COMBS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 43

COMBS.

The dainty little combs so much need in last year's hairdresßing were but the revival of an old fashion with a new application. To me they always recall some of the sunniest; memories of childish days — the delightful visits to my grandmother. , It was one of my favourite duties and privileges on these occasions to take the place of lady's-maid and assißt at the later sl3geß of grannie's toilet. The big sunny bedroom in which hangings, china, and decorations were all of white and gold ; the cutglass, silver-mounted bottles ; the ivory* backed brushes with their silver monograms — all the dainty and luxurious fittings, which were so unknown in my own economicallyplanned home, exercised an irresistible charm over me. I said to myself that some day I would be rich like this, and wear no more faded frocks, no darned gloves. I was always ready and waiting when the little silver bell chimed, and always found grannie sitting before the great glass ready to do her hair. In summer her dainty little figure was wrapped in a frilled " peignoir," sha called it, of white hair-cord muslin, with touches of pale pink ribbon here and there among the goffered frills. In winter a rich fhade of wina-red cashmere was always in. vogue, and the clear pallor of her finely-cut face, framed in silvery hair, was thrown up . like a cameo above the brilliant flood of colour. But whatever the season, whichever the peignoir, the routine of the toilette never varied by a fcair'3 breadth ; always at precisely the game moment I handed graasie's "side combs" and watched their nice adjust menfc in the French curls which were pinned down so daintily by their aid. When the last curl was adjusted I hand6d the ivory pnfEoox while grandmother lightly I dusted her soft wrinkled throa*-, and then the I little bowl of water just scented with ean-da-i Cologne, in which aha dipped b.9r hsjicla. 1 Sbe had been a great beauty in her osy— *■ now she was a great saint, but she did not wish to be an ugly saint ! The habit of association is strong — I never can feel that tihege dainty little side- combs are either chic or new fashioned, just because they are aiws-ya associated in my mind with memories of a little old lady with rows of soft white carls on either side her fine palo face, with lace cap and lace fichu, always dressed in black, ai>d with her tiny, shrivelled hands, covered with black silk mittens, lyiag on the open ; Bibls on her knee, or flashing her clicking \ knifing pins. Bat how interesting the evolu\\yjv o" combs has bean — what an excraordiI rjiiiy variety of shapes and designs thora , has been in this one item of a woman's t-ii)et — how variously ssed, how curiously • worn 1 j I? we needed any proof of how near and ; dear matters of the toilet bave ever been to ; the feminine affections we find It iv the fact that the ancients frequently included a woman's comb among the cherished trifles to be buried with her. We may be thankful for the qnaint custom, since numbers of beautiful examples of these ancient combs | have been recovered from Egyptian, Roman, | and Pompeiiau tombs. The modern corab 13 j a very poor affair in comparison with the ; beautiful and artistic combs of ancient ! timps. Tbß Egyptians, with whom no doubt i the use of the comb originated, made them of boxwood, in which they were imitated by the Romans, though later on both nations used ivory almost exclusively for the purpose. These ancient combs were double, shaped very much like our small tooth combs, only much larger, beirg about 4in long anc! 6in wide, so as to allow of the centre portioa being elaborately carved, enriched with jewels or inlaid work. Some few single combs hnve been recovered, and these are all made of ivory, and are carved with the figure of some bird or animal, usually an ibex. About the thirteenth century combs widened their sphere in life, and began to be used as fasrenings for the hair. Heretofore they had been practically useful and incidentally ornamental ; now they rosa to articles de luice as adjuncts of Beauty's toilette and Wealth's ostentation. Pure gold set with jewel?, blazing with diamonds, chastened with pearls, encrusted with the fiery opulence of rubies and opals — such wer<s the combs of which the Barrator speaks in that sad old "Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens " : I O lang, lang may their ladyes sit Wi' their goud kames in their hair. Thenceforth, for many a year, combß [ played their part iv the toilette of noble I dames right royally, and we may be sure I that these golden combs with their flashing [ jewels were among the ornaments which the I maiden looked forward to wearing when she ! became a matron ; for those were days when I simplicity was the privilege of youth, mag« nificence the tolace of maturity. Almost the earliest specimen of a British comb is one which was found in some exca- • vations in the year 1764. It waa discovered j beneath some ancient paved seats which • were excavated below what is now tim.

Shiprow street, Aberdeen, and is supposed to have lain there since Edward 111 burned and looted the city in 1336. An even more interesting, if more modern, relic, however, is the queer double-toothed comb ot Qaeen Elizabeth, which belongs to a well-known collection in England. It is somewhat of fche old Egyptian pattern, inasmuch as it has two rows of teeth and measures about 6in by 4in. It is made of tortoishell, and doubtless Baw plenty of strenuous service in combing out her Majesty's various wigs. Some 20 years ago an attempt was made " to revive the use of combs in hair-dressing, and high Spanish combs were worn and the hair coiled or plaited in a huge coronal round them. Ifc was only a fleeting fashion, however, which was no doubt due to the fact that combs had not been " out " long enough to warrant an attempt to renew their popularity. In those inimitable old caricatures of Leech's prim little girls in sandalled shoes and too obvious pantalettes have their hair neatly scraped back from their faces by means of a circular comb; while tbe barber is always depicted with a toilette comb stuck Jauntily through his magnificent waved locks just above the right ear. A recent and charming writer on Japan speaks thus of tbe Japanese women's hair : — •• The hairdresser (kamiyui) first sends her maiden apprentice, who cleans the hair, washes it, perfumes it, and combs it with extraordinary combs of at least five different feinds. . . . Then behind this charming black auriple is a riddle of graceful loopinga and weaving?, whereof neither the beginning nor the ending can possibly be discerned. Only the kamiyui knows the key to that riddle And the whole is held in place with curious ornamental combs and shot through with long, fine pins of gold, silver, nacre, transparent tortoiseshell, or lacquered wood, with cunningly carven heads." The coma used in some of the South Sea .Islands is a curious-looking implement, and With its long teeth 4in or sin long looks more like a roughly-bristled circular brush than a Comb. Doubtless, however, it would be very effective in touching up that mass of bushy curls which in some islands represents the ideal of beauty and fashion. During the reign of Louis XVI ornamental combs were much used in the coiffeurs of the French Court ladies. Hair-dressing at this period was most elaborate and artificial. Hairdressers ware artists of great importance, and a new inspiration in erecting the elaborate coiffeur, a freth style in adjusting the richly-inlaid or jewelled combs so as to intensify whatever effect was aimed at, .whether coquettish, majestic, or simply eccentric, would raise the lucky originator to a perfect furore of fashionable popularity. Spain has always been the country par excellence where the true use and beauty of fche ornamental comb has been understood. A Spanish woman's comb, like a Spanish woman's fan, has an eloquence and a meaning of its own, or rather partakes of the personality of the wearer and becomes a sympathetic part in the outward expression of her mood. Disraeli, in one of his books — I cannot at the moment recall which — gives a vivid picture of the impression produced on him by the beauty of the Spanish women's hair and the grace and cc-qaetry shown in its arrangement and the poise of the inevitable comb. He tells, I remember, of a young Spanish lady of noble birth whose beauty much impressed him, and describes her white comb and white mantilla as forming a most fascinating framework to a lovely face. High narrow combs have been much need in Parisian and American hair-dressing during the last two years, placed so as to form tbe apex to the high torsade ot hair at the back of the bead. They have not become nearly so popular, however, in England, the prim little side-combs seeming to be more congenial to the Englishwoman's characteristic neatness and tidiness of style.