If I had more hair, this would be useful, because I can never find a pencil when I need one.
Photograph by Tim Barber. Part of his
Dress Up for Muse series.
A Scottish child and a Native-American child pour hair tonic on the head of an elderly Anglo man and massage it in, while a child soldier out of some European comic opera stands by with sword upraised in tribute.
The only sensible part of this weird iconography is the Scottish kid. Once upon a time, right up to, oh, the 1960s, "anything Scottish = cheap and economical" was standard advertising shorthand.
Original ad here, with accompanying text.
I came across this description of a mechanical hair-brush published in
Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Nov. 23, 1863. It operated by means of "an endless band of vulcanised india-rubber... that descends to within about a foot of your head and is made to revolve by machinery." Here's a description of it in action:
When I went in to get my hair thus brushed, had sat down before the glass, and been tucked in as usual, with bib and dressing-gown, the hair-dresser took up one of his circular brushes and hitched it to the revolving band over my head. In a moment I felt a silent fanning, as if some monstrous butterfly were hovering over me; this was the air of the twirling brush, which caught my hair up and laid it down, and traveled all over my head with incessant gentle penetration. It crept down my whiskers and searched my beard with the same tender and yet decided effect. There was no scratching, not even of the neck and ears, but the skin of cheeks and chin was reached and swept. It was a new sensation. I felt as if I should like to be brush continously for a month.
Evidently mechanical hair-brushes never caught on, because the only picture of one I could find
was this:
Never mind that she's playing pool in her bra, on a pool table that appears to be wet. What's going on with that hairdo?
(via
Vintage Ads)
Last week I was in Hamburg, Germany, for a literary conference. I snapped this foto at the Dammtor train station.
I am not sure of the wisdom of getting one's hair styled at a place with this name.
When I saw the words 'hair insurance', I thought "What a great idea! Finally people who suffer from any type of genetic baldness can relax." So I was disappointed when I followed the link and read the article. Turns out it's not some fabulous hair loss coverage plan. Instead, Troy Polamalu (who plays Football for the Pittsburgh Steelers) has gotten his long, flowing locks insured for one million dollars. The insurance is covered by Lloyd's of London and was purchased by shampoo brand Head and Shoulders.
You can read more about it here.
When I saw famed photog Annie Leibovitz in today's
New York Times, I instantly flashed on famed director Martin Scorsese. Has anyone ever seen these two masters of the lens in the same room together?
(Pic of Leibovitz from
Flickr user maxnoy.)
Category: Fashion, Hair Styling