HAIRSTYLES

F R O M C U L T U R E T O F A S H I O N S T A T E M E N T

What’s hairdressing?

It’s the art of arranging hair

Hairstyles along history: social and cultural significance It’s been a signifier of:

• Class • Gender • Ethnicity • Authority and Power

General Overview

1 Necessity to cut or confine the hair to keep it out of the way 2 Personal adornment

3 Status and Age - Primitive men: fastened bones, feathers and other objects. Why ?

Impress and Frighten Enemy

- Noble Rank: long hair. - Noble Rank after the conquest: short hair

- Boys in ancient Greece cut their hair - Hindu boys shaved their heads when they

reached adolescence

4 Religious Significance

- the shaved heads of Christian and Buddhist

monks: renunciation of the world;

- England in the 17

th century: cropped hair and long curling locks

5 Last changes in hairstyles

- Influence of fashion

* Changes through the years * Class * Today: women and men in all classes can choose the style and colour of their own hair, or of a wig I (always, normally) like to keep my hair short/long I like to put my hair into a pony tail/twist/pig tails (often, sometimes) I like it curly/straight/with-without gel I like my hair to look spiky/soft/unkempt

History of Hair From 3000BC to Present Day

http://www.ukhairdressers.com/history%20of%20hair.asp

Egypt

• Noblemen and women: hair clipped close to the head • Curly black wigs donned for ceremonial occasions (women’s wigs were often long and braided, adorned with gold ornaments) • Men’s faces: shaved

Greece

• Women’s hair: long and pulled back into a chignon (bun). May dyed their hair red with henna and sprinkled it with gold powder, often adorning it with fresh flowers or jewelled tiara’s.

• Men’s hair: short and sometimes shaved.

Rome

• Like Greek styles: - Upper classes: use of curling irons and gold power. Women often dyed their hair blonde or wore wigs made from hair of captive civilization slaves.

- Later: more ornate hairstyles with hair curled tight and piled high on the head.

Hairdressing: more popular slaves attended upper classes public barber shops visits

The East

• Hair hidden in public: - Men: turban or fez - Women’s hair: veil - Men and women: local public baths

China

• Unmarried Chinese girls: long hair • Women: hair combed and tied up into a knot at the nape.

• Men: front of head shaved back of head with long and braided hair, tied with black silk

Japan

• Males: front of the head shaved back of head with hair pulled tightly into a short stiff ponytail.

• Women: - Medieval period: long and loose - 17th century: more styled Swept up from the nape of the neck and adorned with pins and jewelled combs.

Geisha

Africa

• Many tribes, so many hairstyles Easters Tribes: desert Western Tribes: tropical rainforest • African Masai • Mangbetu • Mursi tribes

America

• Native American Indians from: – East Coast – Great Plains – Central America, Mexico (Aztec) – Central America, southern

Mexico (Maya)

– Further South (Incas)

The Western World

15th Century (Renaissance period)

• Upper class ladies

16th Century

• Queen Elizabeth: set the trends.

– white face powder and red wigs.

18th Century

• Elaborated wigs, mile-high coiffures and highly decorated curls.

• White powdered wigs with long ringlets.

• Big hair

Victorians

• Puritanical line • Hair

1920

• Women: more free more independent. Theatre and Cinema • Emergence of short, bobbed and waved styles • Men’s hair remained short, but using brilliantine and highly perfumed oils.

1980

• The “Age of Excess”: more freedom of choice in styles and trends.

• A good hairdresser was an essential part of this woman’s life. This woman’s hairstyle reflected ‘control’, a busy work life

Modern Hairdressing Procedure

What does this show us?

• Different people throughout the world have different ideas of what beauty is • One is not necessarily better than the other • Your hairstyle is not the only way to look great

TREAT EVERYONE EQUALLY AND APPRECIATE DIFFERENCES!

Images taken from http://www.shutterstock.com/