The Lady Barber.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue VIII, 23 August 1902, Page 462

Th e Lady Barber.

jyieinourne Has now got a dozen lady barbers, and the union of tonsorial artists views with considerable alarm this innovation, for not only do the girls appear to be popular, but they are dexterous with both razor and scissors, and much cheaper than the males. The latter have good ground for fear. I can think of no occupation except nursing for which women are more cut out by nature than barbering. Their taste, their soft delicate touch, their quiet ways, all fit them peculiarly for performing those offices which now devolve almost entirely on the sterner sex. Who is there that would not hail their advent in the hair-dressing saloon, where now we reluctantly deliver ourselves over to the roughhanded, unfeeling, garrulous tormentor, who scrapes our first skin off, and asks us blandly, “How does the razor feel?” There could be no risk of such an ordeal at the hands of a woman. The sex is too sensitive to the feelings of others to be able to give pain. In their delicate grasp the razor would glide smoothly over the most stubbly chin, and not bring the blnsh of irritation to the most, delicate cheek. Fancy the soothing effect of being lathered by a soft, little hand, or the thrill when two taper fingers closed sweetly on your nostrils. Generally we resent loquacity in the barber, but whp woilld not be shaved or have his hair trimmed to the musical accompaniment of a young female voice reciting the gossip of the day? The male barber bores you with his talk. The lady barber never could. I can forsee that if their employment became general —and if once introduced it must become general—beards would become a thing of the past. The moustache might remain, but only because of the opportunity it afforded of having its ends curled by the taper fingers already referred to. Age would sacrifice its scanty locks for the pleasure of having its head caressed by the ss.= loon sirens. Callow youth would cultivate a hirsute face more assiduously than ever, but only that it might be the sooner meet for the razor. Thus the high esteem in which the barber’s profession was held in days of old, and the popularity of his saloon as a fashionable resort, would be renewed. The latter would attract men from the club anti the charms of the bar, to which so many now fall victims, would wane before the attractions of the barber.