JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
One of around a gazillion era illustrations from popular periodicals, The PerfectWoman typically was romanticized- with an awful lot of long Perfect Hair.
Hair! We loved our hair, ornamented, plaited, ringletted, ( it's a word.... ), snooded, piled and coifed- not happy with that we made jewelry with the leftovers, avidly cut recipes from newspapers promising hair benefits from honey, lavender water, lemon and wax and photographed elaborate confections. Seems an obsession in the era.
This, renouncing mandated extravagance may be of interest to anyone who reenacts as well as just, plain myth busting.
Short hair, ladies! We've seen the photo of Kate Chase sporting what seems to be an unfashionably cropped head? The surmise is that she must have been ill, a prevailing legend contending anyone with hair not fashionably coifed must have had their hair cut for convenience while on a sick bed. It seems true that this was a practice, shearing one's locks as a means of making care simpler. But.
The thing is, not so fast. Transpires a small controversy bubbled beneath fashion's insistence on a woman's crowning, piled, plaited and curled glory. Using just one era article on the topic, there are more. This is from Godey's Lady's Book, the then-and-now Go To resource for an estrogen high.
From 1861
Have frequently wondered how much of one's day was spent, dealing with this-
Which is a great point! Ringlets and ball coifs notwithstanding, by far the most common hairstyle was some form of the ubiquitous ' bun '. I'm a ' bun ' girl myself because it is extremely easy, stuffing the whole thing into one clump then forgetting about it for the day. Less easy 150 years ago if following fashion's prescribed blueprints.
The article goes on for awhile, will spare us more and you get the idea. So, it seems, did quite a few females.
Almost an entire class from what was probably a ' female seminary ', fashions indicating the first half of the 1860's. Pretty unlikely all the girls here had been ill.
A huge favorite anyway ( she's just so happy! ), seems to be baby's older sibling of the baby. Her hair is even shorter than shoulder-length, and styled.
This couple always, always tickles me, how dapper the young husband, how intimidating, his bride? With short hair ' dressed ' for her wedding.
Yes, only three or four photos, but they're easy enough to find, have 5 for every one here. Short curls, short with headband, short and bobbed- but short.
It is indeed lovely, if one didn't object to two hours out of your day sitting still.
Guessing this seamstress had other things to do!