Hair ornament

“ At this time the natural adornments of the person in both sexes had so far yielded to artificial ornament, that even women cut off their own hair in order to replace it by an ornamental peruque, supporting a head-dress, which varied from time to time in form and in extravagance. Collet has here introduced to us a lady who, encountering a sudden and violent wind, has lost all her upper coverings, and wig, cap, and hat are caught by her footman behind. ”

“ After being fully prepared it is then made into switches, curls, plaits, fronts, wigs, chignons, and not a small amount is used in the manufacture of hair jewelry, and such other articles as are worn for ornaments. The jewelry manufactured at this time is as durable as the all gold jewelry, and is done in a style of surpassing neatness, thus rendering it beautiful, either as an ornament or memento. There are but very few places in the United States where hair jewelry is made, and as it is comparatively a new business, but few have learned it. ”

“ The inferior ranks wear copper or iron. The men suffer the hair to remain in its natural form, except [33] buckling it in two or three places, in order to affix a coral ornament to it; but the women arrange theirs more artificially, with long and small buckles, or ornaments, the hair divided on the crown of the head, and the ornaments placed with great uniformity. ”

“ Speaking of which reminds us that hair ornaments were never more worn than now. Several very beautiful stands of designs have been on exhibition in the Crystal Palace, some of them quite plain, suitable for mourning, others richly set with gold, enamel, and even precious stones. Among the more costly we have described in our foreign correspondence, is a set recently completed in Paris for a foreign princess. It consists of a necklace, bracelet, and ear-rings. The hair is said to be that of a celebrated Spanish beauty, very dark, and wrought into small globes resembling beads of various size. ”

“ Hair ornaments similar to these are made with pearls, gold, or silver, in place of the diamonds; fortunately for people who like tasteful jewelry, and are not foreign princesses.
Two bracelets, made for a wealthy English lady, are also described, and, as there is a mania for this description of ornaments, we copy it for those ordering hair-work from a distance, or who are curious in these matters. One, made of very fair, soft, glossy hair, is in the form of a serpent, [92] having the rings on its back, distinctly marked by a peculiar method of plaiting the hair. ”

“ How they dress their heads.Their other ornaments and Apparel show very comely on them Their Hair they oyl, with Coker-nut oyl to make it smooth, and comb it all behind. Their hair grows not longer than their wasts, but because it is a great ornament to have a great bunch of hair, they have a lock of other hair fastened in a Plate of engraved Silver and guilded, to tie up with their own, in a knot hanging down half their Backs. ”

“ As with most savages, ornament is more attended to than dress, and is more used by the men than by the women. They often pierce the sides of the nose, sticking in them pieces of bone, feathers, or tusks of the wild pig. The ears are also pierced, and either shell ear-rings are worn, or sticks ornamented with feathers are stuck through the lobes. Necklaces of teeth or shells are common, and heavy rings of white shell or plaited bands of grass or palm-leaf are worn on the arms. The hair of the men is always carefully attended to. ”

“ Paste ornaments were universally worn by both men and women, as well as by little girls, and formed the decoration of much of the headgear of fashionable dames. Many advertisements appear in New England newspapers, which show how large and varied was the importation of hair ornaments at that date. We find advertised in the Boston Evening Post, of 1768: "Double and single row knotted Paste Combs, Paste Hair Sprigs & Pins all prices. Marcasite and Pearl Hair Sprigs, Garnet & Pearl Hair Sprigs." In the Salem Gazette and various Boston papers I read of "black & coloured plumes & feathers." ”

“ It fairly makes the hair shine, it is laid on so thick. But they have some very pretty ornaments for their hair, which they stick in with large pins, something like the hair-pins you use at home. I am told that you can distinguish the social position by the number and style of the hair-ornaments worn on a woman's head ”

“ It is stuck in the hair, which is tied in a knot at the crown of the head, at an angle of about 40° from the perpendicular, and its waving up and down motion as a man walks has a curious effect. Another head ornament is a piece of wood, about 8 or 9 inches in length and 3⁄4 inch in diameter, with a flat button about 2 inches in diameter on the top, all covered with hair or coloured thread, and worn in the same position as the flat piece of brass. ”

