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

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

2

Personal adornment

3Status 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

- the shaved heads of Christian and Buddhist monks: renunciation of the world;

Religious Significance

- England in the 17th century: cropped hair and long curling locks

5Last 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/longI like to put my hair into a pony tail/twist/pig tails (often, sometimes)

I like it curly/straight/with-without gelI like my hair to look spiky/soft/unkempt

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

History of HairFrom 3000BC to Present

Day

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 hairstylesEasters Tribes: desertWestern 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/