1. It is the business of the barber to cut and dress the hair, to make
wigs and false curls, and to shave the beards of other men. In ancient
times, he used also to trim the nails; and even at the present day, in
Turkey, this is a part of his employment.
2. The period, when men began to shave their beards, is not certainly
known. It appears that the practice was common among the Israelites in
the time of Moses; as that legislator has left on record a prohibitory
law concerning it. They probably borrowed the custom from the
Egyptians. It is stated by Plutarch, that Alexander the Great ordered
his men to be shaved, that their enemies might not lay hold of their
beards in time of battle. Before this time, however, many of the
Greeks shaved their beards.
3. The practice does not appear to have been introduced amongst the
ancient Romans, until about the year 296 before the Christian era,
when Paulus Ticinius Maenas brought to Rome a number of barbers from
Sicily. Scipio Africanus was the first man who shaved his beard every
day.
4. At first, the barbers had no shops, but shaved their customers at
the corners of the streets. After a while, they followed their
vocation in shops, or shades; and, at this period, it was customary
for females to officiate in the various branches of the art. These
places, however, were frequented only by the poorer class of the
people, as opulent families generally kept slaves for the performance
of these duties. The day on which a young Roman first cut off his
beard, was celebrated by him and his friends as one of peculiar
interest; and this much-desired indication of manhood was consecrated
to some one of the gods, generally to Jupiter Capitolinus.
5. The return of barbarism, in the fifth and sixth centuries, banished
this custom from the Western empire; nor was it again revived in
Europe, until the seventeenth century. During the reigns of Louis
XIII. and Louis XIV. of France, both of whom ascended the throne in
boyhood, the courtiers and fashionable people began to use the razor,
that they might appear with smooth chins, and thus resemble, in this
particular, the youthful monarchs. From France, the fashion, at
length, spread all over Europe. At one time, in the reign of the
English queen Elizabeth, the fellows of Lincoln's Inn were compelled
by statute to shave their beards, at least, once in two weeks.
Omission was punished with fine, loss of commons, and finally with
expulsion.
6. The custom of shaving was introduced into Russia by Peter the
Great, who compelled his subjects to pay a tax for the privilege of
retaining their beards. This singular impost was exceedingly
unpopular, and excited greater complaints amongst the people than any
other measure of that emperor. The decree was rigidly enforced, and
every one who would not, or could not, pay the tax, was forcibly
deprived of this favorite ornament, if he would not remove it
voluntarily. Some of the people saved the sad trimmings of their
chins; and, that they might never be entirely separated from these
precious relics, ordered that they should be deposited with their
bodies in their coffins.
7. Among the European nations that have been curious in whiskers, the
Spaniards have been particularly distinguished; and the loss of honor
among them used to be punished by depriving the individual of his
whiskers.
8. The Portuguese were but little, if at all, behind the Spaniards in
their estimate of these valuable ornaments. As an evidence of this, it
is stated, that, in the reign of Catharine, Queen of Portugal, the
brave John de Castro, having taken the castle of Diu in India, and
being afterwards in want of money, applied to the inhabitants of Goa
to loan him one thousand piastres, and, as security for that sum, sent
them one of his whiskers, telling them that "All the gold in the world
cannot equal the value of this natural ornament of my valor." The
people, in admiration of his magnanimity, sent him the money, and, at
the same time, returned his incomparable whisker.
9. In the reign of Louis XIII. of France, whiskers attained the
highest degree of favor. They also continued in fashion during the
early part of the succeeding reign. Louis XIV. and the great men of
France, took a pride in wearing them. It was no uncommon thing, at
that time, for the ladies to comb and dress the whiskers of their
beaux; and the men of fashion were particular in providing
whisker-wax, and every article necessary to this agreeable pastime.
10. The whiskers belonging to the image of the Chinese philosopher
Confucius, which is preserved by his countrymen, are supposed to be
capable of conferring upon those who might wear them, a portion of the
wisdom and manly beauty of that illustrious sage. Great care, however,
is taken that none shall enjoy these great personal qualifications by
such easy means; as decapitation is the penalty for plucking the
whiskers from the position which they occupy.
11. When the practice of shaving off the beard was again revived in
Europe, instrumental music was employed in the barber's shop, to amuse
customers waiting their turn; but, at the present time, newspapers are
furnished for this purpose. In taking off the beard, soft water, good
soap, a brush, and a sharp razor, are the usual requisites. The razor
should be placed nearly flat on the face, and be moved from point to
heel. Barbers have usually some regular customers, many of whom have a
box of soap and a brush appropriated to their individual use.
