I Want Her Blonde... I Want Her Brunette

The Woman's Voice's young correspondent, Layla Abu Dahir, made a round among a group of our young men, sounding out their tastes in feminine beauty... Does the majority incline toward the attractive, comely brunette, or the soft, quiet blonde?...

In the coming issue the poll will take up the other sex, asking our young women about the knight of their dreams: do they prefer him dark... or fair!?

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• Halim Abu Fadel:
I cannot give my opinion frankly on this subject, for if I were — now — to prefer one of their colors over the other, I should fear a “boycott” by the ladies of the other color, since I “keep company” with blondes and brunettes alike. But when I want to marry, I shall draw lots between the two!!

• Elias Azar:
Would that this question had been put to me at some other stage of my life, so that I might have answered with entire frankness. For the present I shall content myself with silence, for fear the verdict should turn against me and alter the course of my future — for I am a bachelor!

• Youssef Harb:
Of old it was said, “By its opposite is a thing's beauty shown.” I prefer the brunette, for two reasons. First: because I am fair, the son of a fair man. And second: because the brunette's features draw me to the beauties of my own country, and carry my fancy far from the specter of the daughters of those who enslaved my fathers and forefathers. That is, if only I possessed an X-ray camera, so that I might pierce the veils of powder and paint and tell the brunette from the blonde!!

• Nabil Shami:
I want her blonde; and is there anything sweeter than the smile of dawn, or the fullness of the moon, or a wave of gold?... The sight of her promises me a new day coming, all serenity and happiness.

• Mikhail Haddad:
By God, I want her “Technicolor”!!

• Riad Khalifa:
I am one of the sons of a young renaissance — the renaissance that did woman justice for the first time in my country's history. Woman is no longer an instrument of amusement, or a means of satisfying an animal instinct; she has become, in our understanding, the beating heart of society and its living, conscious half. Accordingly, the color of the skin will sway me less than the color of the character and the beauty of the soul. And besides, is it possible to tell the brunettes from the blondes after all these “maquillages”??...

Night came on, and it was her hair and her eyes; the sands of our shore turned brown, and it was her color; the horizon reddened after sunset, and it was her lips. She is a gay, quick-witted brunette — she is the one I want!!

I want her beautiful, and it matters not to me whether she is dark or fair, for every girl has a charm of her own that sets her apart from her companions.

I want her brunette, so that the sun's rays will have no effect upon her color, and so that she will not keep me busy going down to the sea to win her a tan!!

The description I want for the looks of my future wife is:
Fire upon the couch of her cheek —
the fire does not go out, nor has the snow melted.