“ In such a time of extravagance in fashion the additions one may make to any form of dress in the way of ribbons, bows, sewn pearls, cuts, slashes, and puffs are without number, and I can only give the structure on which such ornamental fripperies can be placed. The hair, for example, can be dressed with pearls, rings of gold, strings of pearls, feathers, or glass ornaments. Men and women wore monstrous earrings, but curiously enough [Pg 310] this fashion was more common to men than women. ”

“ They also display a pretty taste in jewellery, wearing pearl ear-rings and pearl and coral necklaces, other articles of attire including black velvet slippers, and sleeveless bodices laced with ribbon over a white chemisette. Occasionally the hair is turned up in a knot beneath a veil which hangs down behind, but, when working or going to market, the women imprison it in a silken mesh adorned with tassels, the latter being sometimes of gold and silver. ”

“ She is taking more readily to the man’s hat, feathered and banded, and in so doing is forced to dress her hair more simply and do away with jewellery on her forehead; but, as is often the case, she dresses her hair with plumes and jewels and little linen or lace ruffs, and atop of all wears a linen cap with side wings to it and a peak in the centre. ”

“ But for her native Ornament of Hair;
Which in a simple Knot was ty'd above,
Sweet Negligence! unheeded Bait of Love! ”

“ Earrings, however, enjoyed no great popularity during the Middle Ages, and the cause of this must be traced to the fashion which prescribed for women a style of coiffure by which the hair fell down at the sides, or was covered by a veil, which {113} would have effectively hidden any ornaments for the ear. It was only at the end of the fourteenth century that fashion again allowed the hair to be worn high. ”

“ They frequently dedicated it to the gods, on important occasions of marriage, victory, escape from death and danger, and the burial of friends. Different styles of wearing the hair, was resorted to for denoting the various grades, or positions in life, of the people, some wearing it quite long, others short, and some dressing it in a peculiar manner,—each style, or length, being according to the condition, wealth, or social standing of the wearer. ”

“ Ordinarily the hair is allowed to hang loosely beneath a head-dress fashioned from a length of snowy linen, folded in such a way as to form a narrow strip, which is pinned at the temples and flung back to hang down behind. All but the very poorest wear necklaces, pendent ear-rings, chains and crosses. ”

“ A most charming effect can be produced by attaching to the clip a simple device that enables it to be worn in the hair. This use is gaining in popularity, and deserves even greater spread, for it is hard to imagine a more beautiful background for a jewel than the well groomed coiffure which is the pride and the prime natural adornment of the American woman. ”

“ We notice how simply the hair is dressed, brushed loosely from the face and knotted at the back, with a jewel gleaming at one side. Compared with the elaborate coiffures worn by great ladies in some historical periods, this style is delightfully artistic. Altogether the entire manner of dressing is perfectly suited to the wearer. ”

“ See this necklace, Joanna, it is made of pearls, and this brooch is of diamonds, so is the circlet for the hair. Get along with you; light another candle, curse the expense! and put the rose silk dress on you. Do up your hair as if for a ball, and I will try the jewels on you. I allow you a quarter of an hour for rigging yourself out. Take whatever you require, but mind and replace all when you have done ”

“ The hair is drawn up high to form a crown, throwing forward some light strands that shed their soft shadows over the forehead, like a thatching of moss. The beautiful eyebrows, too, lend mystery to the glance of the eyes, so full of sweetness and understanding. The small ear is partly hidden under the waves of the well-groomed hair. The lines of delicate symmetry which run from the chin to the ear, and from the ear to the shoulder, and the coronet of hair, give the bust its distinguished look of race. ”

“ To utilize the hair from the heads of others is an ancient practice still to be met with, and all sorts of [131] means for making the most of one’s own hair in the shape of pads and so on are still adopted.
When speaking of footmen, we shall find that those who dress in the costume that was in fashion when hair powder was in vogue still wear it, and the custom has been traced to the days of Rome, when gold dust was put upon the head. ”