12. In ancient times, great attention was paid to dressing the hair.
The Hebrew women plaited, and afterwards confined it with gold and
silver pins; they also adorned it with precious stones. The Greeks,
both male and female, at every period of their ancient history, wore
long hair, which they usually permitted to hang gracefully upon the
shoulders, back, and sometimes upon the breast.
13. Adult males, among the Romans, usually wore their hair short, and
dressed with great care, especially in later ages, when attention to
this part of the person was carried to such excess, that ointments and
perfumes were used even in the army. The hair was cut for the first
time, when the boy had attained his seventh year, and the second time,
when he was fourteen years old. His locks, at each cutting, were
commonly dedicated to Apollo or Bacchus.
14. Both men and women, among the Greeks and Romans, sometimes
permitted their hair to grow in honor of some divinity. The Jews,
also, when under the vow of a Nazarite, were not permitted to trim
their hair or beards. In grief and mourning, the Romans suffered their
hair and beards to grow. The Greeks, on the contrary, when in grief,
cut their hair and shaved their beards, as likewise did some of the
barbarous nations of early time.
15. Artificial hair began to be fashionable, at an early period, and
was used by the Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans. In the time of
Ovid, blond hair was in great favour at Rome; and those ladies who did
not choose to wear wigs, powdered their hair with a kind of gold dust.
They wore hanging curls all round the head, to which they were
fastened with circular pins of silver. Every wealthy Roman lady of
fashion kept at least one slave to frizzle and curl the hair.
16. The time, when wigs first came into use, cannot now be
ascertained. It is certain, however, that they were worn by females a
long time before they became fashionable among the men.
17. Wigs, perukes, or periwigs, were revived in the seventeenth
century. In the reign of Louis XIII., or about the year 1629, they
became fashionable at Paris; and, as that city was generally imitated
by the rest of Europe in things of this nature, they soon became
common. The wigs were very large, as may be seen by examining ancient
portraits, and were covered with a profusion of hair-powder. At first,
it was disreputable for young people to wear them, as the loss of the
hair at an early age was attributed to a disease, which was, of
itself, discreditable.
18. When wigs were first introduced into England, some of the clergy
opposed them violently, considering their use more culpable than
wearing long hair; since, as they alleged, it was more unnatural. Many
preachers inveighed against wigs in their sermons, and cut their own
hair shorter to manifest their abhorrence of the reigning mode.
19. The worldly-wise, however, observed that a periwig procured for
the wearer a degree of respect and deference which otherwise might not
have been accorded; and hence there was a strong tendency to the use
of this appendage. The judges and physicians, especially, understood
well this influence of the wig, and gave to it all the advantages of
length and breadth. The fashion, at length, was adopted by the
ecclesiastics themselves, not only in England, but in most of the
European kingdoms, as well as in the British colonies of America.
20. The fashion, however, except in cases of baldness, wherein alone
it is excusable, is now nearly banished from Europe and America. This
desirable change was effected principally by the example of republican
America, and by the influence of the French Revolution. The law passed
in England in 1795, imposing a tax of a guinea a head per annum on
those who wore hair-powder, contributed to the same result, as well as
to diminish the use of that article.
21. The manufacture of wigs and false curls is an important branch of
the business of the barber. The first process in forming a wig is to
produce, in the hair about to be used for this purpose, a disposition
to curl. This is done by winding it on a cylinder of wood or earth,
and afterwards boiling it in water. It is then dried, and baked in an
oven. Thus prepared, it is woven on a strong thread, and is
subsequently sewn on a caul fitted to the head. False curls are made
on the same principle.
22. Wigs and false curls were not made in ancient times precisely in
the same manner; although their appearance, when finished, was
probably similar. The hair was then attached directly to a piece of
thin leather, by means of some adhesive substance, or composition.
23. Many barbers, especially those who have a reputation for making
wigs and false curls in a fashionable style, keep for sale perfumery,
as well as a variety of cosmetics.
24. From the eleventh to the eighteenth century, surgical operations
were almost exclusively performed by the barbers and bath-keepers. As
phlebotomy was one of the chief sources of profit to the barbers, they
adopted a sign emblematical of this operation. It consisted of a pole,
representing the staff which the individual held in his hand, while
the blood was flowing from the arm. The white band wound spirally
about the pole, represented the fillet of linen with which the arm was
afterwards secured.
25. It is hardly necessary to remark, that the same sign is still
employed by the barbers; although, with a few exceptions, they have
ceased to perform the operation of which it was significant.
[Illustration: TANNER & CURRIER.]