During his visit to a country fair in Brittany, France, in 1840, Thomas Adolphus Trollope was most surprised by the activities of hair dealers. In various parts of the motley crowd, there were three or four different purchasers of this commodity traveling from fair to fair, purchasing the tresses of peasant girls. He had assumed that female vanity would prevent such trade from flourishing, yet there appeared to be no shortage of young women with beautiful hair willing to sell their locks. Young women ready for the shears, with their caps in their hands, and their long hair combed out and hanging down to their waists.
