Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-10-27
Hair Among the ipeie,ts.

The Greek and Roman ladies wore their
hair long, and were as pround of it as
were Jewish women. The Greek and
Roman men, like the Hebrew men, wore
their hair cropped close. This fact ap-
pears by the medals that have come down
to us. This formed principal distinction
between the dress of the two sexes. A
few days previous to the marriage of the
Grecian lovers cut off their hair and con-
secrated it to the favorite gods. An old
writer says that it was customary among
them to hang the hair of the dead on the
doors Of their houses previous to inter-
ment. They also tore their hair, or shaw
ed il, or cut it of. when mourning for their
deceased friends. When this sacrifice
was made, the tresses were consumed on
the funeral pyre Of the corpse. The
ancients we are told, imagined that no
person could die till lock OF hair was
cut of and this act. they supposed, was
performed by the invisible hand of death.
or Iris, or some other messenger of the
gods. This hair thus cut off consecrated
the person to the Internal deities. under
whose jurisdiction the dead were suppos-
ed to be. 1t was a sort of first-fruits
which sanctified the whole. Whatever
was the fashion with respect to the hair,
slaves were not allowed to initiate the
mode of their masters. The hair of the
slave was cut in peculiar fashion, which
was instantly changed when they obtain
ed their freedom.
The use of artificial hair is of very re-
mote origin. 1t was used by the Egyptians.
Greeks, Romans. and Carthaginians. The
trade in human hair was regular traffic
with the Romans. The favorite blonde
hair OF Germany was largely imported into
Rome in the days of Ovid; and those
Roman danes who did not wear wigs, and
yet wished to conform to the fashion, pow
dered their hair with kind of gold-dust.
Dyeing the hair was greatly practised
among them. The Roman ladies delight
ed to pile up their hair tower-like on the
top of their heads, while they had several
rows of curls arranged formally round the
sides, and sometimes pendent curls in adj
dition. Fashion also regulated the style
of wearing the hair among men in the
later times of Rome. A boys hair. for
instance, was cut for the-first time at seven
years of age, and again at fourteen"
Among the Greeks and Romans, cutting
the hair was a great dishonor. Hence,
prisoners of war and slaves who had COM
mitted any offence had their heads shaved
or hair cut.
80 desirable" says an anonymous
writer, "was fine head of hair consid-
cred by the Romans that it became
sacred, and was often dedicated to the
gods on important occasions of mar
riage, victory, escape from danger
and daath and burial IF rr;opdo
plucking it out or neglecting it
was token of affection. Remains of this
feeling are manifested In modern times by
Furnishing various offences by cutting the
hair, by Notifying the pride, as in the
tonsure of the priests and the cropping
of the laity, and by marking of the slave
by the shortness of the hair"
The ancient Gauls esteemed it an honor
to have long hair. When Julius Caesar
them he made them, as token
of submission. cut off their hair. the
cropped head at that period being the Pc
culiar badge of slavery.
Gregory of Tours reports that it was
long the peculiar privilege of the blood
among the Frankish kings to have flowing
locks. while for other persons there gra-
datiOns in the cut of the hair. according to
rank, from noble down to close-cropped
slave. When prince among them was
excluded from the right of succeeding to
the crown his hair was cut off. The hair
was worn short by the mobiles in France
from the time of Clovis; but as they be-
came more civilized or less material
which is often the same thing-they al
lowed their hair to lengthen. In the time
of Frances |. long hair was worn at court
but that monarch, proud of his wound,
himself wore short hair. in the Italian
and Swiss fashion, which soon became
general. In the reign of Louis XIII.
the fashion of wearing long hair was re-
vived, and as it became desirable to have
the hair curl. the wigs were also restored.
Then following the era of haIr-powder,
periwigs. and perukes of enormous dimen-
sions. which were swept into the tomb of
the Capulets. wherever that may happen
to be by the fierce democracy of the French
Revolution The shirtless Jacobins re.
stored natural hair to its natural use
Among our ancestors. the ancient Brit
ons were proud of the length and beauty
OF their hair, and were at much pains at
dressing it. A standard authority of the
last century SAYS that some of them car
ried his pride to an extravagant height
A young warrior. who was taken prisoner
and condemned to be beheaded. requested
that no slave might be permitted to touch
his hair which was remarkably long and
beautiful, and that it might not be stained
with his blood. Not content with the nat
ural color of their hair, they used washes
to render it still brighter. One of these
was composition of lime, tallow and ash
es of certain Vegetables. As the length
OF their hair was considered as a mark of
dignity and noble birth, various arts were
used to promote its growth. The Britons
shaved their boards, but not their NOUS
taches. which-and it was the custom of
the Gauls also-they allowed to grow to a