hair is shipped in both a prepared and unprepared state. That which is prepared undergoes a process of washing, scouring and cleansing, which leaves it in the nicest possible state; all the oil, dirt and other unhealthy substances are completely separated from it, leaving it perfectly free from all unhealthy influences. That which is shipped in an unprepared, or raw state, is subjected to the same process of cleansing after its arrival, and it is so thorough that it is altogether impossible for anything except the hair to remain. It has frequently been examined with a microscope, which has proved in every case how successful the cleansing process had been, for it revealed nothing whatever of a foreign nature, and, in fact, after its extraordinary cleaning it would be simply impossible.
After being fully prepared it is then made into switches, curls, plaits, fronts, wigs, chignons, and not a small amount is used in the manufacture of hair jewelry, and such other articles as are worn for ornaments. The jewelry manufactured at this time is as durable as the all gold jewelry, and is done in a style of surpassing neatness, thus rendering it beautiful, either as an ornament or memento. There are but very few places in the United States where hair jewelry is made, and as it is comparatively a new business, but few have learned it. It is surprising, however, to notice the many beautiful patterns and elegant designs into which it is transformed. There is nothing in the way of jewelry or ornament of any description but what is or may be made from human hair; and, after being gold-mounted, the contrast between them makes the hair jewelry preferable to the all gold.
There are many strange incidents related of the human hair suddenly changing its color—many of which it is hard to believe—and the causes assigned are various. We are told of persons who, from excessive grief, found their hair had gradually changed from a dark brown to an almost perfect white; others, from the same cause, in the short space of one week discovered their hair plentifully streaked with grey, giving them the appearance, although young, of being quite old. Many have had their hair change on account of extreme fright, but we have now to give the first instance we have ever heard of its turning from white to that of any other color, except by the aid of dyes.
A Parisian, M. Stanislaus Martin, has published in the Bulletin de Therapeutique the curious case of a worker in metals who had wrought in copper only five months, and whose hair, which was lately white, is now of so decided a green that the man cannot appear in the street without immediately becoming the object of general curiosity. He is perfectly well, his hair alone being affected by the copper, notwithstanding the precautions taken by him to protect it from the action of the metal. Chemical analysis shows that his hair contains a notable quantity of acetate of copper, and that it is to this circumstance that it owes its beautiful green color, which is most singular and remarkable.
The practice of wearing false hair, although it was not generally dealt in as traffic, has been in vogue many hundred years. The Greek and Roman ladies were, in olden times, as active in their toilet for the head as the fashionable ladies of the present day, and false hair was always brought into requisition, which was then obtained from the Germans, and they in turn from their slaves.
Powdering the hair, which is now the rage in all fashionable circles, is also an ancient practice, and was as much indulged in by the men as the women. History tells us that the consumption of hair powder by the soldiers of George II was enormous. It was calculated, that inasmuch as the military force of England and the colonies was, including cavalry, infantry, militia and fensibles, 250,000, each man used a pound of flour a week, simply for powdering their hair. The quantity consumed in this way was 6,500 tons per annum; an amount sufficient to sustain 30,000 persons on bread. Gold and silver hair powder was also plentifully used, and at a time much earlier in the world's history, than is generally supposed. Josephus relates that Solomon's horse-guards daily strewed their heads with gold-dust, which glittered in the sun; and there are similar instances of different personages recorded in the bible.
The human hair seems to have been given us both for an ornament and covering—being susceptible of transformation in almost any desired shape, and apparently indispensable for covering and protecting the head. The ancient Greeks were very partial to long hair, considering it by far the more becoming; but the Egyptians regarded it as an incumbrance, shaved their heads, and substituted wigs. The ancients, generally speaking, strangely considered a fine head of hair so desirable, that it became sacred. They frequently dedicated it to the gods, on important occasions of marriage, victory, escape from death and danger, and the burial of friends. Different styles of wearing the hair, was resorted to for denoting the various grades, or positions in life, of the people, some wearing it quite long, others short, and some dressing it in a peculiar manner,—each style, or length, being according to the condition, wealth, or social standing of the wearer. Plucking it out, or neglecting it, was a token of affliction.
Hair contains a very small quantity of water, manganese, iron, and various salts of lime, which have been found by the various methods of analyzation, and it is owing to these properties that it is peculiarly indestructible. It has been found on mummies, more than twenty centuries old, in a perfect and unaltered state, and many instances are related, which are now admitted to be facts, of the hair continuing to grow, for a time, after death.
There has never before been a book written and published, that was particularly dedicated to the subject of Hair, and as the field is a vast one, both as regards the importance of the subject, and the information to be gained thereby, it is simply strange that no one has ever entered it. It has been too long neglected, and the increasing necessity for a treatise of this kind, has been pressed upon the attention of the author, and induced the publication of this work, which will certainly meet the necessities of the age.