Figure 1.--

Hair Styling Implements

We do not have a great deal of information on hair styling implements ad decoations yet yet. The most important item in hair syling has to be the comb. The origins the comb appear to nearly as old as himanity itself. At least combs or combing devices appear at some very early point in the stone age. A key item in modern hair styling is scissors. We are not sure what was used before scissors. Other cutting implements had to be used, although not quite as efficently. We know tht cutting decices were used because images from the ancien workd show people with both short hair as well as very elaborte hair styles. Scissors were invented in the 14th century. We are not entirely sure how common they were, but you might think that most families no matter how poor would have scissors. Otherwise a boy would have to go to the barber which would have been more expensive. Many mothers cut their children's hair. By the 20th century many mothers had clippers. Some other equipment was needed, especially for fancy styles like ringlet curls. Here hair rollers and heating irons might be used. These items were more for girl's hair except for the lare 19th and early 20th century when quite a number of boys had fancy hair styles. Bobby pins or flat spring-like metal pins appeared in the 20h century. The two priongs of the pens were held together by tension and used to keep hair in place. The term appeared in the early 1930s, although I am not precisely sure this is when the pins themselves appeared. The term derived from their use with bobbed (short cut) hair styles. A reader writes, "I've noticed school photos from both France and Germany in which boys' hair parts are held in place by bobby pins." Bobby pind are called Kirby pins in Britain. Here we see a German boy from the 1950s (figure 1). I've never noticed this in America. Of course at the time many American boys had crew or other short hair cuts.

Combing Devices

The most important item in hair syling has to be the comb. The origins the comb appear to nearly as old as humanity itself. At least combs or combing devices appear at some very early point in the Stone Age, perhaps even before the Old Stome Age. Comb-like impolements seem to have appear some time after had hair on their head. Combs seem a ntural progression from the grooming bhavior of mammals, especially primates. Some anthropologisrs believe that humans inherently would not have wanted to their grow wild and free. We are not sure bout thi, but long uncombd hir, espeilly bfore the advent of soap lt lon shampp, would seem to be very distracing, Just whn phusicl appearanc entered the picture we are no sure. But humans must have come to dsire some way of combing their hair. THe first combing device cerainly was fingers. Primates with their hihj;y adaptable fingers re better suited for grooming than any other animal ans the hand itself is a large comb. Iyt have even give early humans the idrea for an implent with tighter gap between he fungrs/teeth. Combs are a universal in all humn civilization, even more univeral than the swheel or weaving. This is nother indicator that the comb-like implement appeared very early. We see many materials being used for combs, including bone, ivory, and wood. And with the bronze age we see metals, including silver, brass, and tin were also used. And then we see tortoise shell and horn becoming popular fpr combs. When polished they are beautiful and as a result, combs are still made in plastic to look like totoise shell. Both tortoise shell and horn were very useful mterials. They could softrned by heating nreshaped. And when allowed to cool and harden and they retain that new shape.

Cutting Devices

A key item in modern hair styling is scissors. We are not sure what was used before scissors. Other cutting implements had to be used, although not quite as efficently. We know tht cutting decices were used because images from the ancien workd show people with both short hair as well as very elaborte hair styles. Scissors were invented in the 14th century. We are not entirely sure how common they were, but you might think that most families no matter how poor would have scissors. Otherwise a boy would have to go to the barber which would have been more expensive. Many mothers cut their children's hair. By the 20th century many mothers had clippers.

Curling Devices

Some other equipment was needed, especially for fancy styles like ringlet curls. Here hair rollers and heating irons might be used. These items were more for girl's hair except for the lare 19th and early 20th century when quite a number of boys had fancy hair styles.

Holding Devices

A variety of items have been used to hold hir in place. This was especially the case of the elaborate French hair styles worn by French an some othr European women in the 18th century. Spanosh women are notable for mantilla combs. A more humble and very modern item is the bobby pins. They are flat spring-like metal pins. The two prongs of the pins were held together by tension and used to keep hair in place. The term derived from their use with bobbed (short cut) hair styles. I've never noticed this in America. Of course at the time many American boys had crew or other short hair cuts. A British reader tells us, "Bobby pins or Kirby grips, as they are called in the UK, were invented in the 1920's by James Kirby, who also invented the Kirby vacuum cleaner. Kirby grips were used by both girls and boys to clip back bobbed hair styles (hence bobby pins). When growing up in England in the 40s and 50s, boys were often seen wearing Kirby grips in their hair. Indeed my own hair was clipped back with Kirby grips until aged 8 or 9 years, although my hair was longer than depicted in the picture of the German boy in 1955 on the previous page. The fashion petered out in the 1960s, when boys hair became longer and more unruly styles became acceptable." Another reader writes, "I've noticed school photos from both France and Germany in which boys' hair parts are held in place by bobby pins."









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Created: 2:44 PM 2/9/2014
Last edited: 2:44 PM 2/9/2014