GERMAN HAIR DYE.

The process here given comprehends a double formula, and to insure satisfactory results, the directions subjoined should be carefully followed.

Directions.—Formula No. 1, and formula No. 2, should each be put up in a separate bottle.

In compounding, each of the first two ingredients should be combined and reduced to a solution and the water then added.

Before using these preparations the beard or hair should first be thoroughly washed and dried.

Then apply No. 1 with the fingers, and when partly dried apply No. 2 with a tooth brush and a comb, being careful to get the dye down to the skin. If convenient let the party go out into the open air for an hour. Otherwise the hair should be thoroughly dried with a fan, and washed with soap and soft water. This formula was brought from Germany by a St. Louis barber and sold to the author in 1869. Properly put up it is not only first-class, but I have never found any other preparation equal to it.

BROWN HAIR DYE.

Take four pounds of green walnut hulls. Put them in 1½ gallons soft water and boil down to three pints. Strain off through cloth until clear of sediment. To one quart of this add one quart of alcohol, and 3 ounces of glycerine. Use as other restorers, once a day until the desired shade is obtained. The hulls should be gathered in August.

QUININE HAIR TONIC AND SEA FOAM.

The strong point in favor of this preparation as a sea-foam is that it acts at the same time as a tonic for the hair.

Directions.—When using as a sea-foam, wet the hair and rub briskly with finger ends until the foam has disappeared. Then take a towel and rub partly dry.

When using as a dandruff cure, sea-foam twice a week, dampen the hair twice a day for two weeks, after which use once a week as a sea-foam. This will keep the scalp in fine condition.

After you have tried it you will use no other.

CREAM FOR CHAPPED HANDS AND FACE.

This recipe was given me by a druggist whom I have known for years. Its reliable and competent source is a sufficient guarantee:

Directions for Making.—First put quince seed in witch hazel and let stand twenty-four hours. Then strain through cheese cloth and add the other ingredients. I know this to be good for the face after shaving.

PYTHIAN CREAM.

This is another preparation for the face and hands.

Directions for Making.—Put gum tragacanth in water and let stand till thoroughly dissolved, and strain through a cheese cloth. Then add the glycerine and a sufficient amount of Pythian bouquet to perfume. Color pink with powdered carmine. It should be about the consistency of cream. If too thick add more water. There should be a half-gallon water to the four ounces of glycerine when finished.

BAY CREAM.

The only difference between this and Pythian Cream is in the perfume. Some like the bay rum better.

Directions.—Use the formula of the preceding and then add perfume with the genuine oil of bay.

COLD CREAM.

The only difference between this and the two preceding creams is that instead of perfume a compound of alcohol and menthol is used.

Directions.—Use the same body as for Pythian Cream, and then add alcohol and menthol as follows:

Put 6 drachms of menthol crystals into an ounce of alcohol. When the menthol is thoroughly dissolved add this combination to ½ gallon of the cream. The presence of the menthol gives this preparation a very pleasant cooling effect. Hence it is well named. This cream may, of course, be perfumed if desirable.

Instead of these face creams, some customers will prefer the pure bay rum, while perhaps many will prefer witch hazel. These can, of course, be obtained from barber supply houses or from drug stores; the witch hazel may be improved by adding to it a good cologne. Try two parts witch hazel to one part cologne.

BAY RUM.

Mash them well together and put them in a filter and pour in two quarts of water. Let it filter slowly, and then add 2 quarts Alcohol.

IMITATION OF BAY RUM.

Mix and let stand 3 days, then filter.

CAMPHOR ICE.

Mix together, melt and pour off in small salve boxes.

Melt together and pour off in salve boxes.

Both the Camphor Ice and the Menthol salve are good for tender faces.

SILVER GLOSS SHAMPOO.

This is an economic and very satisfactory preparation.

Refined Carbonate of Potash is also called Pure Salts of Tartar. I have found the English brands preferable.

Directions.—Shave the soap fine and put into the water (as per above formula), which should be contained in a porcelain vessel.

