BEARDS AND CURLS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 81, 5 April 1930, Page 18 (Supplement)

BEARDS AND CURLS

A RETURN TO OLDEN TIMES AN I2VTEEESTING PREDICTION I lie time is rapidly approaching "hen Lieu will swear by their beurus as ot old. The monotonous uniformity oi shaved men and shingled women has led to a revolt. Beards arc back. There is something characteristic >tbuut the trimmed beard of the King; the provocative twist of Bernard -":ia\\ s white beard; the benevolent' spread ot Sir Oliver Lodge 's facial • forest, and the dignity oi Compton M‘Kenz;e's biack imperial. Women, it is said, dislike whiskers, but, in spite of their preference, lhe growth oi beards is very noticeable, Recently in London, writes ‘‘1.M.11.” in the Age, 1 sat opposite a handsome young man with a little black "billygoat ‘ whisker on his chin/ Bonic men are slipping in by the side door, as it were, and are growing side strips and mutton chops first; but the bold amt gallant are coming out openly "ith tae promise of a full-grown beard. det black ynd auburn hair arc the most striking. Ihe man with mousey, nondescript hair cannot compete in elegance with the polished lustre of tiie golden glory of these. L met a youth with wa\v auburn, and the radiance of his young beard which pointed imperiously, drew more admiring eyes than any shaven face present. lhe wave ol effeminacy is. passing - , lhe log haired, simpering, perfumed "precious” youth of the past. few >ears, who nmrcclli-d his hair and afIccted a languishing manner, has been relegated to (he social dust heap. Men seem to have developed a sudden desire to assert their manliness, and in "hat better way than by cultivating a truly masculine appearance.• Often it has. been difficult on sight to tell a man s head from a woman's. Both were shaved and shorn alike. Now women are returning 1 "feminity” alter a taste of that much-hoped-for “equality” which, in the distance, like all green hills, looked so much greener. Ihe idea that because a woman did a man’s work with ineii she must die.-’ like a man, and assume his customs and habits, was a part of the experimental stage, L suppose. Bhe shaved her hair, flattened her figure, freed her limbs, smoked and drank cocktails. She exchanged courtesy for comradeship; she too often sacrificed respect for an alleged equality. From this episode of freedom she may win now much wisdom, but she will find that the essential difference between men and women remains, despite a cultivate'! exterior resemblance. Things •are shaking down to a more normal relationship. Curls and curves instinctively inspire more gallantry in men than the defiant Eton crop and lhe accompanying tlat chest and free knees. Why.’ It is the old, old story of Eve. Whenever we rush forward into a now phase of freedom, whether in art < r hie. manners or fashions, we never quite return to our starting point. Some, thing o* the new—the best and more mstiag qualities—remains. The pendulum swings back and forth, but, never

quite back the full distance. Women are again the graceful feminine creatures of our grandmothers’ days, but. without her handicaps —her corsets and her ignorance. Alen are growing beards like their grandfathers, but they will never assume our grandfathers’ authority, nor hazard the rash experiment of claiming his superior knowledge. Men and women have seen through each other’s pretence. If only for that understanding, that frankness and candour the past experiment has been worth while. Life will never again function at the leve| of the Victorian ora, because of Ilie knowledge that our new freedom has brought. We may discard much as outworn or unworthy, but we will never go back to the hypocrisies of the past. Men grow beards and women grow curls; life moves on in cve’es. I