PRESEWING “YOUTH”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 96, 6 April 1934, Page 3

PRESEWING “YOUTH”

Men With Dyed Hair WIGS FOR BALD PATCHES “You would be surprised if you knew the number of men in Auckland who dyed their hair,’’ said an Auckland chemist in an interview. “Just like the women, men seem to be showing an increased anxiety to preserve tneir youthful appearance. In some cases it is just vanity, but in other it is a desire to appear youthful when applying for a job.” “The number of men who dye their hair definitely is increasing,” said another chemist. “A few years ago I sold only two or three packets of hair dye a month. Now I sell two or three dozen. The only difference between the menand women who buy it is that the men tell the truth, and say they want it for themselves. The women usually say they want it for someone else.” Whereas women were very particular as to the shade of dye required, he said, men were by far the easiest customers to serve. They bought their hair dye in the same way as they bought anything else. They just went into the shop and said, “Give me something brown,” as the case might be, and put down their money. In some cases he thought men dyed their hair because of a fear that approaching grevness might prejudice them in their employment or prevent them from obtaining work. “Not only are more men touching up their grey patcheswith hair dye,” said a beauty specialist, “but quite a number are wearing wigs over their bald patches. The reasons are many. In some cases, remembering the conquests of their youth, they wish to go courting again. Then, they might also have their laces tinted and their appearance generally rejuvenated. Others may be seeking employment. One man came to me because he had been refused work on account of his age. I fixed him up. He went back, got the job and was made foreman.

“But it is not only the middle-aged men who patronise the beauty parlour. We have young men who come regularly to get their hair waved or their eyebrows touched up. The other day w-e even had a young Chinese in to get his hair waved.

“It is the influence of the films which sends the younger generation to us. Just as the girls come in to get their hair made like Norma Shearer’s or somebody else’s, so the young men come in, sent bv their girl friends, to get themselves modelled on Douglas Fairbanks or one of the other-actors. And the coming generation will probably be worse because they are growing up to the idea.,”