Let it boil until soap is thoroughly dissolved and strain off into another vessel, and then add the pure salts of tartar while still hot. Add the salt and enough more boiling water to replace the amount which has boiled away, and continue to stir until it becomes only luke warm; then add a few drops of the oil of cloves (or some other perfume), if desirable. Finally pour off in small jelly jars and set away for use. 1 gallon made in this way will make 5 gallons of ordinary shampoo, by simply adding 4 gallons more of water. This quantity should not cost over fifty cents. A pound of the refined carbonate of potash costs twenty cents, and a pound of castile soap only fifteen cents, and the perfume will cost less than the remainder of 50 cents.

One teaspoonful is enough to clean any ordinary suit of hair.

In cleaning ladies' hair it is well to add a little ethylic ether, commonly called sulphuric ether. Never use hard water. If necessary save up enough rain water. I give elsewhere directions for making shampooing outfit, which may also be conveniently used for shower baths in shops and houses where there is no connection with water works. Water to be used for shampooing should always be warm.

EGG SHAMPOO.

This favorite preparation should be used immediately after mixing.

Take 1 fresh egg, 1 teaspoonful of silver gloss shampoo, and ¼ teaspoonful of powdered borax. Mix together with an egg beater, and then use as other shampoos.

Take 2 ounces of the silver gloss shampoo, 2 ounces alcohol, 1 ounce glycerine and 1 pint water; shake well together and perfume to suit your fancy.

The shampoo or sea-foam can be colored a nice yellow by making a tea of saffron and water, adding enough after straining it to get the desired color. Powdered carmine can also be used to color a red or pink color.

BRILLIANTINE.

Take 1 ounce of good glycerine, ¼ ounce of rose geranium and 1 ounce water. Mix. This preparation is a good one, and can be made very cheap by using a less amount of the perfume. It never separates, and is good as long as there is a drop of it left.

ENGRAVING FLUIDS.

We here give a formula for making an etching fluid, to be used in marking razors, shears and other steel tools.

Directions.—Cover blade or plate with soap or varnish, and then with etching needle or common pencil write the name or letters desired, being careful to score or scratch through to the metal. Then fill the traced lines with the fluid and let it remain five minutes. The fluid will corrode the metal in the lines thus laid bare. Therefore when the covering and acid are washed off the lettering will remain.

Be careful to wash promptly and dry thoroughly.

BLACK HEADS.

What are known as black heads are generally found in the skin of people who are addicted to the use of much hog meat. Such people are also as a rule, rather careless, to say the least, about bathing their faces. A hint to the wise will be sufficient. Let them not be afraid a rough towel will scratch them. I give below a recipe highly recommended.

Apply this three times per day after first having thoroughly washed the face and rubbing dry with a coarse towel. Considerable benefit will, at least, be derived from a faithful application of the above.

HAIR BLEACHING.

First clean the hair with the Silver Gloss shampoo, and when dry apply peroxide of hydrogen until damp. When dry, again repeat the application, and continue to repeat it until nearly as light as desired.

The hair will continue to bleach a little lighter for about three days, and hence it is necessary to discontinue the application when the hair is a shade darker than desired.

WHITENING FOR THE FACE.

Put 1 ounce of the oxide of zinc into a plate and pour over it 3 ounces of soft water. Mash zinc with a spoon until it is all dissolved. Pour the solution into a pint bottle and fill up with witch hazel. When the weather is cold, pure soft water may be used instead of the witch hazel; but the preparation would sour in warm weather. Apply with a soft cloth.

BARBERS' ITCH.

Fear of this disease causes many men to shave themselves, and this class would otherwise be among the very best customers.

When these men observe how careless the average barber is with his towels, mugs, tools, etc., they become disgusted and purchase a shaving outfit and quit the barbers' chair, except when they want a hair-cut.

I believe every barber should know how to treat this disease. Hence I will make a few suggestions as to its causation and treatment.

