|
Hair can and has been styled and dressed in many different ways. The most common is arranging the hair, but other processes include cutting, curling, perfuming, bleaching, dyeing, powdering, waxing, plaiting, weaving, and anointing with oil. Various implements from a shaving balde to sissors have been used over time. To the list the modern blow dryer has to be added. False hair or a wig or headdress is another possibility, although more common for adults than boys. A number of adornments such as hairbows have also been employed.
Hair was styled for a variety of paractical reasons as well as personal adornment and to convey status. Many societies have also use hair styling to identify children and the point at which they were accepted into adult society.
Virtualy every society has found it necessary to either cut or control their hair in some way to keep it from interfering with daily activities. Long hair could interefere with labor, warfare, and other activities.
Man at an early point also began to style hair to meer an apparently basic human desire for personal adornment. While the desire for adornment appears to be basic, the actual styles are as diverse as the huge coiffures of 17th centurian French cortisans to the slicked shingled hair of 1920s flappers.
A key purpose of hair styling througout history has been to convey status. Even primitive societies styled hair for status, fastening bones, feathers, and other objects in their hair to impress both enemies and subordinate members of the tribe with their rank or prowess. Conquured people might be forced to change their hair to show their subjection as when Ceaser forced the long haired Gauls to cut their hair.
Hair styles might also convey occupation. British barristers have traditionally worn elaborate wigs. Japanese geishas lacquered their hair.
Religion has also given great importance to hair. Christian and Buddist monks shaved their hair to show their renunciation of wordly pursuits and total devotion to God. Single long locks on the shaved heads of Muslim men signigied how Attak would pull them to heaven.
Hair styles at odds with prevailing styles often were used to indicate political discent or modern thought. The English Roundheads used short hair to show their discent with the Rnglish King and his long-haired Cavalers as did the French Revolutiaries use short hair to show their rejection of the Ancien Refime. In moderb times it was long hair that discenters use to show their resistance to the War in Vietnam.
Changing ones hair style was often used to express mourning. The aincent Egyptians who shaved their hair would let their hair grow to express mourning. Hindu widows might cut their long hair.
Girls and young women often have had destinctive hair styles to signal their marital status. Medieval maidens in Europe wore their hair long without covering it. Matrons on the other hand bound their hair in varying fashions such as veils.
Hair styles have also been used to signal age . Egyptiann boys wore one lock of long hair which they shaved on achieving adulkt status. Ancient Greek boys wore their hair short to signal their juvenile status. Hindu boys shaved their hair upon reaching adolesence. Orthodox Jewish boys wear long locks on one side. Boys during the 19th century, as men began wearing short hair styles, were often kept in long hair when dressed, especially before breeching.
Hair can and has been styled and dressed through varied processes in many different ways. The most common is arranging the hair, but other processes include cutting, curling, perfuming, bleaching, dyeing, powdering, waxing, plaiting, weaving, and anointing with oil.
The most important qualities for hair are that it be healthy, shining, and in a flattering, easy-to-manage style. Many
fashion magazines suggest hair styles according to the shape of the face in order to make the face resemble as closely as
possible the perfect oval. The circularity of a round face may be minimized by a sleek, con trolled style with side bangs. A
square face needs a style that cuts across the square corners at the temples and is full around the jaw. The best style for a long
face also rounds off the corners at the temples and is short. For a triangu lar face, a narrow chin should be filled out with
chin-length hair, while a wide chin may be minimized with wide bangs. In finding the ri~ht hairstyle, however, a woman should
also consider the proportions of her whole figure, the texture of her hair, her skill in handling it, and the character of her life.
Once a hair style is chosen, it must be main tained by regular washing, setting, and, usually, cutting. Some women care for their
hair princi p ally at home, going to the hairdresser only in- frequently for a cut or a shampoo and set for a special occasion.
Many women go to the hair- dresser once a week, while still others may see him every day for a combing.
Clean, healthy hair is the basis of any hair style. In addition to brushing, dry hair requires shampooing once a week,
oily hair per haps every day. Shampoos are soapy or synthetic detergents in liquid, gel, lotion, or cream form and may have
special uses. There are nondn~ing shampoos for normal hair, egg shampoos to add sheen to dry hair, and lemon shampoos to
cut extra oils in oily hair. There are hypoallergenic shampoos for sensitive scalps, medicated sham ~005 for scalp problems,
and special shampoos for tinted or bleached hair.
Coloring Because hair coloring is constantly being improved and tested scientifically and is subject to rigid quality controls, more women than ever before can color their hair safely and achieve a natural effect. Most errors stem from the user's carelessness. There are three types of hair coloring available. Temporary rinses, which coat the hair shaft and wash away with one shampoo, make no drastic change but add highlights and blend in discolored streaks. Semi perl!Lanent rinses, which also coat the hair shaft but last through four to eight shampoos, make hair slightly darker (never hghter) and can ef. fectively cover gray hair. Because the color im parted by these rinses fades gradually, it does not require retouching.
Permanent tints penetrate the hair shaft and permanently change the pigment inside. The tint includes a bleaching agent, which
removes the natural hair color, and coloring matter, which gives a new color. In a one-color process these actions take place at
the same time. In a two- color process, only for the most dramatic changes, the hair is bleached first and then a toner (a very
light shade) is applied to enliven the bleached hair. Retouching is needed about every three weeks at the roots, where the
darker hair grows in. It should usually be done professionally be- cause overlapping of chemicals can cause the hair to become
overly porous and brittle. Streak ing is the two-tone process applied to strands separated from the mass of hair.
Fundamental to a short hair style is the cut. A blunt cut with scissors makes the ends -.of the hair straight. Cutting with
a razor tapers the ends so that they cling close to the head.
. Most hair, especially if it is short, needs to be arranged in a certain position while wet to give it shape when dry
Setting the most popular method of setting the hair is to wrap small sections of wet hair around rollers, usually of plastic wire. The result is relativel,' flexible, natur al-looking curls with a "hounce" that add height and width to a hair style. Hair may also be set in flat pin curls, which produce a very curly effect. There are many aids for setting hair. Electric curlers (rollers) in dry hair quickly revive a set. Setting lotions on wet hair help the set to hold its shape and last longer. Mter a shampoo an instant conditioner (a protein-based lotion) add, "body" (substance) and sheen to the hair, or a cream rinse makes hair softer and less dry.
The final step in creating a hair style is to comb out the hair. Once the set hair is dry, the rollers or pins are
removed, and the hair is brushed to distribute the curl evenly and to achieve a smooth line. If hair lacks desired height or
fullness, it may be "teased" (back combed) to add bulk under the top hair, which is then smoothed down to follow the co~tour
of the head. Then the hair is lifted slightl~" l)y the handle of a rattail comb, and hair spray is lightl'. applied to help hold the style
in place.
False hair or a wig or headdress is another possibility. Wigs were widely worn during the 17th and 18th century in Europe and America. Boys in aflluent families mike also wear wigs, although they were much more common for adults.
The peak of adornment for hair was reached in late 18th century France before the Revolution when women wore massive creations with elaborate adornment. Boys luckily were spared most of that. A number of adornments such as hairbows have also been employed. In the mid 19th century, some mothers began adding hair bows to their sons' curls.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main hair style page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Girls]
[Theatricals]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Index]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Main HBC Topic page]
[Boys' Historical Clothing Home]
