In Addition
To The Charm Of Sweet Perfumes, The Women Who Can Afford The
Luxury, Suspend From Their Necks A Few Pieces Of The Dried Glands
Of The Musk Cat, Which Is A Native Of The Country; Such An
Addition Completes The Toilet, When The Coiffure Has Been
Carefully Arranged.
Hair-dressing in all parts of the world, both civilized and
savage, is a branch of science; savage negro
Tribes are
distinguished by the various arrangements of their woolly heads.
Arabs are marked by similar peculiarities, that have never
changed for thousands of years, and may be yet seen depicted upon
the walls of Egyptian temples in the precise forms as worn at
present, while in modern times the perfection of art has been in
the wig of a Lord Chancellor. Although this latter example of the
result of science is not the actual hair of the wearer, it adds
an imposing glow of wisdom to the general appearance, and may
have originated as a necessity where a deficiency of sagacity had
existed, and where the absence of years required the fictitious
crown of grey old age. A barrister in his wig, and the same
amount of learning without the wig, is a very different affair;
he is an imperfect shadow of himself. Nevertheless, among
civilized nations, the men do not generally bestow much anxiety
upon the fashion of their hair; the labour in this branch of art
is generally performed by the women, who in all countries and
climes, and in every stage of civilization, bestow the greatest
pains upon the perfection of the coiffure, the various
arrangements of which might, I should imagine, be estimated by
the million. In some countries they are not even contented with
the natural colour of the hair, either if black or blonde, but
they use a pigment that turns it red. I only noticed this among
the Somauli tribe; and that of the Nuehr, some of the wildest
savages of the White Nile, until I returned to England, where I
found the custom was becoming general among the civilized, and
that ladies were adopting the lovely tint of the British fox. The
Arab women do not indulge in fashions; strictly conservative in
their manners and customs, they never imitate, but they simply
vie with each other in the superlativeness of their own style;
thus the dressing of the hair is a most elaborate affair, which
occupies a considerable portion of their time. It is quite
impossible for an Arab woman to arrange her own hair; she
therefore employs an assistant, who, if clever in the art, will
generally occupy about three days before it is satisfactorily
concluded. First, the hair must be combed with a long skewer-like
pin; then, when well divided, it becomes possible to use an
exceedingly coarse wooden comb. When the hair is reduced to
reasonable order by the latter process, a vigorous hunt takes
place, which occupies about an hour, according to the amount of
game preserved; the sport concluded, the hair is rubbed with a
mixture of oil of roses, myrrh, and sandal-wood dust mixed with
a powder of cloves and cassia.
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