Hairdressing

“ The art of hairdressing furnishes another instance of what I am asserting, and the talented coiffeurs, who give expositions of their skill at the different concours in Paris and London, afford examples of untiring energy, and great attention to the most trifling details. ”

“ It may be said, however, that all in the hairdressing profession are not able to go or send to some depôt in the vicinity for every little requirement; neither is it convenient for them to keep in stock hair of every shade or length. ”

“ Fronts, with Parting—Diamond-shaped and Wing Fronts—Temple-mounted Fronts—Fillets or Cauls.
Fashion is ever changing, and the fickle goddess does not seem to know her own mind for very long together. And this remark is as applicable to hairdressing as it is to dress, or, indeed, anything else with which the leaders of ton have to do. To coiffeurs nothing perhaps is more interesting than a perusal of old illustrated books, and to note the various styles of coiffure. ”

“ In the hairdressing business there are innumerable changes of fashion, while the various requirements of different individuals continually make demands upon the practical knowledge of those who carry on the trade. ”

“ The way of dressing one's hair may make it difficult to choose a hat. If the person with the long, thin face also draws back her hair sharply at the sides, her face will look longer and it will be more difficult to choose a hat for such a face. If the hair is worn very fluffy when one has a very round, full face, then the face is apt to look fuller. So you see hairdressing is very important to study too, if a girl is to look her best and choose the most becoming hats.
Color, too, should be kept in mind. ”

“ A VARIETY OF HEAD-DRESSES ADOPTED IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
skilful hair-dresser who could "build" a head was at a premium; the art of hair-dressing being reckoned as one of the most important, and as rare as difficult. No lady's maid, however clever, was entrusted with this difficult task, and very complicated was the work of constructing the popular coiffure, which was piled half a yard high, and decked with pads, and false hair, and curls so stuck down and plastered with pomades that they might hold for weeks without being pulled down. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There are, however, various styles of dressing the hair of girls, by which you can form a pretty accurate estimate of any girl's age up to her marriage, when the coiffure undergoes a definite change. The boys all look top-heavy and their heads of an abnormal size, partly from a hideous practice of shaving the head altogether for the first three years. After this the hair is allowed to grow in three tufts, one over each ear, and the other at the back of the neck; as often, however, a tuft is grown at the top of the back of the head. ”

“ The most becoming gown fails in its function if the hair is tousled or dressed unbecomingly. Many girls fail to realize how they may overcome some of Nature’s faults and shortcomings and how they may counteract the effect of bad features and proportions by the correct use of line when dressing the hair.
If “ear muffs” become stylish, the little round-faced girl who knows nothing of art or design as related to herself must bulge her hair over her ears whether it makes a full moon of her face or not. Girls should dress in style but styles should be modified to suit each individual. ”

“ Another turn of the wheel of fashion has given us a simple mode of dressing the hair, which is well adapted to the average English head, and which is fully explained by the accompanying sketch. It may be taken as a safe rule, when the forehead is low and face small, that the hair may be drawn back with advantage, but a long face is generally improved by arranging the hair in soft curls on the forehead, and by waving it slightly at the sides, which adds to the apparent width of the countenance. ”

“ Whether, to wear a head-dress, however, depends not alone upon fashion but upon the individual. If the type of hair ornament at the moment in fashion is becoming, wear it, especially to balls and in a box at the opera. But if it is not becoming, don't.
Ladies of fashion, by the way, do not have their hair especially dressed for formal occasions. Each wears her hair a certain way, and it is put up every morning just as carefully as for a ball. The only time it is arranged differently is for riding. An informal dinner dress is merely a modified formal one. ”

“ 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 ”

“ A person with good face and figure must have looked becomingly beneath it. Fig. 32 is an example of the bad taste which still peeped forth. It is one of the most fashionable head-dresses worn in 1789, and is the back view of a lady's head, surmounted by a very small cap or hat, puffed round with ribbon; the hair is arranged in a long, straight bunch down the neck, where it is tied by a ribbon, and flows in curls beneath; long curls repose one on each shoulder, while the hair at the sides of the head is frizzed out on each side in a most fantastic form. ”

“ Next morning at breakfast the wife came down with the new comb in her hair, and said to her husband, “See, husband, I bought this of the pedlar yesterday, and he tells me they are quite the newest fashion, [Pg 222] and all the great ladies in town are wearing them.”
“Well,” quoth the ploughman, “such a fashion may be all very well for the great ladies who have scarce any hair of their own, but, for my own part, I had rather see your beautiful hair just as it is without any adornment.” ”

