It has been a month and a half since social distancing measures were put into place! If you’re anything like me, you’re really wishing you could get a haircut right about now. So, in sympathy, we thought we’d share a few of the beauty tools we have in our collection.
For the ladies: Your classic curling iron, centre: Simply heat up the metal barrel by laying it on your woodstove or suspending it inside the chimney of your kerosene lamp, clamp it around your hair, and twist. if you’re lucky, you might even have a handy-dandy holder (top left) for it that will also heat it up!
The marcelling iron (bottom left) is an absolute must for the fashion-conscious flapper – how else are you going to make the horizontal ripples that are the bees knees in the 1920s?
Of course, there’s the basic assortment of tortoiseshell hair combs (bottom right) and the universal bobby pins (centre right) to contain your perfect coif. And, if all else fails, you could always fall back on the good old reliable French-style hairnet (top centre).
For the gentlemen: Let’s trim those mutton chops, shall we? Here’s your standard straight razor (top), the shaving brush (centre left), and your shaving mug (left). You would, of course, have a shaving mug on your washstand at home, but the one shown here was kept at your barber’s. Each customer had his own. This particular one belonged to C.O. Rodgers – the guy who established Canyon.
Now, none of these tools is intended to be disposable, not even your razor blade. The straight razor was sharpened with a simple strop or whetstone, but the removable blade of the safety razor (bottom) required something a little more complex – the hand-cranked razor blade sharpener (right).
And, gentlemen, don’t forget to wax that handlebar mustache. You might need to use one of these mustache cups when drinking your tea, but it’s worth it for a little style!
Speaking of worth it: ladies, if you feel it absolutely necessary to get a perm, let me dissuade you by showing you the machine your stylist will use:
This nightmare-inducing contraption is a Duarte perming machine, patented in 1901 and used up until the end of the Second World War (imagine going that duration without a haircut!). It’s very simple: the hair dresser wraps your hair around curlers, then clips one of the machine’s clamps onto each curler, and when you’re all strapped in and your head feels like it weighs an extra ton, she plugs it in.
Kinda makes you appreciate the home-style cuts and colours you might be dealing with now, huh? For my part, I’m resorting to head scarves to keep the mop contained. But let’s see your solutions! Show us your Quarantine Beards, your Home Haircuts, your DIY Dye Jobs!