Scabies, or itch, in its various forms is a disease caused by the irritation produced from the presence in the skin of what is called the itch mite and the ova of the same. The cure involves the destruction of these parasites. Get a doctor, if possible, to prescribe; if no doctor can be got who understands it, I would try the following: An ointment made from the flour of sulphur and lard or sulphur and vaseline, is about the best remedy known. Rub in well at night and wash off in morning. Or take citron ointment 1 ounce and mutton tallow 1 ounce. Melt together and stir till cool. This I have found one of the best salves for all skin diseases I have ever tried. Apply twice a day, but use with care since it contains mercury.

HAIR OILS AND HAIR DRESSINGS.

While oiling the hair is a thing of the past, we might indulge a few remarks as a matter of history. Thirty years ago almost every customer used oil on his hair, and every barber was expected to know how to mix his own oils. A favorite preparation was made as follows: 1 pint of alcohol and 1½ pints of castor-oil were shaken together, and then perfumed with citronella or bergamot.

Another favorite was made of raccoon oil and lard mixed half and half, and perfumed with the oil of cloves.

Some used the coon oil straight; others used the oil of birds, geese, chickens or ducks, etc. Bear oil was considered a great oil for the hair as well as for many other purposes. My own favorite among all the home made preparations was made from beef marrow. The marrow was tried out and a little salt was added. The oil was then perfumed with bergamot.

POMADES.

In selecting material for pomade, have a butcher get you some fine leaf lard and some of the finest suet, which should be taken from young animals. Render out separately in porcelain vessels and strain off.

Directions.—Take lard 1 pound, tallow 1 pound; mix them and heat gently, and cook for one hour over a slow fire; remove and let stand a few minutes to settle; now pour off carefully. When almost cold add some suitable perfume, say oil of bergamot 4 drachms, oil of lemon 3 drachms, oil of cassia 2 drachms, oil of nutmeg 75 drops. Mix thoroughly with the pomade and pour into small jars.

STICK POMADES.

Take of the prepared tallow 1 pound, pure, clean bees wax 3 ounces, gum benzoin, in a coarse powder, 1¼ drachms. Melt together with a slow heat, mixing all the while. When partly cooled add some suitable perfume. Pour it off in moulds and when cold take out and wrap in tin foil, then put on a nice label as outer covering.

To make the above into a coloring pomade, take 3 pounds of the prepared lard and tallow, before being perfumed; add to it 2 pounds of fresh walnut hulls, cut up fine; put into a porcelain vessel and heat gently for four hours. Take off and strain, and proceed as in making the black pomade. This will gradually color the hair or beard to a nice brown by being used daily until the desired shade is obtained.

HOW TO STOP BLOOD.

Every barber should have at hand a preparation for stopping blood. The best of barbers are liable to bring blood from rough or tender faces. An astringent pencil, which is very good and very handy, may be obtained from the barber supply houses in the cities at a cost of only 10 cents each. However, I prefer Monsell's Powdered Iron which may be obtained from any drug store. The only objection to it is, it is liable to discolor the skin. However, by being careful to put on only a small amount, it may easily be washed off when the blood has ceased to ooze.

If a small bump has been cut off or a shallow cut made in the smooth skin, it will generally suffice to cover it with a thick lather and let it remain until the shaving is completed.

Alum is also used but is too slow in its action.

HAIR RESTORERS.

I could give a formula that would make the hair fall out, but thus far I have not been able to find a preparation that will produce a new growth of hair on bald heads. As a preventative treatment I might suggest as follows:

Boil burdock root in soft water until strong, and then add to one pint of it, a half pint of alcohol, a teaspoonful of salt, and 1 ounce of glycerine. This used once a day will prevent the hair from falling out. Or make a strong decoction of black tea or sage and mix with the alcohol, salt, and glycerine as above and use as above.

The basis of most hair tonics is the tincture of cantharides, quinine, ammonia, camphor, and salt. A solution of borax in camphor water is used by some as a stimulant for the scalp. I have a friend who is experimenting on a new line with very encouraging prospects of successfully producing hair on bald heads. If any party interested will address me a few months hence, I may be able to advise them how to reproduce hair on bald heads.

GLASS HONES.

