Our love affair with our hair
The love affair that human beings have with their beloved mane is like no other. In fact, no other creature on this planet, shapes or colours their hair simply because they want it to appear different. Apart from a little hair or feather plucking, humans are the only animals that intentionally alter the appearance or presence of body and head hair – and we’ve been doing it for centuries.
Since the beginning of time, African hairstyles have been many and varied due to the many tribes on this continent and in Africa hair is often used to signify status. Warriors of the Masai tribe tie the front hair into sections of tiny braids whilst the back of the hair grows to waist length. Non-warriors and women, however shave their heads. Many tribes dye the hair with red earth and grease – some even cake it with animal dung.
As far back as ancient Greece, women’s hair was grown long and pulled back into a chignon. Many dyed their hair red with henna and sprinkled it with gold powder, often adorning it with flowers or jewelled tiaras. Men’s hair was short and even shaved on occasion.
By the 18th century, in Europe, people began to wear elaborate wigs, mile-high coiffures and highly decorated curls. White powdered wigs with long ringlets were the order of the day and were often tied back with a black bow for men or decorated with feathers, bows and garlands for women.
By the 1920’s society had very much abandoned the puritanical values and restrictions of Victorian life. The Roaring 20s saw the birth of short, bobbed and waved styles, signifying the new independent, free-spirited, free-woman philosophy of the day. Women increasingly had access to cinema / theatre and the various trends were set by the ‘superstars’ of the time – the same is true now and Hollywood still influences much in the way of fashion, hair and beauty.
Cultural styles and so-called norms have varied widely over the last several decades. In the 60s, there was a revolution with the wearing of unisex long hair as a political statement and then becoming a popular fashion trend. Into the 1970s, this trend continued and included influences from many ethnic hairstyles and later in the 1980s we saw a surge in very short ’New Wave’ hairstyles, influenced by the popular music industry.
These days we wear our hair in thousands of different styles and combinations – from up to down and from plaited to straightened. At sites like Hair Updos you’ll find many updo hair style images which show an incredible amount of variety in the creativity we apply to our hair for special occasions.
Body hair also follows trends – men’s facial hair for instance has gone through every possible styling fashion over the centuries, from naturally grown out, to elaborate mustache and beard styling, to shaved smooth.
With the rise of physical culture and the ever-present media set image, it has become popular for both men and women to remove nearly all their body hair from the neck down.
As humans evolve, it appears that they are increasingly less hairy. They appear to be adapting to the warmer climate and have invented many things to protect them from the harsh elements suchas clothing, buildings and beauty products – therefore hair is no longer functional, but purely decorative. Just the way we like it.