Trichocosmos: Notes historical, æsthetical, ethnological, physiological, anecdotal and tonsorial, on the hair & beardAnonymous
History
Trichocosmos: Notes historical, æsthetical, ethnological, physiological, anecdotal and tonsorial, on the hair & beard
Anonymous
Barbering; Beards; Hair; Hairdressing; Wigs
complaint is, that those who should enjoy perfect immunity from the
annoyance,--those
“Who have but fed on the roses, and lain in the lilies of life”--
by the use of stimulant pomatums, improper hair-brushes, and badly made
combs, but chiefly the use of abominable nostrums--not unfrequently
entail upon themselves the very evils which are commonly produced by
the opposite means, neglect and inattention to the state of the hair.
The hair requires but a moderate supply of pommade; but this, to be of
any real benefit, must be compounded _secundem artem_, and adapted to
the purpose. Oils and pomatums which merely collect dust are not to
be tolerated, and are frequently had recourse to merely to disguise
the neglect which suffers the hair to become rough from being in
ill-condition. Whenever proper attention is given to the hair, the most
satisfactory results are usually obtained; and without bestowing such
an amount of care, it is impossible to realize the beautiful softness
and lustre which any lady’s tresses may be made to assume. It cost the
poet little to bring together
“Love-darting eyes, and tresses like the morn;”
but we promise none but very ordinary tresses to such as will not, both
night and morn, with brush and comb, and suitable preparation, detach
every particle of dust from the hair. And to those who can appreciate
the beautiful, and would gratify a more refined feeling than mere
personal vanity, the disposition of the hair affords an admirable
opportunity of setting off, by the graces of art, “the beauty of a
woman’s face”--
“Angels are painted fair, to look like you.”
All the canons of criticism are summed up in the perfections of female
beauty. What greater ornament to perfect beauty that luxuriant hair? We
will conclude our advice to the fair with some old verses of Richard
Lovelace, which express, with the freedom of a poet, a truth that might
take the form of an aphorism, that the beauty of the hair consists in
its flowing outline, its flexibility, and varying tints--the effect of
light reflected from its glossy surface:
“Amarantha, sweet and fair,
Oh, braid no more that shining hair!
Let it fly, as unconfin’d
As its calm ravisher, the wind;
Who hath left his darling, th’ east,
To wanton o’er that spicy nest.
Every tress must be confest,
But neatly tangled, at the best;
Like a clue of golden thread
Most excellently ravelled.
Do not, then, wind up the light
In ribands, and o’ercloud in night,
Like the sun’s in early ray;
But shake your head, and scatter day!”
THE END.
Read & Co., Printers, Johnson’s-court, Fleet-street.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words
have been retained as in the original.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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