A HAIR-DYEING “ARTIST”

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 234, 29 June 1922, Page 5

A HAIR-DYEING “ARTIST”

SECRETS OF A MASTER OF MYSTERIES

THE PREVAILING* SHADE

, M. Bailet, a master of mysteries, has not discovered the elixir or youth, ' but ho does know how to stave off the ■ appearance of ago, and it is his rather •’ pathetic mission in life to persuade • the world that thousands of people are I much younger than they know them--1 selves to be. Their grey hairs would ■ give away the secret, and M. Bailet, ' therefore, takes care that the grey hairs assume a dark, or cendre, or golden tint. He told the Judge in the King’s Bench Division in London recently, j writes “A Woman Correspondent” in i the “Manchester Guardian,” when as a witness in the hair-dye case, that he considered he had dyed more persons’ hair than any other individual in the universe. In proof of (this claim he told mb to-day that (every, year 18,000 ladies visit his premises in Oxford Street to have, their j hair dyed, or rather 18,000 visits are paid by ladies, most of whom come 'three or four times in the year, as the 'growth of their hair makes it necessary to apply fresh dye to the roots. The istuff is put on with a brush, and the whole of the hair is done at the first i application. After that, unless a different colour is desired, only the new growth is treated. For every, hundred /women he reckons he treats ; sixteen to 'eighteen mbn, but they have to go every month. M. Bailet regards the matter philosophically but with compassion, especially when he talks about the people who come to him because in their employment it is necessary to disguise their age. or fall but of. the race. Among tne working women he has many shop assistants whose employers like the women behind the counter to have a fresh, bright appearance. Most of the men are business managers of hold other responsible positions. ' Why Women Dye their Hair. “Men never dye their hair because 'they want to look beautiful. I have ' only had one man who did,” he said/ “and he was a foreigner who was marrying a ■ girl much.' younger than himself.” A desire to retain their beauty and a sheer dislike of acknowledging their age are the reasons that bring most of his women customers, and women of eighty persist in wearing tinted hair. “No one .could guess,” says M. Bailet, “how many of the people one sees have had their hair dyed, but you don’t see many grey ladies now. The hair is dyed so skilfully that it is not suspected.” The pathos of this business does not attach only to the customer, who is, indeed, apt to be optimistic. M. Bailet is an artist. He studies the individual and knows that not only should hair of a certain tint go- with a certain complexion, but that, expression, age, character, and manner should all be taken into account. ' His clients pay ho attention at all to .these considerations. They like to (follow the fashion in hair, however unsuitable to them. The fashion of the moment is for oendro shades, mousey browns, with hardly a tint of red or gold. . \ Henna Unpopular. Henna-coloured hair is not the vogue at all. It is too common; women can dye -it that colour themselves, and everyone knows it has been dyed. Where henna is useful it is in brightening the once' auburn of Ted-gold hair that has begun to darken at the roots, and lose its glint. The tips of the hair remain beautiful, but that is the hair that started on its course six or. seven years before, and the woman in the early ’thirties, still far from fearing, grey hair, wants to regain her old beauty, so she takes to dyes. Haul of any colour can be dyed to the now fashionable shade, but if it a dark brown, or red, or black, it must first be bleached before it can take the' cendre tint.

To illustrate his art M. Bailet produces a long frame from which dangled tresses dyed in all the desirable colours. He explains that it is English women who like mousey-brown hair. It is a colour only suitable for delicate faces, but'“English people have delicate faces," he says pleasantly. Scandinavian women select red-gold shades of brown, with a touch of red-gold. Jewish women, and those of all the later races, prefer black and browns. The practice of dyeing hair is more widespread than ever before, says 'M. Bailet, speaking with 32 years’ experience. For one thing, the advertisements have accustomed thousands of .people to the idea, and for another the war brought premature’ grey hair, and though hair that has whitened through worry or illness often regains its coloui' people have had> recourse to dyes. A curious fact is that working close under p gas light . frequently turns hair grey before its time.