PARTING THE HAIR.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2388, 29 October 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

PARTING THE HAIR.

It is, truly, a strange fact that among people in the remotest antiquity the “middle" or ‘‘ woman's part” should have been so universal in both sexes, and in both the high and low walks of life. Mayhap nature taught man this simple triek of style, inasmuch as straight hair was a natural tendency to divide itself evenly on each side of the head. This is true of that aneientpeople the Egyptians, who, though they were wont to shave their heads through motives of cleanliness, yet iu the making of their huge periwigs, displayed the middle parting. Of this custom the Greeks and Romans were borrowers. No vestige of the side parting is met with in classic days. The deviation from the general custom was not destined to make its appearance till many centuries later, and very like it is that it took its rise under some circumstances which called for distinctive hair partings for the two sexes. Among the ancients, maid and matron divided their tresses in this manner upon the crown of their heads, while in the stronger sox cither the hair was shorn, close, or, if curly, allowed to cover the head quite evenly in short ringlets, secured at times by a band or a fillet. Then, as now. high foreheads among women were deemed destructive of facial beauty, and were partially covered by hands of hair drawn and held in place by ornaments of gold or silver. The Roman dude besmeared his ringlets copiously with ungents ; hetiee arose that classic mnl. descriptive of the pomatumed coxcomb: '-‘He scratches his head with one linger meaning that he was a dude, and feared lest he might disarrange the graceful cluster of his curls. In statues of the Olympian dove his masses of hair are parted in the middle. .So, too, with a slight modification, arc the locks of the Apollo. Deep drinking and heavy eating play sad havoc with man's hair, and from the days of the Roman emperors down to the advent of the pigtail in the last century periwig, bagwig and bobwig held sway, and in one ami all the middle parting kept its place almost universally, even when quite hidden from view by tier upon tier of pull's and rolls. With the disappearance of powder and pigtail, there was a scramble among the male sex to make the most of their crops of hair that had comedown from sons and grandsons from long lines of roisterers and bon viemits ; and hence the invention of the double part and roll. Perhaps it was excusable, but it was certainly none the less amusing to watch these gentlemen of the olden time in their constant and anxious efforts to lift these poor rolls up iu an encouraging manner, when the curl given them by the heated tongs began to grow weak and they showed a tendecy to collapse and tumble over the forehead. There is one style of half-parting common among many gentlemen iu certain walks of life. It might be proper to call it an effort only ; for no matter what the unfortunate maker may- succeed in persuading himself that it is, the heartless world is sure to pronounce in “an effort only.' 1 The joys of this life are numerous and enticing,' They load us on so .seductively that wo are hardly conscious of the long journey which wc have made in the land of enjoyment of good cheer and boon companionship, until wo look at onr heads some morning after an all night seance and find them bald I Bald ! Oh, dreadful thought I Then there is hurrying to and fro for wash and lotion and tonic. Too late, it cannot be ! The poor owner of tlie denuded poll gathers together the longest and most vigorous specimens of fringe and draws them across the vast expanse of his intellectual skating rink. Ho thinps ho has parted his hair. Alas Tis the “parting of Ichabod.” It was, but is no more. Its “glory has departed,” In this matter of parting the hair there is a great deal of human nature. It is in truth n natural proceeding. All animals part their hair, so to speak, adjust their plumage, look after the hang and lay of their covering. Some men who are anxious to present a fair outside, and to look equally presentable front and rear, continue the parting over the peak of the cranium, down the occipital surface, passing over the region of the cerebellum, and terminating at the nape of the neck. The effect is veryy pleasimr, if yon like it Generally speaking, however, they are those who never had a good look at th« back of their heads.