A glass hone is easily made, and no barber should be without one. Procure a piece of heavy plate glass and have a glass cutter cut it into pieces 3×8 inches in dimensions. Take the gloss off the face and also around the edges on a grindstone, and then finish by rubbing the face of the hone with pumice-stone kept wet with water. Continue this rubbing until the gloss is entirely removed and the hone is smooth. Before honing take a rubber, such as is used on a water hone, and, after wetting hone rub until you have a sort of lather. Hone on this as you would on any other hone. You will find it excellent for smoothing shears after grinding, or a razor after having been over honed.

MUGS, BRUSHES AND SOAPS.

The mug should be large and heavy and the brush used to make the lather should also be large and first-class in every particular. In regard to brushes, I would suggest that it pays to buy the very best.

A poor brush that is continually shedding hairs is very annoying to the customer, and it hinders the barber. I prefer the rubber ferruled brush, but be sure to get the genuine.

In regard to soap I must admit that I am partial to the J. B. Williams barber soap. However, there are other brands that give good satisfaction. There are no soaps too good. Hence get the best.

FACE POWDERS.

There is nothing much better than cake magnesia, but it should only be used to dry the face after shaving. I have given a liquid whiting which is much used by ladies. I have often used it on men to whiten the skin. See whitening for the face.

SHOWER BATH AND SHAMPOO CAN.

Take a common tin bucket which holds three gallons, have a small tube one inch long and one quarter of an inch in diameter put in one side about one half inch from bottom of bucket.

Then get a rubber hose three feet long of suitable diameter to fit on to the tube. At the other extremity of the hose attach a sprinkler with its tubular end made to fit the hose.

Connect the hose to bucket and the sprinkler to hose, and the can is complete.

Lay the sprinkler over the upper rim of can (or bucket) to keep the water from flowing out. Fill with soft warm water; and, when ready to take the bath or shampoo, hang from ceiling or set on shelf high enough to allow the water to flow over the head and body.

Put on the shampoo. Take the sprinkler and thoroughly wash and rinse.

Three gallons of water used in this way is better than a whole bath tub full used in the ordinary way. This apparatus of course applies to country places where they have not the advantage of water works, or where the water furnished is hard.

TOWELS, HAIR CLOTHS, AND FACE CLOTHS.

If you would secure first-class trade, you must keep a good supply of clean good looking towels. Nothing is more disgusting in a shop than a lot of dirty ragged towels.

The workmen may be first-class, the tools first-class, etc.; but unless the towels are in proper condition the better class of trade will go elsewhere.

I prefer a good moderate sized cotton towel, except for the wash cloth, where I prefer a cotton crash towel on the order of a bath towel.

This crash comes in bolts and may be cut the desired length; it must, however, be hemmed. For the bath always use a good towel but not too large.

The breast cloth made of calico or gingham, should be full width of goods, and not less than three and a half feet long. It should have a half neck opening at one side made to fit up around the neck.

The hair cloth may be made of calico, gingham or bleached sheeting. If the sheeting is used get the goods wide enough to require no seam, and then border with a two inch band of red oiled calico.

SUGGESTIONS FOR BEGINNERS.

In the first place, if you have made up your mind to be a barber, why not be a good one. There is always room at the top, and rich reward for him who has reached the top. Rich reward, however, is the price of self-exertion. Do not wait for a tidal wave to waft you on to success. The minions of fortune are few and far between. You must not only work but you must embrace every opportunity to improve your qualifications, if you would achieve success in this age of advanced knowledge and skill. You should always be on the alert, and never miss an opportunity to acquire useful information. Knowledge is power, and it behooves you to gain all the knowledge you can, especially of your own business. If necessary pay for it, work for it, or even beg for it. The possession of a good fund of practical knowledge with other necessary qualities of mind and heart, will enable one to wear good clothes, make plenty of money and to have scores of friends; while the lack of it will make another the digger of ditches, living in rags and poverty, and deprived of the more congenial companionship of the better and nobler elements of society. Knowledge pays.

Moreover, while you should attend well to the proper equipment of your mind, you should not neglect the proper cultivation of your social character. Especially should you cultivate what might be termed a practical business social tact.

