JOTTINGS FOE WOMEN.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10147, 21 September 1898, Page 4

JOTTINGS FOE WOMEN.

THE HAIR. There is no doubt about the fact that fashion and nature are decidedly at variance over the coiffure of the "well done woman nowadays. The former decrees that puff and coils galore shall grace the^head 1 , the Litter fails utterly to supply the wherewithal to jariything like the *&**' sary extent. Hence the tendency of the modern woman tt. supplement the tresses. nature gave her. It is distinctly odd how. the prejudice against false hair lias diminished in, the last few years. A girl will talk about her toupee as calmly as she will discuss the merits of a pair of gloves, while the mental anguish that once attended the parting of a woman with her supplementary "wisp" is now ancient history. Naturally, many women want to know to whom they owe' their borrowed plumes, and in the circumstances it is distinctly cheering to realise, that it is not altogether, or mainly, female criminals who supply the market. The peasantry of Switzerland!, Germany,

and France cultivate their hair for the express purpose of selling it; and a girl whose hair is at once fine in texture and a srnod marketable colour is always sure of a ready market foi her locks. Purel- white J,aii\ if long and fine, is the most valuable, ami can be converted into quite a little fortune. Foi a crop of hair, white as snow and fine as spun silk, as large a sum as £190 has been given, and in these quiet out-of-the-way villages hair farming certainly becomes a profitable occupation, .supposing that only two srncli crops could be raised in a lifetime. It has been stated»that the ex-Empress Kuiienie paid no less than £'10 nn ounce for hair to mutch her own, and many society ladies pay nearly as much for hair that squally matches their own. A NEW USE FOR SCENT. The l;t test fad in Paris ia a new way of literally impregnating the person with perfume. Some smart lady, so rumour sayfr, bad the deadly morphia habit; in other words inoculated herself with the morphine gvringe ior a whim, not to deaden pain. finding that the odour clung to her, after using it iv any great quantity, for it is marvellous how much of this deadly poison the limnim frame can gradually accustom itself to, she as a caprice filled the syringe with scent and inserted it under the skin. As the result made her literally impregnated with sweet scents, she habitually practised it, puncturing her arms in different places, until her maid found it out and gave the cecret nway. Lest any of our readers should be foolish enough to emulate her, we would tell them that it is dangerous to a degree, the perfumes being composed often of poisonous substances.

THE UP-TO-DATE BATHING COSTUME. The bathing costume ot the modish American damsel is tins year of a more remarkable character than it has ever been before. When she goes out to swim, she has decreed that the ordinary rules and regulations which have dominated her dress «ha!l no longer be in force, and in the water ehe is wearing a great many jewels—necklaces, bracelets, brooches, belt buckles, and belt pins, as well as little jewelled safety pins—in various parts of her costume. Furthermore, instead of going into the water bare-headed and bare-armed, she wears gloves to the shoulder. These are made of silk or of washable kid, of a colour harmonising with the rest of her costume, for tanned arms are no longer to be tolerated, although tanned face, is eminently desirable, according to the latest decree of fashion. She also wears a hat elaborately trimmed with artificial flowers of such material as is not hurt by the water which may splash them. The swimming dress this year comes well below the knees, for shorter skirts mc out of fashion; and the boots worn are much higher than usual, buttoning up the foot and being tied with wa»habk ribbon higher up.