Hair-dressing is no light task; and though a woman may be able to do her own hair, she almost invariably gets it done by somebody else as a great deal has to be done at the back of the head. The professional female hair-dresser is therefore an established institution; she visits most houses at regular intervals. She has usually an assistant, or rather an apprentice, who loosens and combs the hair and prepares it for her to dress. A successful hair-dresser probably makes more money than any other professional of her sex. The geisha’s receipts may be larger, but her expenses are correspondingly great so that her net profit is comparatively small, whereas the hair-dresser needs neither capital nor stock, beyond a few combs, and even these are often unnecessary as she uses those of her client. Besides her regular charges, which are not heavy, she receives many presents from those who are anxious for her to come at regular intervals or out of turn, as when they are going out to a party, a theatre, or some other place of public resort. She is also a great gossip, a disseminator of scandals, and in this respect she has the advantage over the barber who has himself no mean reputation in that direction in Japan as everywhere else; for whereas the barber has to retail his discourse more or less in public before the other clients who are awaiting their turn, the woman purveys her news in the privacy of the lady’s toilet-room. And as the discussion of her neighbour’s private affairs and the tearing of her character is no less a favourite occupation with the Japanese woman than with her European sister, it is not always for the sole purpose of having her hair done that she eagerly waits for the hair-dresser’s visit. [Illustration: THE HAIR-DRESSER.]