Abstract
Hairstyles have been a sign of status and hierarchy in societies around the world since ancient times. In ancient Egypt, Greece, and China, a woman’s hairstyle often told others of what rank she held in society, to whom she was married, and even if she was married or widowed. Initially religious and traditional reasoning was taken into account when a woman made up a hairstyle. As time moved on, in the first half of the 20th century, movies and actresses had very traditional hairstyles which were meant to promote a woman’s traditional role in society. The effect was …show more content…
to portray an image of a woman as a good domestic housewife, a mother, wife, and second to the man in the home. In the second half of the 20th centuries women in movies often had more masculine hairstyles as was the trend with the growing feminist and women’s liberation movement. Now, a hairstyle is often just a fashion statement, a way to show others how wealthy one is or a way to show whether one is a traditional conservative girl or a woman that likes to push the boundaries of what society is willing to accept.
From the beginning of recording history, people have changed their view on fashion and its classes. Hairstyles became very important to people and their careers fields. Years and years ago people would laugh when someone would tell them that their look and especially their hair will be a thing that might help those open new doors to their careers. Every career field has its own classifications and “rules” which people follow. Hairstyles are as important as uniforms. The history of hair from 3000 B.C. To the present day has seen many different styles and innovations which changed our world forever. In the early days of hairstyles, taking care of one’s hair was very difficult because it took an extremely long time. Since lower class people worked hard every day from sun-up to sunset; they did not have time to take care of their hair. Long hair showed that you were rich and could afford to take care of your hair (Collins, 1992). Ancient civilizations were classified by their unique styles of hair braiding and were easy to recognize.
In Egypt, for example, women had a tradition of clipping their hair close to the scalp in everyday life, but for special occasions they curled their hair or braided it and then adorned it with the iron or gold hair pins. Males were very clean shaved, but false beards were worn often as well. Greek women had long hair and they pulled it back into chignon buns. A lot of women dyed their hair with henna and sprinkled it with gold powder. For the finished look they braided fresh flowers into their hair or adorned it with tiaras (2010). As well as India, the Middle East and Africa, Greece was one of the first nations where henna was used for dying hair. Henna gives a red or black/blue color to the hair and it makes hair look much richer and thicker (Henna, …show more content…
2010).
Hairstyles were changing along with time and the rulers of various nations and regions. When the Ptolemy’s ruled in Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC, hairstyles were different—short and wavy styles could be seen on the streets of cities such as Alexandria. After the Ptolemy’s ended their Dynasty, Cleopatra VII came to the power and hairstyles were noticeably changed. She had Greek blood and
that 's why she brought a Greek style of hair to the fashion culture in Egypt; however many native Egyptians stayed with their previous style and the end result was a time of mixed hairstyles in Egypt (Fletcher, 2005). Hairstyles and hair accessories are unique and have various meanings in different cultures.
As was stated previously, every culture has its own ways of expressing itself. China is one of the ancient civilizations that have a very rich and interesting history from its beginning. Hairstyle and marital status were closely interrelated back in ancient culture. Haircuts and hairstyles showed a person 's social status, religious beliefs and also gave others a clue as to the profession of the wearer. Women who were not married wore long hair braided in braids, while married women wore buns high on the top of the head. Widows who did not want to marry again shaved their heads to signal that they were no longer interested in having a new partner. Buyao is a national hair accessory in China. Its design highlights the beauty of the hair and serves as a sign of a wealth. Buyao is made of gold and adorned with pearls and expensive crystals (Fletcher, 2005)
As time goes by fashion works its magic. Everything has changed from ancient times and their firmly rooted beliefs in hairstyles and their meanings. In modernity, people have a wide and diverse selection of styles and they choose one of those appeals to them the most.
People began to invent newer and newer hairstyles that ranged from the very pretty to the very practical and everything in between. Hairstyling accessories and various tools used in hairstyling meant to make hair more appealing have changed the world forever. Every girl knows how important hair mousse is for making her hair smooth and easier to style, as well as spray for making her hair stay in shape much longer than without it. Mousse is not a very old innovation; it was invented in mid-nineteenth century by Madame C.J. Walker. She also developed whole line of hair care products without any laboratories or researchers, but only with her natural talent (Walker, 2008)
The first hair-dryers recorded in history were vacuums adapted for drying hair; but in 1890, the inventor of the first electric hair dryer Alexander Godefoy introduced this innovation to the world. Solomon Harper invented the thermo hair curler in 1930; also the first curling iron was invented by Theory Stephens in 1980. An irreplaceable part of hair braiding and styling are hair accessories. Bobby pins are invisible helpers that create true beauty with hair and were introduced to America in 1916. Hair clips give unique looks and interesting shapes to hair (McGill, 2010).
With new innovations came new lines of hair care products. Lotions, heat protectors, conditioners and shampoos for different types of hair, different colors for dying were all created to aide with hairstyling and in turn created many new job positions. Some of the job positions created as a result of these products is beauticians. These individuals style people 's hair and help them keep in touch with the newest and best hairstyles and methods of styling. Being a hair stylist is very popular profession now-a-days.
Hairstyles have always played a large role in depicting the character of women and how they both are and want to be perceived by society. Starting in the early days of film, many women came home with a hairstyle exactly the same as the lead female actress in a movie they just saw. Their husbands tended to like this, because in the early day’s female characters in movies were often portrayed as submissive, good housewives, and let their husbands and boyfriends run the house. As time went on, and a feminist movement began to take shape, movies often showed the leading female role in more masculine terms—they did this by giving the actress a more “manly” hairstyle. In turn, women all over America began adopting similar hairstyles as a sign that they too wanted to move on from the role that women played in the first half of the 20th century. Currently, hairstyles used in movies by female actors often are intended to either give the impression that she is the “playgirl”, the “femme fatale”, and “the innocent girl next door” etc. Along with the portrayal of character, hairstyles are now often meant to signal a woman 's desires (Hayles, 2007).
From ancient times to modernity, hairstyles were a critical part of society and gave women a way to show their status, their place in religious and social society, their relationship to men, and their personality or character. Before the 20th century, hairstyles were often modest and governed by a strict set of rules and expectations. However, the movie industry and the feminist movement freed women to be able to show more of what they had in their hearts to society via a hairstyle rather than just her place.
References
Collins H.
(1992). The History of Costume: From Ancient Mesopotamia through the Twentieth Century. Retrieved from: http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/The-Ancient-World-Egypt/Wigs.html
Unknown author. (2010). History of hair FROM 3000 B.C. To present Day. Retrieved from: http://www.ukhairdressers.com/history%20of%20hair.asp
Henna P. (2010). History of Hair. Retrieved from: http://hennaartconnection.com/history-of-henna
Fletcher J. (2005). Hairstyle of ancient Egypt. Retrieved from: http://thehistoryofthehairsworld.com/old_age_2.html
Fletcher J. (2005). Hairstyle of ancient India. Retrieved from: http://thehistoryofthehairsworld.com/old_age_1.html
C. J. Walker (2008). History of hair. Retrieved from: http://www.madamcjwalker.com/hair/
McGill P. (2010). Famous Invention History – Hair. Retrieved from: http://inventors.about.com/od/hstartinventions/a/Hair.htm
Hayles B. (2007). 1940 's Hairstyles - How Changing Hairstyles Can Reflect Women 's Roles. Retrieved from:
http://ezinearticles.com/?1940s-Hairstyles---How-Changing-Hairstyles-Can-Reflect-Womens-Roles&id=694122