EVE-WHITE, BLACK AND YELLOW

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 98, 16 July 1927, Page 24

EVE-WHITE, BLACK AND YELLOW

The History of Coif fore —- And Some Extravagant Fancies of Duasky Exotic Beauties « . c

r A MObTO all races, both savage and civilised, the QsdlfcwfesOj hair has always been the object of special attenUr i ti° n - False hair, dyes and pomatums have been used in all ages; Roman ladies powdered their hair with gold dust; and Mary Queen of Scots ordered false hair while she was in prison. Within recent times ladies’ hair has been done in a way that was popular in ancient Greece; and the men of old Rome wore their hair short. Religion sometimes has some influence upon hairdressing, for Mahomedans and Hindus always have a long tuft of hair, by which, so they believe, they may be drawn up to heaven. Hairdressers once practised as surgeons, and they were persons of considerable importance in the eighteenth century, when the ladies’ coiffures were extraordinarily elaborate. Hair varies considerably among various nationalities, and in different climates. In Great Britain many shades of hair are to he seen, because various nationalities have become mingled, and the people have inherited their combined characteristics. But, generally speaking, the inhabitants of northern Europe have hair that is as fine and fair as that of the. Oriental races and Red Indians is coarse, lank and black. The Australian aborigines have dark, crinkly hair; negroes, Hottentots and Papuans, black, woolly mops.

The hair among savage races is usually a source ot' intense pride. Certain tribes living in the New Hebrides wear it long and twist each strand on a separate thread —a style of hairdressing that takes five years to complete !

King and Country,” instead of just “For Country.” More recently came the King’s visit to Naples to inaugurate renewed excavations of Herculaneum. Some idea of his reception there may be had from the fact that when he appeared in the San Carlo Theatre he was cheered solidly for 15 minutes.

After a journey, his hair is the Fijian’s first thought, before he has even refreshed himself with food and drink. The natives of Fiji Have thick, fuzzy, black hair, which stands out all over their heads and is shaped as we shape ornamental yew-trees, each district adopting its own design. Sometimes they bleach it with lime and dye it yellow, orange or magenta. Natives in parts of New Guinea screw theirs into numerous cords till it resembles a floor-mop! Among some of the South Sea islanders the barber who dresses the chief’s hair must not touch anything else, because his work is held to be sacred. Somebody has even to put food into his mouth. The fuzzy hair of the negro lends itself admirably to elaborate dressing, as witness the two Ibo girls of M est Africa. Those about 14, part their hair in four places, tying up the short tresses until they get a row of knots midway between each parting. When they are a little older they will dress their hair more like the girl of 17. She also has a row of little knots along her crown, but the rest of the hair has been allowed to grow long. Then each tress is twisted and fastened to the woolly underhair to form strange patterns. The Chinese employ the curious method of partly shaving the head; the men used also to have long pigtails, hut these have become unpopular. Manchu ladies wear huge bows of hair sticking out on either side of the head. In Kyoto, Japan, there is a wonderful temple, and the material for building it was hauled from the mountains by ropes made of human hair, which many devout women gave. This must have been a tremendous sacrifice, for her hair is a Japanese woman's most treasured adornment. The Anglo-Saxon girls were not allowed even to plait their hair until they had reached a certain age; but

after marriage they had to cut it short in token of servitude to their husbands. The girls must have rebelled against this rule, for eventually thev were permitted to fold it round their heads instead—to “put it up,” as we say. During Henry lll.’s reign women gathered their hair into cauls of gold network on each side of the face. Elizabeth brought the curl back into favour, and ladies’ coiffures were worn very high on the head and were decorated with jewels. It was in the eighteenth century that hairdressing reached the heights of ridiculous extravagance—literally to heights, for ladies’ hair was formed into mounds three feet high, piled over tow, plastered with pomade and powder, and embellished with artificial curls, jewels, ribbons, flowers and feathers. A woman of rank could not get into a closed conveyance without stooping or kneeling! France went to still greater extremes. A lady’s hair would be built upon a frame and made to represent a background for miniature scenes in which were moving windmills, temples, hills, ships, grottoes, flowers, shrubs, birds and tiny figures. For an important function, a lady would have her hair dressed two or three days in advance and, just as the South Sea Island chief makes himself uncomfortable at night for the sake of his coiffure, so would an eighteenth century lady sit up in a chair instead of going to bed, for fear of spoiling the hairdresser’s achievement. In every country of the the vagaries of fashion have taxed the ingenuity and imagination of the hairdressing profession; but it w r ould seem that hairdressers have never failed to rise to the occasion. In Britain they used always to be men; now women, too, follow the calling.