“ To gaze upon her hair is to break the last bonds of my senses, and to set my heart crying in the night. The lustrous brown, with its swift passages of gold, sits demure upon a dainty brow, soft, wreathing, and all-fragrant. ”

“ Wondrous are their growths, more particularly if, as sometimes happens, some cold mist comes up from the valleys. Then with a craze for decoration almost ludicrous, you shall see your friends with hair and eyebrows bedecked with these jewels, each separate hair wearing its frozen garniture, and their coats and stockings ornamented in like manner. ”

“ Comb the hair back and place a set of small loose curls across the forehead; place a diadem plait over the top of the curls, and comb the hair off the temples over the ends of the plait, and form a chignon or bow of the back hair, and place a three-strand braid around the chignon, made either from the ends of hair from the temple or a switch. Add a crown of white blossoms and a veil, as shown in the engraving. If not for a bride, trim to match dress. [259]
An exquisite Head-Dress, of exceedingly graceful and modern style, agreeing with nearly every complexion ”

“ Jewelry Dealers, from the clear instructions herein given, can manufacture any required pattern of Hair Jewelry, and add, without extra expense, a new and lucrative branch to their business.
Persons wishing to preserve and weave into lasting mementos, the hair of a deceased father, mother, sister, brother, or child, can also enjoy the inexpressible advantage and satisfaction of knowing that the material of their own handiwork is the actual hair of the "loved and gone." ”

“ In the descriptive catalogue which is before us, of an exhibition of this work held about 1826, such items appear as a wolf’s head; a squirrel, made with real hair, climbing a tree; a marine view with a man-of-war.
“This performance in human hair imitates the finest true engraving; the curious may perceive, with the help of a magnifying glass, the cordage and men on board. This work has taken at least twelve months in its execution.” When he made hair portraits of men, women, or animals, he used their own natural hair, “raising them from the ivory and making bas-reliefs.” ”

“ The brightness of her dark and expressive eyes was contrasted with the marble whiteness of her complexion, her beautiful hair, which had formerly graced the most precious pearls, and adorned costly diamonds, the gifts of royal love, was now confined by a simple braid, and the form, once decked in imperial purple, and glittering in courtly magnificence, was now wrapped in the plainest garb, the simplicity of which could not hid the loveliness of her form. ”

“ In examining such a collection, one cannot help being interested in the very great variety of wigs—no two are alike; long and short queues, large and small ribbons, coquettish curls, majestic rolls, are shown amongst the men’s profiles, till we are bewildered with the variety, and cease to wonder that all kinds of fanciful names were given by the beaux of the day to the special hair-dressing they affected. ”

“ Hair-dressing is, indeed, carried to an absurd perfection throughout all this region, and among the various styles I have seen, some are surpassing in taste and neatness, and almost pathetic from the carefulness with which poor, wild nature has done its best to decorate itself. ”

“ An endless variety of fascinating caps and lace head-lappets was pinned or caught into the hair at the wearer's fancy; besides the bows, flowers, and jewels (especially pearls) which have always played an important part in the coiffure from early times, the chatelaines [240] and bags, fobs, fans, and lace or silk handkerchiefs all give the artist a note of extra colour when desired. The cruel period of taste really came with the seventies, though one can trace many quaint and interesting cuts in the bodices and skirts of this time ”

“ And if she doesn’t have anyone who will stand over her, or it is at night, she should tie up her hair on her head with wool bands, or with the ribbon in her hair, provided that she loosens them, or she uses hollow link chains or if she ties a loose garment around her hair. ”

“ Women of quality inclosed their hair with a band of gold, from which a flower drooped over the forehead, while the hair fell in long plaits to the bosom, and behind streamed down the back to the waist. ”

“ The head-dress of women now began to show a preference to confine the hair with nets and to close in the face, which continued till the 15th century. The circlet and long plait or plaits and the flowing hair remained till the 14th century. In the 12th century we discover the hair gathered in nets at either side of the head, covering the ears. A low-crowned hat was bound over with a band of lawn or fine material passing underneath the chin, otherwise the plaits were looped up under a circlet which was also worn with the flowing hair. ”