Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 2, Number 26, DeMotte, Jasper County, 19 January 1933 — Hot Towel Unknown to Chinese Street Barber [ARTICLE]

Hot Towel Unknown to Chinese Street Barber

One of the coldest jobs in Shanghai is that of the itinerant boy barbers who hang out their poles at any street corner and minister to their clients on the spot. The only point of dissension lies in the possibility that the client is colder than the barber. Icy cold water rubbed into the beard and the pate, the rude scraping of an old-fashioned Chinese ra-zor--something like an inverted chis-el--while the thermometer stands at freezing point and wind and sleet whistle around the client’s ears, must be an unpleasant experience. Still, most of these boys, who earn a very meager living, treat their clients to the semblance of a nice, clean towel or sheet around the neck, which is an improvement on the days when water was never used at all.--North China Herald.