Investigations which have been carried on by Dr. Kyo Hashimoto, of the Niigata Medical College, has led him to announce that the highly complicated mechanical equipment for permanent waving of the hair is most injurious be~ cause of the high temperature at which it is operated, and that" women resorting to this ald to beauty must prepare ultimately to become bald. As one form or another of inducing graceful curves into ordinarily straight hair has been in use for at least the last twenty years, without any such evil results having become widely spread, it will generally be felt that the pro nouncement comes somewhat late in the day, and it is unlikely this threat, which has not yet become very apparent, will deter women from having permanent, or more properly temporarily permanent curls arranged for them by their hairdressers, Women who will suffer almost anything for beauty' ko some future date their hair may become very short, or entire baldness ensue, and it is almost 1s unlikely that they would refrain from present practices if a degree of inevitability were im~ ported into the pronouncement which at present is missing. That the process is attended with some risk is clear from the number of damage suits which actually are tried in the courts, and the much larger number which never engage the attention of the judges, but this fact has had no effect upon the willingness of risks involved in the operation. Whether there is merit or not in Dr. Hashimoto's discovery still remains to be seen, but he conveys a little comfort, if what says is correct, in his additional statement that women will not worry- because wigs now very skilfully made and are obtainable at moderate prices. However much they might dislike the idea of wearing such confections, the women will probably argue that as long their hair lasts to give them the curled appearance they desire while good looks are of paramount appearance, they will bother: very little whether they have to wear wigs or not when passing years bring them tothe tine: [when "such things no longer matter. The doctor's discovery is, therefore, very ikely to influence women either one way or the thi while it is more than a Uittle offset by: the. discovery of the American hairdresser. who lits developed a method whereby all worten may be given permanent waves by a new method of cutting the hair. His discovery has already been tried out in the western heraisphere, while he has recently been teaching it to people in the United Kingdom. Should the scheme be as successful as is already claimed, the time will soon come when women will no longer spend hours under the hands'of present day sorcerers, but having delivered themselves over the expert wielder of the scissors for a few times, spend the rest of their lives free from all the terrors of the modern phantastic-looking machine whereby such results are at present obtained.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.