7 'Cures' For Baldness You Won't Believe
2. Seven Sutherland Sisters' Tonic
The late 1800s were a wonderful time to be alive for so-called 'freaks'. PT Barnum had an attuned eye for otherness as he trawled America of novelty acts for his show, basically a possibly-but-possibly-not less tasteful version of the first round of Britain's Got Talent.
Joining his coterie were a set of seven siblings with spectacularly long hair, one of whom really hit the mother lode when she married Barnum's partner, Henry Bailey. The union allowed her to ascend within the circus from being a sideshow attraction to something approximating a real person - with the new-found parity greatly enriching her father.
You see, though the sisters spun gold from their incredible Rapunzel-like manes, it was their father's 'restorative' tincture which really filled the coffers. Now firmly ingratiated with Barnum & Bailey, Sutherland patriarch Fletcher could travel the country as part of their tour, hawking his nostrum.
The Seven Sutherland Sisters Hair Grower was a big success, and the line expanded to include a comb and an octet of dyes. The brand may have grew, but its consumers' hair didn't. Nevertheless, it made the girls an absolute fortune.