HAIRDRESSING IN LATER TIMES. The disposi tion to use the hair, when worn long, as a vehicle for elaborate design of some kind never seems to disappear. As the Roman ladies twisted the hair over their forehead into the appearance of an immense sponge, the taste recurs after the sim pler conditions of the Middle Ages in the four teenth century, when men and women alike, of the wealthier classes, had most elaborate coif fures, sometimes wrought into a glossy ring two or three inches in diameter reaching diagonally from above the forehead, touching the ears and to the nape of the neck, or in two great puffs concealing the ears, or, in the case of women, combined with a broad cushion or coronet at the top, which seems to be supported by a great volume of crimped and curled hair be low. The well-known portraits of Henry IV. (died 1610) and his minister, the Due de Sully, show this fashion carried into later times. The beard is shown combed out and curled with great nicety, gummed in a radiating form like a fan bclow'and on both sides of the lower lip, and the mustache in like manner is curled and rolled up ward from the mouth, the whole evidently held in place by some glutinous medium. The hair, NI hen abundant, is also rolled back from the fore head and temples in a way which is very effective and reminds one of the 'Pompadour' style of hair dressing which has been in fashion for women during several epochs since.
The elaborate dress ing of the hair reached its culmination under the reigns succeeding thatof Henry 1V. Thus, during the boyhood of Louis XIV., and in England during the reign of Charles I., the long hair, perfumed and carefully adjusted, was not allowed to blow freely in the wind, but was tied with ribbons into long and heavy locks. The fact that the King, Louis XIV., had unusually long and abun dant hair seems to have been the main cause of the introduction of long curled wigs, by means of which his courtiers thought to ape the natural gifts of their master.
The use of perukes was well established by 1650, and from that time for at least a century there was no Buell thing as hairdressing for men. The coiffure of women during the early part of this time was extremely tasteful and well adapted to the head and face, varying as it did very largely, according to the age. complexion, and stature of the wearer. The curling hair lying on the neck and bare shoulders and covered by a crape veil which we associate with the simpler dress of court ladies and the costume of the richer bourgeoisie from 1640 to 1670 is followed by, or alternates with, lighter and shorter curls, which seem to blow in the wind. Toward the close of
the seventeenth century the tall headdresses of lace and starched cambric begin to come in, but these are mere modifications of the veil, and the hair is not very elaborately dressed, being grace fully combined with the loose cap which covers the back of the head and arranged in ringlets around the forehead and cheeks, while the stiff, upright, fan-like plaits of the 'tower' tend rather to elongate the head and increase the apparent stature than to form in themselves a mere head dress. In the reign of Louis XV., with all the fantastic elaboration of cos tume, the enormous panier or expanded skirt, the loose sleeves and collar and the rest, the head is generally dressed very simply and it is obviously the purpose of the whole toilet to make the head seem very small in proportion. With the close of this reign and the beginning of the reign of Louis XVI. the return is gradual to more fantastic forms, and by 1750 a huge edifice of curls stiffened with wire, as well as hair cloth and the like, was arranged to carry a little cap or hat entirely removed from the scalp and adorned with feathers and flowers. It is probable that hairdressing in the proper sense has never been so rich and fantastical as at this time. As the reign of Louis XVI. drew on toward the Revolution this headdress of women grew still more fantastic, and we read of one in which a model of a ship of war was carried in the place of the hat upon this structure of curls and crinoline. These extravagances were grad ually abated, and in the nineteenth century the hairdressing of men was much less elaborate, as the hair was uniformly worn short. In the first part of the century women dressed their hair very simply, letting it fall at the sides in a series of ringlets, and gathering it around the back of the head with a. ribbon. Somewhat later the side curls were done away with, and the hair was arranged on the top of the head with elaborate and fantastic headdresses and much use of false hair. Chignon was the word used to describe the hair when it was dressed in a large roll, especially when it was arranged over a cushion, or other support. From about 1850 curls again became popular for a time, and since their dis use no marked innovation has been introduced in the matter of hairdressing. Consult: Viller mont, Histoire de in coiffure feminine (Paris, 1892), a most comprehensive treatment of the subject; Child, 1Vimples and Crisping Pins (New York, 1895), a popular historical sketch of hair dressing; Wollensack, Der Damenfriseur (Stutt gart, 1897).