Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-01
DRESSING THE HAIR.
THE LATEST STYLE CoIFFURE AMONG
FASHIONABLE LADIES.
old-Time Styles Coming Back Into Fa
vor- Grace Combined With
Simplicity.
Special Correspondence of the RECORD UNION

New YORK, December 26, 1889.
Many are the harsh and unkind thing:
which have been said of Dame Fashion
To her stern sway has all the "pomps and
vanities" to which the female sex are
prone, been laid. To her charge is
all the ill-health and every other i'll to
which womankind is subjected attributed
by medical men, moralists and misanthro-
pists
But Fashion is as old as the hills, and
has governed the cut and manner of wear
ing the garments since the epoch when
clothing the body was first adopted; and
she will not be dethroned AS long as
man and woman continue 10 exist on this
mundane sphere, so long will fashion reign
supreme.
The manner of wearing the hair has
also, as far back as history reaches, occu-
pied the attention of both men and women,
Fashion laying down rules concerning
the headgear, sometimes arbitrary, some
times absurd, and always exacting in all
countries and among all nations.
Augustine Challamet, in his History of
Hair" says: 'Fashion is the expositor
from the standpoint of costume, of our own
habits and our social relations, in a word,
of everything appertaining to the charm of
life
He is right. Without fashions of the
refined sort what kind of a social world
would the world be? Scarcely any beauty
of person, and no art to speak of.
The Egyptians, the Oldest nation of
whom authentic details have been gath
cred, paid great attention to their locks
The bellies of that country, in olden times,
were extremely careful in the arrange
ment of their hair and liberal in its adorn-
ment 1t may also be interesting to Amer
lean ladies to here state that the Egyptian
maidens of centuries wore the front hair
cut short across the forehead, after the
fashion of the straight bang so much in
vogue not very long ago.
The Anglo-Saxons were renowned for
their long, beautiful hair, and France was
anciently called "Gallia Chromata," or
'Iong haired Gaul," for the same reason.
The graceful bridal veil of the present is
said to have originated from the custom of
Anglo-Saxon maidens having worn their
long hair flowing during the marriage GER
emony and the festivities which followed.
The Greek and Roman ladies were noted
for the care of their hair and the chaste,
beautiful styles they adopted in its ar
rangement.
BY this slight backward glance over the
long reign of Queen Fashion it will be
seen that from the earliest times she has
governed the styles Of headgear as well as
the modes of apparel.
Upon continental hair-dressing alone
weighty and interesting volume might be
written, so numerous and curious are the
coifures. which have lived and died since
the opening of the fourteenth century.
Many were graceful and quantity pretty,
others were hideous.
Later, particularly during the reign of
the fair Empress Eugene, many elegant
and becoming coifiures were worn, but
after the downfall of that beautiful and
gentle lady, hair-dressing gradually de-
Perforated, until really becoming couture
became thing of the past.
Now, and at last, wearied with the mo-
notony of the severely simple styles which
have prevailed for several years past
fashion has decreed that the art of hair
dressing shall be resumed, and many grace
full coiffures are constantly appearing de-
signed to suit all casts of features, and all
occasions.
There is more in the arrangement of the
hair than most ladies realize. Every lady
should study her own features, and unless
she possesses face of marvellous beauty, she
will at Cnce perceive that the entire effect
of her countenance is changed by the man.
ner in which her hair is dressed. In
couture she may appear handsome, or at
least stylish; with her hair combed
plainly back, positively ugly, and as
American ladies are blessed with fine
beautiful hair, with the new and ex-
tremely graceful modes which our artistic
hair-dressers are constantly displaying,
there is no reason why every woman, re-
gardless of age, should not make the most
of her looks and always appear at her best
Those who are deficient in capillary
wealth can easily remedy that misfortune
by adding Switch" and none save their
hair-dresser will be the wiser, and both
these and the bangs or front pieces so
much in favor at present are now so beau
tiful and naturally made that they cause
no discomfort to the wearer, and defy de-
lection.
The high and low couture is at present
the reigning styles, which consist of the
long braids, reaching from the top of the
head to below the nape of the neck, is an
extremely neat and practical arrangement
admirably adapted for everyday wear, and
is much favored by ladies who prefer a
couture while at the same time desiring a
modest head-dress.