Victorian Ladies’ Hairdressers

Victorian Ladies’ Hairdressers

The Victorian era brought about a new business in the United States–shops that offered ladies’ hairdressing. This skill may have been offered by ladies’ maids inside well-to-do households, but in America, women needed an equivalent of barbers to meet their own needs. Come see about training to become a Ladies’ Hairdresser, a touch of Victorian humor, newspaper ads from the Old West, and more! The blog article series of “Barber Shops in the Old West” continues.

Victorian Era Men’s Hairstyles

Victorian Era Men’s Hairstyles

Men’s hairstyles of the Victorian Era are identified in photographs from the era, including one barber school’s style plate images. Includes vintage recipes for styling products like Bay Rum and Macassar oil.

Pencil Skirts, Victorian Style

Pencil Skirts, Victorian Style

OBSERVATIONS: WIDTH OF A WOMAN’S SKIRT

The humor in a newspaper columnist’s observations taught me plenty about a man’s attitude regarding the width of women’s skirts, comparing the tight fit of the day’s fashions to the wrapping of a mummy or a soaked bathing suit clinging to the unfortunate woman’s form. He infers that the pursuit of fashion is so all-important that the wearers sacrifice comfort, modesty, safety, decency, the capacity to go anywhere by both carriage or the power of one’s own two feet. The Victorian humor in this brief piece published in 1875 is evident!

Victorians at the Seashore

Victorians at the Seashore

You’re likely familiar with Victorian-era “bathing costumes”–puffy dresses with pantaloons that still leave much to the imagination, thereby protecting the  Victorian sense of propriety and decency. Inside this article, I share images of men’s bathing suits, attitudes (about bathing suits) expressed in United States newspapers of the day, and informative glimpses into a man’s view of a woman’s reasons for bathing in the sea before an audience…or not. A romantic tragedy on Coney Island in 1875 illustrates the dangers of the Victorian’s passion with immersing themselves in the sea.