A FLOURISHING BUSINESS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3755, 2 March 1926, Page 82

A FLOURISHING BUSINESS.

FASHION OF SHINGLING

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, January 7. It is the estimate of a fashionable hairdresser that about 50 per cent, of women m England have gone in for short hair. There are approximately 14,000,000 women over the age of 16 years in England and Wales, so that possibly 7,000,000 are shingled. Everyone of them has to go to the hairdresser once a fortnight for a trim. Many women go twice weekly to be kept in good order. The average cost of a trim is 2s 6d, although some firms charge £2 2s the first time a head is shingled and £1 Is for every subsequent trimming. On the other hand, large numbers of barbers have started shingling as a side line, for which they charge as little as Is. In addition to the money which hairdressers take for shingling, the new fashion has created a greater demand for permanent waving and curling. It is estimated .that the extra £21,000,000 women now spend in having their hair attended to is divided between 25,000 shops, thus giving the proprietors an average additional turnover of nearly £IOOO every year. This amount is increasing every year, as every day more women follow the fashion, and have thei»* hair cut off. . The demand for skilled hairdressers is far greater than the supply, and there is a dearth of good men and women shinglers on the market. This dearth of assistants is likely to continue, because, according to hairdressers, it takes a man three years to learn to cut hair. A clever shingler may earn as much as £2O a week in an exclusive hairdresser’s shop in London, hut the average wage in the provinces and suburbs is about £5 a week. A LUXURY, NOT A NECESSITY. These figures are staggering, comments the Daily Express. There are no hairdressers on the dole. It is a mystery where all the shinglers come from. Thousands are steadily employed in the new hairdressing shops which have been opened all over the country. Probably tho art of shingling is quickly acquired by those who have already learned to cut tlie hair of men. The fact that so many women can afford the cost of shingling is a sign of prosperity. Shingling, after all, is a luxury, not a necessity.