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Iw one can judge by the rapi: dity with which bobbed hair hi come into fashion in all Western, countries, it would appear that, the hair net trade of this country is permanently doomed. Little did the ladies think as they felt their tresses slipping before the barber's scissors that they would be throwing a vast army of Chinese women and children out of employment, Yet this is the truth, for the haimmet trade was no mean factor in China's export commerce, reaching as it did in the peak year to no less a value than well over Hk. Tls. 2 million in value, In 1916 ten gross the numerative for nets, in 1921 thousands of gross had become the numerative, as many as 1 000 gross being posted in one day from Chefoo, which was the great hair net centre, To-day 10 gross is again the numerative, and orders do not come in with any marked regularity.
Until} women began to cut their locks to such shortness that nets were considered to be no longer needed to keep their hair in comely contour, the hair net business was possibly the most striking branch, of Chinese exports, It attracted scores of foreign firms, mostly American—for America was the! most lucrative market—while Chinese firms started in legions. Year after year dollars literally poured into the workers, until conservatively estimated by the Commissioner of Customs at Chefoo to be not short of a lion dollars for the province of. Shantung alone. Profits were enormous, if the work went, through without drawbacks. For, example, one pound of hair was worth, say $11: nets of a pound weight, about ten gross, were worth $35, the added value, of course, consisting of overhead, transport and labour of working' and repairing, labour representing about 70 per cent. The hair-net trade, however, seems to have come originally to China by mere chance. In former days Germany and Austria had almost 4 complete monopoly of the busines, the distributing centre being at Strasburg. In 1909 a London dealer noticed that a net was coming from Strasburg at cheaper price, whose quality was equal to the most expensive net on the market. Its origin was a mystery. This went on for three years, when the discovery of a scrap of paper in a parcel of hairnets led to the source of the cheaper nets being traced to Tsinanfu—a few Chinese characters on the scraps of paper, lad _given the game away.
Then the trend of business! changed. The Germans in China had cleverly kept their business secret by sending parcels of hairnets by mail to small villages in Germany without _making Customs declaration. The small packages were then forwarded to Strasburg. In 1914 London, dealers began to buy direct from, Chefoo, and for a few years they controlled the trade in Europe and America, Then shipments' began to find their way direct to, the United States, and New York became the world centre for the! distributing trade. The fact that, the Chinese-made net was better than the German-made variety, speaks well for the carefulness of the female workers, but for a [very long time the Chinese were unable to treat the hair properly for the manufacture of the best nets. Consequently, the hair was shipped from this country to Europe and America, where it was softened, bleached, and then dyed to the desired colours, after which it was shipped back to China, Here it was manufactured into nets, and the completed articles were again sent abroad fon their return journey to Europe and America, where they found their way into a very profitable retail market. A study of retail prices in London and New York would offer eloquent testimony on the profits reaped by the dealers. Treatment of the hair is by bleaching with hydrogen peroxide made from the sodium peroxide, and when necessary the hair could be bleached to absolute whiteness. Then the hair had to be thinned, for Chinese hair is notoriously course, 4nd this was done by a chemical process, Finally, it was boiled in dyes to take on the desired colour, and this required great skill, Needless to say, the Chinese attempted this work, but we believe we are right in saying that hair treated in China never did even approximate in final beauty that which had been shipped out of the country for treatment abroad.—Moreover, immediately the Chinese saw that the trade was established hey could not refrain from their usual abuse of the goose that Jaid the golden egg. In attempting to prepare the hair themselves, the workers turned out very inferior article, with the result that claims and rebates were frequent. They had no knowledge of the chemical agen! ito be used in bleaching, thinning Sand dyeing and usually left the hair in the re-agents much longer' in 1921 the sum go earned wan: than was required, with the unhappy result that the nets changed colour quickly and had.
tendency to rot during shipment. In must, however, be sai that the industry was on a much, better basis at the time the. foreign hair-bobbing—_craze started, Tt seems, however, that the' future demand for hairnets will be but a tithe of what it has been. Where a lady used a net practically every day, she now Wears one a week perhaps, or none at all if she can contrive to keep her locks in permanent curl. In this case nets form no vert of her toilet, and she dis-Jcards them altogether. There are, moreover, certain fashions in bobbing which demand that. the hair shall be neither long' enough nor short enough to require a net to keep it tidily in Place. Whether fickle fashion will ever again compel women t cease "bobbing" and "shingling, he would be a bold man to pre-ict. So long as barbers succeed in coercing the fair sex to keep their hair short, depriving them of what to the male eye is possibly their greatest charm, so long will the Shantung hair net workers be compelled to seek other activities to earn the wherewithal to live. But fashion has changed before and will change again, so there is hope for the workers of Shantung yet.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.