Treat every customer as though your success depended upon him and him alone, and always exert your utmost to do good work. Much depends upon the barber's ability to shave well. To accomplish the great desideratum of being able to shave well each one of the various customers with their varying qualities of beard, you must diligently study the temper of your razors with reference to the peculiar beard of each customer. Again much depends upon the lather, the brush, the hone, the strop, etc. Hence you will please pardon a few simple primary suggestions leading up to a good shave. First you must equip yourself with first-class tools.

Procure a first-class oil hone.

A large rubber ferruled lather brush.

A large heavy shaving mug.

A half dozen No. 1 razors, 4½ to 4⅝ wide and ¾ concave.

Your soap and all other materials and implements should be as good as you are able to buy.

When you hone your razor on the oil hone, use good soap and make a stiff lather which you will spread on the hone. Then place the razor on the hone and draw very lightly from heel to point so that the edge of the razor will always be on the front side of the moving blade. Each stroke across the hone should be a sloping or sawing stroke, and at the end of each the razor should be turned on the back and pushed up across the end of the hone, and the other side of the blade laid flat on the hone. Then draw the razor back with a curving or angular stroke to the other end of the hone. Turn again as before and continue with steady stroke until you think the blade is sharp. Wet the thumb nail and try the edge by drawing it lightly from end to end. Should the edge feel blunt or rough make a few more strokes on the hone and try again, and so on until the edge is satisfactory. A better way to test the edge, if you have a smooth soft hand, is to wet the end of thumb or fore finger and draw the razor lightly over it feeling of the edge. However, it requires practice to tell with certainty by either method. Therefore practice carefully until you become expert.

We will here make a few suggestions in regard to the different hones generally used by barbers. The oil hone, which is supposed to be petrified hickory, is the one most used, and is perhaps the best. Second in rank and general use comes the Swatty hone which is made from the same material as the emery wheel, but it is of finer grade. This is a very fast cutting hone. Next comes the water hone which is simply a fine grit stone, and then comes the glass hone which is but little used. A few barbers use it to take off the wire edge of over-honed razors. Hones should be handled with great care. In honing the razor should be run well out to the ends to prevent hollowing the hone. Should a hone begin to hollow, work it down with fine sand paper to a perfect face and smooth it with the rubber used on the water hones. I prefer olive oil on an oil hone if carefully used. Of course lather may be used on an oil hone the same as on the Swatty and glass hones. Use water on the water hone and rub with the rub stone commonly used until the surface is covered with a sort of soapy pasty lather before honing. The glass hone may be used in the same manner. Any hone when not in use should be wrapped up and laid away carefully after having been washed and thoroughly cleaned.

You should be provided with a good shell strop, or a good Russian leather strop, and also a good canvas strop. After honing strop the razor lightly on the leather only. The canvas should not be used except when the razor has become smooth. When you have a customer in the chair, first put a clean towel on him and proceed to make the lather using warm soft water. Lather the face and scour the beard, and then lather again with a good heavy lather. Proceed to shave, drawing the razor with a sawing stroke, and make the strokes as long as practicable. Hold the skin tight to throw out the beard, and go over the face the first time as quickly as possible. Then wash the soap from the face, and go over it a second time, keeping the skin somewhat stretched, and wet with soft water. When finished, press a hot towel to the face and then use one of the face creams given in this book.

Next powder the face, and curl and perfume the mustache. If you think his hair needs trimming tell him so, and if he has it done, do your very best, even taking pains to cut the hair out of his ears. Shave his neck. The most important point is to get a good edge on the hair.

If he takes a shampoo, first give the scalp a good brushing to loosen the dandruff, and then use Silver Gloss Shampoo, giving him to understand that you have it for sale for family use. Rinse hair with warm soft water, and dry with a fine bath towel, and then ask him if you shall apply some of the hair tonic which will cost him only ten cents extra.

Comb his hair in the latest style, and if he desires it, color his mustache with the celebrated German Hair Dye. Help him into his coat, and thanking him bid him come again.

Purchase every good book pertaining to your business, study diligently and practice what you learn, and you will soon stand abreast with the best and most progressive barbers. You should be prompted by no meaner ambition.

SUCCESS.