History of styles

Ancient World. In early and primitive societies the simplest hairstyle, worn by the common people, was long or cropped hair usually held in a fillet or band. Aristocrats developed distinctive and more complex styles. Sumerian noblewomen, for example, dressed their hair in a heavy, netted chignon, rolls, and plaits around the head or letting it fall thickly over the shoulders. They also powdered it with gold dust or scented yellow starch and adorned it with gold hairpins and other ornaments. Babilonian and Assyrian men dyed their long hair and square beards black and crimped and curled them with curling irons. Sometimes wigs were worn. Persian nobles also curled their hair and beards and stained them red with henna.

Egyptian noblemen and noblewomen clipped their hair close; later, for coolness and cleanliness in the hot climate, they shaved their heads with bronze razors. On ceremonial occasions, for protection from the sun, they wore heavy, usually black wigs. These were in short curly shapes or long and full in curls or braids and were adorned with ivory knobbed hairpins, fillets, fresh flowers or gold ornaments. Men shaved their faces and wore stiff false beards. In classical Greece men wore short hair and often beards. Later they were shaved. Women's long hair was drawn back loosely or bound into a chignon. Both sexes wore fillets, and the upper classes used curling irons. Some women dyed their hair red (or in Athens even blue, dusted with gold, white or red powder), and others adorned it with flowers, ribbons, and jewelled tiaras.

In austere republican Rome, men and women generally followed simple Greek styles, but under the empire the upper classes used curling irons and the men dusted their hair with collared powder or gold dust. Women dyed their hair bond with yellow soap or wore ebony wigs or wigs-made from the blond hair of captive barbarians. Their hair was piled high in curls and braids, sometimes arranged on crescent-shaped wire frames. Throughout the ancient world hair-dressing and shaving were accomplished by domestic slaves or in public barbershops.

The Non-Western World-The Muslim World and the East. Among Muslims, traditionally, the hair was modestly concealed in public under the man's turban or fez or the woman's: veil. Both men and women, however, attended their respective hammams (public baths), where the men were shaved (sometimes the whole head except for the long topknot) and their beards v ere trimmed. The women's long hair was washed and often given a henna rinse.

In China, men traditionally shaved the front hair and combed the back hair into a queue braided with horsehair or black silk. The queue was a mark of dignity and manhood. To pull it was a grave insult. Chinese women combed their hair back, sometimes under a bandeau, into a low knot, which might be decorated with jewelled combs, hairpins, or flowers. Unmarried girls wore long plaits.

In Japan, traditionally, men usually shaved the front and top of the head, leaving a little stiff pigtail al the back of the crown. Women's hair in the medieval period streamed down their backs. After the introduction of pomade in the 17th century, women's hair was swept and arranged with combs, bars, ribbons, and long ornamental hairpins, revealing the nape of the neck, which was thought to be especially appealing. The Geisha's lacquered coiffures, which often were wigs, were especially elaborate.