Hair

HAIR is frequently mentioned in Scripture, and in scarcely anything has the caprice of fashion been more strikingly displayed than in the various forms which the taste of different countries and ages bas prescribed for disposing of this natural covering of the head. The Greeks let their hair grow to a great length, and their natural fond ness for this attribute of beauty has been perpetu ated not only by the frequently recurring epithet of Homer, naonnoadan-rEs, as descriptive of the 'Axacol, but by the circumstance of the poets and artists of that ancient people representing even the gods themselves with long hair. The early Egyp tians, again, who were proverbial for their habits of cleanliness, removed the hair as an incumbrance, and the almost unavoidable occasion of sordid and offensive negligence. They shaved even the heads of young children, leaving only certain locks, as an emblem of youth, on the front, the hack, and the sides. In the case of royal children those on the sides were covered and enclosed in a bag, which hung down conspicuously as a badge of princely rank. All classes amongst that people, not excepting the slaves imported from foreign countries, were required to submit to the tonsure (Gen. xli. 14) ; and yet, what was remarkable in the inhabitants of a hot climate, while they re moved their natural hair, they were accustomed to wear wigs, which were so constructed that they far surpassed,' says Wilkinson, the comfort and coolness of the modern turban, the reticulated tex ture of the ground-work on which the hair was fas tened allowing the heat of the head to escape, while the hair effectually protected it from the sun Ant.. Egyptians, iii. 354). Different from the custom both of the Creeks and the Egyptians, ftiat of the IIebrews was to wear their hair generally short, and to check its growth by the application of scissors only. The priests at their inaug-uratien shaved off all their hair, and when on actual duty at the temple, were in the habit, it is said, of cut ting it every fortnight The only eyreptions to this prevailing fashion are found in the Nazarites (Num. vi. 5), whose hair, from religious duty, was not to be cropped during the term of their vow ; of young persons who, during their minority, al lowed their hair to hang down in luxuriant ringlets on their shoulders ; of such effeminate persons as Absalom (2 Sam. xiv. 26); and of Solomon's horse-guards, whose vanity affected a puerile ex travagance, and who strewed their heads every day with particles of gold-dust (Joseph. Ant ig. viii. 7. 3). Although the Hebrews wore their hair short, they were great admirers of strong and thickset locks ; and so high a value did they set on the possession of a good head of hair, that they deprecated nothing so much as baldness ; to which, indeed, so great ignominy was attached that, whether a man was destitute of hair or not, bald-head became a gene ral term expressive of deep and malignant contempt (2 Kings ii. 23). [BALDNEss.] To prevent or remedy this defect they seem, at an early period, to have availed themselves of the assistance of art, not only for beautifying the hair, but increasing its thickhess, while the heads of the priests were anointed with an unguent of a peculiar kind, the ingredients of which, with their various propor tions were prescribed by divine authority, and the composition of which the people were prohibited, under severe penalties, from attempting to imitate (Exod. xxx. 32, ff.) This custom spread till anointing the hair of the head became a general mark of gentility and an essential part of the daily toilet (Ps. xxiii. 5 ; xlv. 7 ; Eccles. ix. 8 ; Mark xiv. 3) ; the usual cosmetics employed consisting of the best oil of olives mingled with spices, a decoc tion of parsley-seed in wine, and more rarely of spikenard. The prevailing colour of hair among the IIebrews was dark; locks bushy and black as a raven,' being mentioned in the description of the bridegroom as the perfection of beauty in mature manhood (Sol. Song, v. 1). Hence the appear ance of an old man with a snow-white head in a company of younger Jews, all whose heads, like those of other Eastern people, were jet black—a most conspicuous object—is beautifully compared to an almond-tree, which in the early part of the year is in full blossom, while all the others are dark and leafless (Eccles. xii. 5). Red hair, how

ever, occasionally appeared, and seems to have been regarded as ornamental rather than othenvise. The word ninnt,•„ Admoni, rendered in the A.V. of a ruddy complexion,' properly means red. haired. It would thus appear that Esau (Gen. xxv. 25) and David (r Sam. XVi. 12 ; XVii. 42) were red-haired. Red hair is so uncommon in the East, that it forms a particular distinction, as in the Scriptural instances; but it is by no means un known, especially in mountainous countries. The writer has observed it in Persia repeatedly, accom panied with the usual fresh complexion. Such hair and complexion together seem to have been legarded as a beauty among the Jews. The per sonal characters of Esau and David appear to agree well with the temperament which red hair usually indicates_ A story is told of Herod, that in order to conceal his advanced age, he used secretly to dye his gray locks with a dark pigment (Joseph. Ant4. xvi. 8. 1) ; and although the anecdote was probably an unfonnded calumny on that prince, yet that it was customary with many of his Roman contemporaries to employ artificial means for changing or disguis ing the silver hue of age, is sufficiently apparent from the works of Martial and other satirical poets. From Rome the fashion spread into Greece and other provinces, and it appears that the members of tbe church of Corinth were, to a certain extent, captivated by the prevailing taste, some Christians being evidently in the eye of the Apostle, who had attracted attention by the cherished and womanly decoration of their hair (i Cor. xi. 14-16). To them the letter of Paul was intended to administer a timely reproof for allowing themselves to fall in with a style of manners which, by confounding the distinctions of the sexes, threatened a baneful in fluence on good niorals ; and that not only the Christian converts in that city, but the primitive church generally, were led by this admonition to adopt simpler habits, is evident from the remark able fact that a criminal, who came to trial under the asstuned character of a Christian, was proved to the satisfaction of the judge to be an impostor by the luxuriant and frizzled appearance of his hair (Tertullian, Apo/.; Fleury,Les ltfrezirs des Chritiens), With regard to women, the possession of long and luxuriant hair is allowed by Paul to be an essen tial attribute of the sex—a graceful and modest covering provided by nature ; and yet the same Apostle elsewhere (t Tim. ii. 9) concurs with Peter (I Pet. iii. 3) in guarding women pro fessing godliness against the pride and passionate fondness often displayed in the elaborate decora tions of the head-dress. As the hair was pre-emi nently the instrument of their pride' (Ezek. xvi. 39, rnargin), all the resources of ingenuity and art were exhausted to set it off to advantage and load it with the most dazzling finery ; and many when they died caused their longest locks to be cut off, and placed separately in an urn, to be deposited in their tomb as the most precious and valued relics. In the daily use of cosmetics they bestowed the most astonishing pains in arranging their long hair ; sometimes twisting it round on the crown of the head, where, and at the temples, by the aid of gum, which they knew as well as the modern belles, they wrought it into a variety of elega.nt and fanciful devices—figures of coronets, harps, wreaths, diadems, emblems of public temples and con quered cities, being formed by the mimic skill of the ancient friseur ; or else, plaiting it into an in credible number of tresses which hung down the back, and which, when necessary, were lengthened by ribbons so as to reach to the ground, and were kept at full stretch by the weight of various wreaths of pearls and gold fastened at intervals down to the extremity. From some Syrian coins in his possession Hartmann (Die Hebraerin Putztishe) has given this description of the style of the He brew coiffure ; and many ancient busts and por traits which have been discovered exhibit so close a resemblance to those of Eastern ladies in the present day, as to shew that the same elaborate , and gorgeous disposition of their hair has been the I pride of Oriental females in every age.