HAIRDRESSING AND MISSIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19328, 15 May 1926, Page 9

HAIRDRESSING AND MISSIONS.

Sir,—-1 noticed that the Rev. B. de Lambert made some strong remarks at a conference, of the C.E3I.S. at Christchurch regarding the amount of money spent by women in attention ; to their hair. .'I understood that tho C.E.M.S. was a men's society and naturally would have thought that , the matters for discussion at the conferences held by them would be those pertaining to the lives of men. It seems, however, that the valuable time,of a conference of this .body was 'spont considering tho womenfolk's hau and the cost of keeping it in trim according to fashion. There has been in the! past quite a lot of correspondence in regard to women's hair and women go on wearing their hair just as they wish — but the reverend gentleman objects to the cost. He. states-: "There is more spent on th«v latest fashion "in women's hail-dressing than is given to missions," and then, "That £2,000,000 annually spent on hairdressing goes to show that we have lost all sense of proportion." Statistics are always very interesting and perhaps the Rev. de Lambert could go a little further and let us know how many women are concerned in the spending of this amount of £2,000,000 annually (not many of us have much- money to spend). It would also be interesting, to know how much is spent annually by mon in having their hair trimmed and dressed according to the fashions for none will deny that" fashion rules the appearance of men as truly as she (or is it "he" in this instance) rules the attire of tho opposite sex. More men have their hair cut and trimmed regularly than women. It is quite a common practice for women to trim up each other's—and even their own —hair between attentions from a professional. But are there a dozen men in our midst who would risk spoiling tho fashionable cut of their hair by having an amateur' .save them eighteen pence? And when ail is said and done, does not the money paid to keep our hair in order help also to keep that money circulating-r----which is supposed to bo the best thing for money and for the population? And, as regards the missions. Well, I. do not suppose that those who are in the habit of contributing to these will" subscribo any less for the fact that every two or three months they pay out Is 6d or 2s to have their hair trimmed. C.L.C.