History of Hairstyles

Today the word "komprachikosy" does not inspire terror in anybody. Now such bands simply do not exist, and in the XIII-XVII centuries they left a bad memory of themselves in many parts of Spain, France, England, Germany. Criminals bought( or abducted) and sold children. They usually bought from desperate poor people, and they offered kings, sultans and dukes in exchange for money. And, before making a deal, they made freaks from kids. For what? The more unusual the fool looked, the acrobat( namely, for this purpose, the small companions of the little cripples supplied), the more the public laughed at them. About such a crippled life, the monster-boy told in his novel "The Man Who Laughs" the French writer Victor Hugo.

Gold comb of the Scythians.

But sometimes a man was disfigured not to make fun of him, but to admire him, because ugliness was considered beautiful. In China, for hundreds of years, the girls' legs have been placed in special wooden pads so that they do not grow: a "big" woman was considered ugly. And as a result, such a "beauty" could not walk normally - barely hobbled. Indians of the Mayan tribe, the noble children changed the shape of the head, laying it between the planks, and the faces of the older boys were covered with hot rags, so that the beard would not grow. Fortunately, such barbarous ways to improve oneself were completely absent in most peoples.

After all, there is a painless way to become beautiful - to make an appropriate hairstyle. Modern women of fashion know this by themselves. Only it is worth noting, however much they change hair styles, they still can not keep up with the ancient Romans who cleaned their heads several times a day, and this fad was so popular that even on marble busts and sculptures, removable details were made for changing hairstyles! In addition, no matter how sophisticated fashion lovers, trying to build a "new" hairstyle, they hardly come up with anything really new.

Fanciful hairstyles of the XVIII century. Fig. G. Doré.

Not so long ago young people with their hair shaved from the sides walked along the streets, and only in the middle of their heads were the hair combed out with a brush. Fresh and original? Not at all.

This kind of hair was worn by the ancient Japanese. Something similar, only more impressive, was for the Iroquois Indians, who cleanly shaved their head and left only a part of the hair in the middle in the form of a ridge that ran from the forehead to the neck. The "comb" was cut so that the hair protruded upward. For denseness and stability, they were "strengthened" with bundles of deer wool or feathers. In ancient India, on the contrary, shaving of hair on the head was considered such a great disgrace that this ritual was sometimes replaced by the death penalty! Captive hair was shaved off as a sign of humiliation, leaving five clusters sticking out in different directions.

Hairdresser of the beginning of XX century.

But any hairstyle( except for one where the hair is missing completely) without a comb will not do. When the comb first appeared, it is impossible to say. It is known that in ancient Egypt and in the East, hair was given great attention. They were combed by improvised means: thorns of thistles, chopsticks or fish ridges. But the hairdresses became more and more complicated: the hair was divided into thin strands, each braided in a braid, and intricately laid on the head. And a special comb appeared.

The time has passed, and the comb has become not just a comb for the hair, but also an ornament of the hairdo: it was injected into wigs and hairpieces. The crests in Spain were especially popular. And the court ladies and girls from the people wore bright shawls and lacy kerchiefs, and high tortoiseshell combs worked in their hair. Sometimes they reached an incredible size and weighed quite by little. I had to be hardy - beauty at all times required sacrifice! But gradually the fashion for the comb passed, and he turned into a modest comb. And only sometimes you can see a decorative comb that adorns the hairstyle of a modern fashionista.

The comb is a very simple tool, but it should be used with skill. Otherwise, the comb will turn into "evil comb", which the boy from Ivan Krylov's fable, with anger at the fact that he is combing his tangled hair, threw him into the river.

Well, how to choose a hairstyle? Some ancient African tribes still have a tradition of "intermarriage".It is that to the music and singing, five or six relatives shave their hair off. All cut hair is placed in a special vessel or clay jug, poured into a composition of clay, sand and water and mixed thoroughly. The resulting mass is divided and in the form of flat small pancakes are placed on the crown as a symbol of kinship and friendship. Sometimes these earthen clots are transmitted from generation to generation. If the father dies in the family - the head of the family, his clay hat with shaved hair is inherited by the eldest son - the successor of the family. So all relatives have the same hairstyle. It is clear that no one here forces you to show respect for kinship and to resemble a hairdo to someone else. It is better to choose a hairstyle that goes to your face, even at the expense of fashion.

Do you know?

Who invented the permanent - a long-lasting perm?

German hairdresser Carl Nestle. In 1904-1905, after numerous experiments, he found a way to keep the wave for a long time with the help of special compositions and heating. In 1909, he first used electric heating appliances for waving. They are used to this day. By the way, Karl Nestle invented also artificial eyelashes.