Women Barbers in London.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 3 June 1890, Page 2

Women Barbers in London.

Womkx b .rbers have come to pass alroaily. In the basement of g5, Chtncery-lane a neat little s.iloon has ju»t been fitted up and opened for slaving and hair cutting and the assistants are throe niceiy-dressed nent figured young women who travel all day with scissors or the razor over lie skulls and faces of of male cust<;nie s. They do it very skilful y, too, I'iom what I saw ( writes a Pfift •'/«// re.orterV Not being blessed with a beard myself, T could not have a practical tost ; but

one day this week the three yo»ng women " haibercd " fift^-sevan men and the place has only been opened for a tew days. The girls are dressed in black with white large bibbed aprons, finished off with little bows of ribbon, suid they wear large will 0 cuff;} and Eton collars. I was curious to l'«rn wher<* the girls got their experience, for they seemed ex* treroely deft. The proprietor of -ho saloon is a shrewd middle aged man and irom what he said he seemeJ a uian of ret-ouree. Having got the idea, lie advertised in a daily papur for several respectable young women willing to learn a business that would bring them in from 17s to a guinea a week. " I was inundated with applications, "he said. "There were 105 replies. I interviewed fifty, and out of those selected the three I now employ. Some of the applicants were quite indignant at the idea. On* young women wrote to say she could not come, because her mother wouldn't hear [of her being a barber. I saw the mother and though she admitted she would allow her daughter to be a barmaid she couldn't see the morality of iier getting her living as a barber. " However, I got the girls together and hired a set of second hand tackle and a place off Red Lion-street, and announced that men and boys could be shaved and have their hair cut for nothing. We got so many th-.-t we had to bar the crowd out. For a month the girls practised ; I hired a German to teaoh them how to hold the, razor, and they gut plenty of practice. Before we Btarted I pointed out t > them that they were going to embark on a rather novel enterprise, and it lay with themselves to nuintain their dignity aa women . And I think I can Bay with safety that, although tbeie are working girls, they are all ladies in mind." It was quite refreshing to hear an employer of labour talk, of his employes than otherwise as money making machines The girls seem to get on rery well with their emp oyer. The proprietor ueg ected to prepare the agreement by which the girls weie bound to serve him for a year ; Lut, though one of the girls was offered 80s a week by a rival barber, they refused to leave the "Don"— that is the name of the saloon. I asked whether men were not sometimes taken aback when they entered to find only women to shave them. " Yes we have had a few hesitate and go out again, The othor day aa old gentleman from the country with some friends same in, but when be saw the girls be aaid dubiously, • I'm not going to let those lasses shave me. I don't want my throat cut before I go home tonight.' However hia friends were shaved, he looking; on and later on iv the day the old gentleman came in again and was shaved too." " But where did you get the idea of women barbers from?' 1 — "I have travelled a good deal, and at San Franci co and Malta I was shaved by womeu, and found that they handled one far more delicately than men. Their touch is lighter; they don't scrape or pull a man's fee about roughly, like men. Their wrists are more supple." I asked one of the girls who had just finished shaving a customer how she liked the business. " Very well indeed ; and the men we sh.ave say he have a very light hand I was nervous at first iv learning ; the men we practised on had very rough beards. But one soon acquired a firm liaud. I like sbareiug better than haircutting. It's so much easier. We have to know all the styles of trimming beards of course.' The girls eeem to really take an interest in their work* The pay is not bad, and the hours— from half past eight till six — are not heavy. Of course there is nobody in < haneery lan« after that hour. The pro* prietor told me that if this saloon is successful he intends opening others in various parts of London. The pirls have a little kitchen all to themselves, where they brew their tea and coffee and make themselves generally cosy.