Styles and methods of hair dressing

• Ancient and modern methods.
• Styles for various types.
• Harmful methods; puffs, artificial coiffures.
• The bang; wigs; bobbed hair.
• Dutch cut.

To a mere man the art and science of concocting a coiffure must ever remain one of the Eleusinian mysteries.

We gaze on the prints of some of the old-style methods of hair dressing, and frankly admit that woman is indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. The proof of this is apparent to anyone who will take the trouble to let his eye rove over the yard or so of hirsutic landscape, be-wigged, be-scalloped, be-ribboned, be-powdered and otherwise be-deviled, there shown.

Truth compels me to state, however, that woman has become decidedly more practical in the arrangement of her hair than she used to be in the time of Madame Pompadour, Catherine de Medici, and some of the other celebrities of the yesteryears, just as she is with her clothes, foolish and inadequate though they are from every masculine standpoint. Yet they represent a tremendous improvement over the old crinoline, bustle, street sweeper, and heaven-knows-what-else that woman has evolved from time immemorial in the way of sartorial monstrosity.

How women may look their best

There probably isn't anything more beautiful than an attractively arranged head of hair—setting off the loveliness of the face beneath it.
There are a few general rules it might be well for women always to bear in mind in the matter of hair arrangement. The first is that the woman with a round, plump face, and a short nose, should never attempt to roll a mass of hair upon the top of her head. Because, if she does, nothing in the world can keep her face from looking like a full moon.

The woman with a prominent nose should never wear her hair in a huge knot at the back, for this elongates the side line from the tip of the nose to the end of the hair, making this line too long to be in proportion.

Artificial aids to beauty

Of two evils naturally it is always better to choose the lesser. As between having no hair at all on one's head, and wearing hair that has been legitimately purchased at some hair-dressing shop, possibly the latter course is the more esthetic.

I must emphatically insist, however, that it is not the most hygienic. The piling of false hair and other artificial aids to pulchritude upon a scalp that is already handicapped still further inhibits its chances for anything like normal activity.

If a woman's hair is short and scanty, it is far better for her to wear it cut short, and to endeavour to stimulate an increased growth by giving attention to the scalp, rather than to wear false locks which only heat and sweat the head, and which by their own weight drag upon the feeble hair they are designed to fortify.

Sensible styles

Of late years there has developed a cult which believes in "bobbed hair," a fashion, if I remember rightly, made popular by Irene Castle, the famous danseuse. This is probably an adaptation of the old "Dutch Cut," used from earliest times to keep the tangled tresses of children from still further tangling.

This style of hair dressing is sensible, hygienic, and exceedingly attractive with most types of women, and I can heartily recommend it as an evidence of sound common sense.

It is one of the many things that go to prove that the world is becoming saner and more intelligent in its dealings with all matters that have to do with physical welfare.