Punch/Volume 147/Issue 3813/The Double Cure
"The hair," said the assistant, "is very thick."
"If you refer to mine," I replied, "it is frightfully thick."
He looked at it reflectively. "It is very thick," he said; "very thick," and he jabbed the comb into it.
"On the other hand," I pointed out, "my skull is very thin."
"Yes, Sir."
"And the comb is very sharp."
He apologized, pulled the comb out, and jabbed it back not quite so severely.
"Very sharp," "Very think," we murmured together.
"I will thin it out," he suggested.
"As long as you get it out painlessly, I don't mind," I said, and I lay back and studied the bottles.
"It's a curious thing," I observed, "but mine is the only case for which you hairdressers fail to provide."
"I don't quite follow, Sir."
"Well," I explained, "for any degree of baldness you provide remedies by the hundreds. You offer to invigorate the hair, to dress it, to bring it up in the way it should go, and to produce it in any quantity.
The light of battle came into the assistant's eye and he moved to the wash-basin.
"Yes," he said, picking up a bottle of oily mixture, "this preparation, for instance, is really to be recommended. The famous Criniline."
He held it aloft and the neighbouring assistant barely suppressed a cheer. "I've sold———"
"That's all very well," I objected, "but where do I come in?"
"Well, Sir"—he held out his scissors—"these surely are effective."
"Cutting only makes it grow more quickly. The beastly stuff's so thick," I complained, "I can't do anything with it. What I want is some stuff—"
"Preparation, Sir"
"—stuff for thinning my hair."
"For thinning the hair. Yes, Sir." He combed the atmosphere thoughtfully. "I should like to sell you something, Sir."
Of a sudden he snipped excitedly. "I have it!" he exclaimed. He moved back to the washstand and picked up a bottle. "The very thing," he said. He looked round cautiously, bent down towards my ear and coughed nervously. "Of course," he said, "this is—er—not a preparation for your particular complaint. I—er—it—between our two selves, Sir, it was—er—intended for other purposes."
"Yes?" I said.
"But, Sir, it may be just what you require."
"Yes, yes." I held my hand out for the bottle.
"Yes, Sir," he whispered. "It may be. At any rate I happen to know for a fact there is no possible danger of its increasing the growth of the hair."
And he handed me the famous Criniline.
To show my appreciation of his honesty I bought two bottles.