Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-17
PARTING OF THE HAIR
HOW THE STYLES HAVE CHANG
ED IN A FEW SHORT YEARS.
DAYS When Men Amounted Their Head
With Bears Grease-Blades
Of Long Ago.
From the Kansas City Star.

From the Kansas City Star.
It's very true. men now living rubbed
bears grease on their hair and parted II
down the back Of the head. It's also true
that men who still have hair made 1t
glossy not so many years ago with Oil that
came in a bottle with a rose on the label.
At church, in the good old days. these
pomades divided interest with the sermon.
particularly in the cold winters when the
stove was red and the windows were tight
But that's of another generation. About
the men who are of Importance or are be-
coming of importance today
In some localities it was fifteen years ago
in some more-that the gay young blades
were doing contortions before the glass In
hopes Of having the hair lie on the fore
head and curl up again in a knife-iike edge
to one side of the head With the left
hand holding the locks fiat to the forehead,
the right helped the comb make that grace
full. much sought-after curve. The part was
on the side Then one day. about the time
that the hair had been trained to cover the
forehead like a piece of work from scroll
saw, an actor came from the east wearing
his hair pushed straight up all over MS
head. It was a departure unexpected. one
Of which neither the stage nor the comic
weeklies had given a hint. King Humbert 9
pictures had shown 1t, but in his case 1t
was considered a deformity. To this day
pompadour. but everybody remembers the
patient toll necessary to bring that fore
head plaster to a resemblance OF brfstle
brush. 1t was the day Of the man with
coarse hair and for three years he reigned.
The Pompadour.
The overthrow of the pompadour was
complete and led nearly to revival OF the
wave over the forehead. The new conceit
Of matter fact man was the bang. and 1t
was stolen from the child under four. The
hair was brushed straight over the fore
head. the edge of the mop trimmed In q
curve. A part showed over one eye 1t
was very fetching. the BARRIERS said, al
though not in the heavyweight class. The
little fellows with light hair fought long
against giving 1t up. but 1t had to go; the
part over the left eye was mint OF what
was about to happen.
The new style was first seen on an Eng
Iish actor, but he could not convince the
average man that one would pc saie Oh
the stage with his hair parted In the mid
die. But other actors came, the college
bows trooped home for the vacation. ana
the average mans hair was parted farther
day, the town and other towns awoke to
find the mems hair parted squarely In the
middle.
After all. 1t was sensible. The eyes, the
nose. the mouth-the face is parted in the
middle And all these centuries man. nearly
certain that he could improve his appear
ance by any change had been parting his
hair on either side, anywhere except In the
most natural place. The world seemed to
like this discovery of the natural, this one
effort of the man to be honest with his
head. For years there was unan1mity
about the proper point of parting that
brought together more closely than ever
the man who mixes the drink and the man
who drinks it: the man who cuts the hair
and the one who has 1t cut. 1t was great
leveler. the part in the middle. At first the
hair was brushed back from the forehead
on either side of the part. Later it was
permitted to find it's own place. Then came
the John Drew plaster. straight lines from
the middle to either ear; hair smooth and
slick all over. But at all times the part
was maintained positively and definitely in
the middle. Some men had concluded that
with these little notifications the hair
would be given the middle part so long as
hair remained on the human head, but
they had forgotten the actor man and the
college boy.
Over the Left Ear.
The first one to show himself with the
hair brushed from a line an inch above the
left ear straight over the head to the right
ear gave the impression that his face was
misshapen-al pushed to one side. 1t was
startling at first. and the purpose of it
could not be found; nobody has yet come
with an explanation of this effort to make
the face Iopsided. But after three or four
actors and a few hundred sophomores
reached town the young men waited no
longer: the struggles to find a parting line
on the side Of the head began.
At no time is it of Importance whether a
man parts his hair one side or both
sides. or does not part 1t at all. There is
nothing to learn from the exotic in hair
dressing: 1t proves only what the world has
always knOwn-for vanity woman Is as a
clustered nun when compared to the prtnk-