A little “hair switch” history. . .

As promised, I’ve done some more research, and I’ve found out a lot of interesting hair switch history. Since I have a Newspapers.com account, I was able to search the term “hair switch” quite easily. I thought I would mostly find ads, which I did, but there was far more written in the news about the lowly hair switch than what I had expected.

From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, when big, puffy hairstyles were “in”, a lot of women couldn’t achieve the “look” because their hair was too thin or not long enough. Even though during that time women rarely cut their hair, as we learned in “Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow”, hair length is determined by a lot more than just not cutting it. Imagine being a thin-haired lady and seeing all your friends with Gibson Girl hair, and your hair just won’t perform. I don’t mind saying, I feel their pain!

But then you look in the newspaper and lo and behold, there is an ad for a free hair switch! Up until now, you may not have even realized there was such a thing. I can imagine, being the thin-haired lady that I am, beginning to wonder if that’s how your peers are achieving their hairstyles. It might be worth a try. . . Then you read further. For this one, you only have to pay $1.50 – wait, I thought it was free? Okay, that’s one option. Your other option is to take three orders from your friends at $1.50 apiece, and you get to keep yours for free. You could even earn a piano if you sold enough of them! Probably not something I would choose to do, as much as I hated fundraisers in high school.

If taking orders from your friends was too far out of your comfort zone, if you lived in Lansing, Michigan in 1917, you could also save money by clipping this handy coupon.

If you lived in Detroit in 1911, there was always Mrs. Alice Wadley’s Artistic Hair Dressing Parlor, where you could bring in your own “combings” and have a switch made.

Also in Detroit in 1911, you could go to Madame Butler’s Sanitary Hair Store. This would have appealed to me, having been duly “Raised by Swedes.” Amazing all the other things Madame Butler could do for you. As a Swede, I’m a bit skeptical.

I was amazed to see that even here in Fresno, in 1908, you could get hair switches made, or even rent a wig! Not sure how “sanitary” that would have been. . .

By 1922, in Fresno, you could still have your combings made into a switch by Mrs. Williams, at the corner of J and Tulare Streets.

But that’s not all!

At Christmas time in 1911, the Pensacola, Florida paper published a column of “Dear Santa” letters from the local children. I would be interested to know Lillie Mae’s reaction to her little sister Carmen’s request on her behalf.

When I was teaching in public school it was a well-known fact that “girl fights” were the worst. Apparently it was no different in 1915. This article from Ypsilanti, Michigan describes a fight between two women, over an allegedly stolen car. The spectators consisted of several small boys and a farmer, who declared the fight a draw after the women pulled each other’s hair and each lost a hair switch.

According to this 1912 article from Appleton, Wisconsin, Mrs. Laura Dunn was arrested and charged with stealing a hair switch from a home where she was employed in domestic service. After “stoutly” denying the charge, she eventually pleaded guilty, but the trial was put on hold for two weeks as she had a chronically ill child to care for at home.

While $7 may not sound like a lot for the hair switch in this 1910 article from New York, I looked on this inflation calculator and found it to be the equivalent of $226.23 today.

In 1906 in Bakersfield, California, a hair switch was presented as evidence in the trial of Charles Smith, who was accused of killing his wife. The hair switch was found in Mrs. Smith’s hands after her death, and Miss Maria Simpson was called to the stand to testify that this was not the same hair switch she had sold to Mrs. Nellie Smith the previous August. In a separate article, I read that the hair switch appeared to have been placed in Mrs. Smith’s hands after she was killed, although there was no real motive given for why this would have been done. Charles Smith was declared not guilty by the jury and acquitted.

Three years later, in San Diego, a hair switch was brought in as evidence against a Mrs. Duden, accused of shooting her brother in law.

Besides figuring in murder trials, hair switches were also regular subjects of “lost and found” columns. The image quality isn’t the best in this 1912 example from Waco, Texas, but I’m including it here for the variety of lost or missing items listed: a lady’s hair switch, a small black cocker spaniel, a brown and white Jersey cow, a fur collar, an injured horse, and a six-week-old white and liver colored puppy.

Given the amount of money that could be spent on a hair switch, and the length of time it took to save up enough of one’s own hair to have one made, it’s not surprising that this Brooklyn resident was heartbroken in 1912 when her golden-brown switch was lost. Mrs. Killbride, with whom the unfortunate lady lived, asserted that anyone who found such a hair switch and refused to bring it back was fit for the electric chair.

And last, but not least, after spending a small fortune to keep up with the rest of the “Gibson Girls”, you had to know how to care for your switch. These washing instructions are from a 1913 Buffalo New York newspaper.

This ad was in a 1912 newspaper in Spokane, Washington. Who knew you could bypass the need for a hair switch altogether, for a mere 25 cents? Just purchase a bottle of Danderine at your local drug store and watch your hair grow like vegetation after showers of rain! After just a few weeks of using Danderine, you will see new hairs sprouting all over your scalp. Given my own hair issues at the moment, I’m not even going there!