Nineteenth Century Ice Cutting, Part 1 (of 3): Ice cutting was a boom business in the mid 1800s. Tons of ice were harvested each winter in the Northeast portion of the United States, housed near rivers and railway spurs, and shipped near and far for use in the remaining seasons of the year. An image from August 1884 Harper’s Weekly, a patent from 1841, a spot of Victorian humor, and newspaper clippings shed light on the significant ice trade.
It’s no surprise in today’s environment that women (and men) can choose any color hair they desire, piercings and tattoos at will, and permanent makeup (tattooed eyeliner and lip-liner). I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn today’s plastic surgeons offer dimple surgery to create the desirable feature Mother Nature forgot to grant. What shocked me was the inventive Victorian who figured out how to artificially bring about dimples.
Nineteenth Century American Bath Houses were often businesses connected to hotels, barber shops, ladies’ hairdressers, and spas offering massages and curative measures (steam baths, medicated baths, etc.). In the Old West, such businesses advertised in the newspapers of the day, some announcing prices (compared to today’s dollar). It’s a peek into the luxury of a wet-from-head-to-toe bath when a person has no running water at home.
Similar in nature to the nineteenth century confidence in Phrenology as an indicator of personality and character, this descriptive (short) chapter from a barber’s manual from turn of the century (circa 1900) illustrates the Victorian-era suggestion that hair color is indicative of character. Did Mr. Bridgeford, Barber College teacher, accurately connect your hair’s nature to your personality traits?
This second of two articles about Victorian Shaving includes the advent of the Safety Razor–with patent details, historical images, advertisements in period newspapers and mail-order catalogs. A YouTube video shows proper shaving techniques with a safety razor. This article is part of a Blog Series about all things Old West Barber Shop and Ladies Hair Salons.