“ It not only reveals to the most ordinary comprehension the hitherto concealed mysteries of the Art, but will prove an indispensable adjunct to every lady's toilet table, as by its aid she will not only be able to dress her own hair in every variety of style, but make her own Hair Jewelry and articles of Hair work, including Switches, Braids, Curls, Waterfalls, &c., assisted by a reference to plates of the most modern European and American styles. For children, no art or accomplishment is more useful than the ability to make articles of tasteful ornament in Hair Work. ”

“ Just at that time the style of hair dressing was one of those styles which are endurable, and perhaps even very beautiful, in the hands of a first-rate artist and on the heads of those very few women who dress well; but which are more and more hideous the farther you get from that distant pinnacle of the mode, and the lower down they spread among the ranks of society. ”

“ 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. ”

“ One was dressed in pink, flounced; each deep flounce had on the edge a small flounce, fringed; her hair arranged a la Pompadour, with pearls. The other's dress was blue, and made in the same way. She had a feronia of carbuncles, a necklace of the same; her hair put up a la Grecque, and bracelets and ear-rings of carbuncles. They were called, during the evening, the Southern belles. One was Miss H., from New Orleans, the only daughter of a wealthy gentleman; the other, Miss C., was from Georgia. Mrs. H.'s dress was silver-gray silk, with flounces of very costly black lace, a full set of pearls. ”

“ Another dress that attracted unusual attention, was a lavender silk double skirt, richly brocaded with silver snow drops, drooping in clusters upon each breadth of the upper skirt, (the under skirt being entirely plain,) the waist was high to the throat, with point d'Alencon lace collar, and sleeves trimmed with pink ribbon, enveloped in white tulle; pink ostrich feathers ornamented the hair; diamonds of rare brilliance were added to complete the toilet. Another lady wore a magnificent garnet velvet, made high in the throat, with tight sleeves to the wrist ”

“ The hair has in all ages been an endless topic for the declamation of the moralist, and the favorite object of fashion. If the beau monde wore their hair luxuriant, or their wig enormous, the preachers, as in Charles the Second’s reign, instantly were seen in the pulpit with their hair cut shorter, and their sermon longer, in consequence; respect was, however, paid by the world to the size of the wig, in spite of the hair-cutter in the pulpit. ”

“ We think the Frenchwoman right, because it is by what are called trifles that good and also great effects are produced.
We come now to an accessory of considerable importance—the hair. As a great amount of time is expended upon hair-dressing, and as no one ever thinks of wearing it in its natural state, and as nothing is more under the influence of fashion than the hair, it has become by consent of all an accessory of great importance. Will any one affirm that it is a matter of indifference how the hair is dressed? ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is enough for women to protect [710] their locks, and bind up their hair simply along the neck with a plain hair-pin, nourishing chaste locks with simple care to true beauty. For meretricious plaiting of the hair, and putting it up in tresses, contribute to make them look ugly, cutting the hair and plucking off it those treacherous braidings; on account of which they do not touch their head, being afraid of disordering their hair. Sleep, too, comes on, not without fear lest they pull down without knowing the shape of the braid. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It did not matter long to our forefathers whether these hair-dyes dyed, or hair-restorers restored, for a fashion hated by some of the early Puritans as a choice device of Satan—the fashion of wig-wearing—was to revolutionize the matter of masculine hair. ”

“ Partial baldness among the female sex is not uncommon, but this defect can well be concealed by coverings specially made for the purpose. These pieces of ingenious workmanship, be they frontlets, scalpettes, fringes, partings, twists, chignons, curls, plaits, or what not, are easily and securely attached to the natural hair-growth, while a ribbon-bow, feather, flower, lace, cap, or other decoration lends a charm, and completes the coiffure. ”

“ At Canton the women plaster their back hair into the shape of a teapot handle, and adorn the sides with pins and ornaments, while the young girls proclaim their unmarried state by suttingsutting their hair in fringe across their foreheads after a fashion not unknown among ourselves. In most parts of the country, flowers, natural when obtainable and artificial when not so, are largely used to deck out the head dresses, and considerable taste is shown in the choice of colors and the manner in which they are arranged. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In addition to the hair on the head, women have only their eyebrows and eyelashes to consider, though it is the fashion to remove any “superfluous” hair from their faces and arms. Men have also to consider moustaches, whiskers, and beard. Nowadays [127] it is decreed that women’s hair should be long and that men’s should be short; but even now men with long hair do not necessarily look effeminate, as is shown by the cowboys from the Wild West who have taken part in various exhibitions in this country, and whose hair reaches on to their shoulders. ”