Melting Castile soap over a low heat, Annie added water and a few drops of sweet basil oil which would make the hair shine. She had collected herbs and flowers from the heath over the different seasons, extracting the oil before drying the plants and storing them away. She had then accumulated pots of chamomile, rosemary, marigold, wild rose, and primrose… all giving the desired effect, but each with a different fragrance. Stirring the ingredients until they were well mixed, Annie then spooned it into pots to cool to a smooth, creamy consistency. A small amount used in the washing of hair gave a lustrous look and soft texture to even the driest hair.
When the women all met again, everyone had a head of shiny, soft hair, and so pleased were they with the results, it seemed they were about to go into business making and selling this wondrous ‘new’ creation!
With Harry in his perambulator and the weather so fine, Annie pushed him over the heath, a basket over her arm for the collection of the herbs and flowers she was gathering.
Violet had taken herself off to the glassworks in Lloyd Street in an effort to strike a bargain for the making of tiny pots to contain the hair wash. Kath would write out the name on pieces of paper which would be stuck on the pots with flour and water paste.
It had been decided to make up a few pots and see how well they sold. If they sold it may be that they could employ some women to make up the mixture. Hopefully if the hair wash sold really well, it would cover a small wage for the workers as well as pay for the jars and having the labels printed professionally by Thomas Southern and Son, the printing firm based in Russell Street.
This, of course, was long-term thinking; they had to wait and see whether the initial batch sold first.
Annie reflected on the past years and how much had been achieved in the town by the Wednesbury Wives and how much had changed in their lives. Her husband Charlie and Geordie Slater were both out of the pit, working for Spencer Gittins out in the fresh air. Violet was settled and happy; Mary and Jim appeared to be doing well… and Kath? Kath Clancy seemed to have something on her mind, she was not ready to share yet, but she would – in her own time.
Annie was excited about what the future would bring.
Settling the little boy in his perambulator with a baby rattle, he shook it happily while Annie began her preparations of the herbs from the basket.
While she worked, Harry continued to shake the rattle – not sure how much longer she could take the noise, she removed the offending toy and began to sing softly. Rocking the pram she saw Harry drift into sleep fairly quickly.
Her thoughts turned again to the ‘Wives’ and their families. Annie wished there was a way of Mary’s husband, Jim Forbes, finding work outside of the colliery. She knew Mary also wished this and there was not a scintilla of doubt that Jim would want it too. Annie determined to have a quiet word with Spencer the next time she saw him.
On her return home and after putting a very tired Harry Gittins down for his second nap of the day, Annie continued her work and her thinking. What was it Kath had on her mind? Was it something she or they could help with? Annie had, now she thought of it, seen a change in Kath’s demeanour when Joshua Gittins was mentioned. Was it something to do with him? Kath’s jocularity wavered at times when she thought no one was watching, but Annie had eyes in the back of her head – she missed nothing. With a heavy sigh, she turned her attention back to the hair wash mixture. All would be revealed sooner or later she felt sure.
*
Later in the afternoon, whistling heralded the return of Spencer from his factory.
Annie’s door standing open did not deter Spencer from knocking before walking in.
‘Hello Annie, how’s my little man today?’
‘He’s just waking up by the sounds of it, why don’t you go and lift him while I brew the tea.’ Annie watched as Spencer went to get his son; hearing the child’s quiet complaint gave her a warm feeling.
‘Spencer lad,’ she said, pouring tea, ‘I have a favour to ask of you – but just between the two of us mind.’
‘Anything, Annie.’
‘Ar well, we’ll see about that in a minute…’ Passing him the cake, she felt his eyes on her. ‘I want to find a way of getting Jim Forbes out of the pit. I don’t want him coming down with the lung disease from the coal dust. But then there’s the matter of their house; it is still tied to the colliery as was ours.’
‘Ah,’ said Spencer, eyeing her over his cup, ‘I see. Well, I’m not sure I have anything to offer him workwise and I know Father hasn’t, but… let me think on it a while.’
Both laughing at the phrase she knew so well, Annie didn’t see Violet walk in.
‘Oh yes,’ she said, ‘I find my husband in another woman’s kitchen and both laughing fit to burst! How are you, Annie?’
Watching her kiss Spencer, Annie said, ‘I was just about to tell Spencer here how that little lad of yours nearly deafened me with that pea rattle of his.’
Smiling widely, Violet hugged Harry planting little kisses all over him making him snuffle.
‘How did you get on at the glassworks?’ Annie asked.
‘Well,’ Violet sat down at the table, ‘at first, the manager wouldn’t deal with me, didn’t want to deal with a woman it seems. However, after I told him who my husband was…’ she cast a glance at Spencer, ‘he acquiesced. They can make what we’re after but…’
Annie felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
‘…they will only make a batch of one hundred… keeps their costs down and, in turn I suppose, would keep ours down too. Otherwise we’d have to pay a fortune for, say… a dozen, and without knowing how well they would sell…’
‘A hundred! We’ll never sell that many, wench, people don’t have enough money to be buying hair wash, it’s a luxury not many can afford.’
‘You don’t know until you try,’ Spencer put in.
‘That’s true enough,’ Annie said still feeling sceptical, ‘so what should we do about the jars then?’
‘I ordered a hundred!’ Violet said. ‘We’ll pay for them from the “Wives” fund, the money to be replaced when we sell them all! Mother was in agreement – I called in on the way home – and she thought you’d all feel the same.’
‘Right then,’ Annie said, wiping her hands down her apron, ‘I’ll be needing some help with this mixture if we have to fill a hundred jars.’
*
In the following weeks, Annie’s small kitchen became a flurry of activity with the Wives preparing the mixture and spooning it into the tiny jars delivered from the glassworks. With a stopper in the top and a beautifully hand-written label, ‘Annie’s Hair Wash’, the little pots were lined up on her kitchen table.
Standing with her hands on hips, Annie said, ‘All we have to do now is sell them!’
Primrose had been happy for them to sell their little pots from her stall in the marketplace in the first instance, the manager of the market having no argument with the idea as an extra few coins were pushed into his hand by way of stall rent.
Kath had carried two baskets of pots to the market the following day. She had given her hair a thorough wash with the mixture and it shone brilliantly. She returned at the end of the day with empty baskets – forty pots sold in one day!
Martha stood the market the following day and again another thirty pots were sold, leaving thirty for Mary to sell on the third day at the market.
Annie said to Mary as they packed the last of the jars into the baskets, ‘What if we can’t sell any more?’
‘Of course we will,’ Mary replied, ‘you just get busy making more of that mixture!’
The end of the day saw Mary’s words come true. In fact, there had been a disappointed queue of women turned away as the last pot sold.
Violet, on seeing the success of the sales, had ordered more jars from the glassworks and they all set once more to making the mixture to fill them, under Annie’s keen eye.
And so it was that the business of ‘Annie’s Hair Wash’ was founded.