Re: 1904 Hairstyles
Nichole Wernett
The favorite hairstyle of Edwardian women was the pompadour hairstyle. They wore it as an everyday hairstyle and for balls and evening soirees. The basic Edwardian pompadour hairstyle is high over the forehead and close at the back with a bun at the top of the head.
Technically speaking, pompadour refers only to the front part of the hairstyle. The back hair could be arranged in coronet style, psyche knot, puffs or curls. While a simple figure 8 bun was the most popular, easiest and fastest way of arranging the back hair.
To adjust the hair in this manner the back hair must be separated from the front. Fluff the hair with the corset end of the comb just enough to make it retain a certain firmness, twist the ends and secure with a wire hairpin.
This coiffure, which is the one practiced by many of the leading hair dressers, is built by combing the hair so high up, and so far forward, that one feels as though one were tying it upon the brows. It is really tied just where the old fashioned bang used to end, at the half of the head. The hair is now twisted round and round, in full hand fashion, as every woman knows how to twist it, and is knotted in a tall pagoda. While it still points high the sides are pinned fast and the top is left towering. This is the extremely high head dressing.
The pompadour hairstyle was popular from the late Victorian era (1890s) until the 1910s. However, late Victorian pompadours looked vastly different than Edwardian pompadours: Late Victorian pompadour hairstyles were usually heavily waved, center parted and worn close to the head with a very high knot on top of the head. In the early Edwardian era, the high knot was still popular but the pompadour became softer and was worn very high over the forehead. As the Edwardian era progressed, the pompadour became wider at the sides which eventually evolved into the turban coiffure of the 1910s. In the late Edwardian era and the 1910s, the pompadour hairstyle slowly went out of style: Now pompadour hairstyle were only considered fashionable for older women with perfectly white hair.
For a year or two previous hair had been in one of those transition stages that come between eras of positive styles, and during that time women had been dressing their hair in any number of ways according to individual taste. Some clung to the demure part and the Psyche knot, others stepped in advance of the procession and adopted the huge puff ahead of time.
But there were also other types of rats in the Edwardian era: namely, pompadour combs made of wire, tortoise shell or celluloid over which the pompadour was arranged. Wire pompadours were preferred because they were light, hygienic and cool.
To adjust this novel device the hair should be brushed and parted across the top from ear to ear, just as for the fashionable coiffure built with rats and braids. This divides the hair into two sections, and if the back part is to tied securely, it should be brushed up and fastened well forward on the top of the head.
If the comb is put in too far forward then the hair falls correspondingly low, giving the face a negligee appearance. When the pompadour comb is securely arranged then the front part of the hair is carefully combed out and lifted up and back as one would ordinarily proceed. In this instance, however, the hair is allowed to assume a natural droop at the left side, while over the ears it is all drawn up rather snugly to the sides of the head. So much for the outline of the pompadour.
Now for the disposal of the ends. There is another little trick which is being practiced by the up-to-date young woman very successfully, though it must be regretfully admitted that one occasionally sees caricatures of the mode. This is the way all the ends of the hair are tucked under so that the whole head appears to be done in a soft waving roll, with only a fancy comb or two and perhaps a couple of tortoise shell pins visible. To accomplish this, the pompadour must be shaped in the gingers and brought back to the very crown of the head where it is firmly held in the fingers and then given a very slight twist, from left to right. This throws it in a natural curve over the dropping foundation and at the same time gives an opportunity to fasten it with a large pin directly at the crown of the head, after which arrangement the ends of the pompadour may be rolled into a soft twist and tucked gently under the sides of this same section.
Good judgment, of course, is necessary in heating the iron properly, so as to have the right temperature; not too hot to injure or burn the hair, and not too cool to prevent proper curling. For this purpose the operator should always use a bit of paper first to try the iron, which never should be hot enough to scorch the paper.
A coarse comb is now passed through all of the hair that has been marcelled, to join the various strands, and to overcome the extreme stiffness or tightness of the undulations and give the whole an even appearance. If desired, a little brilliantine may be put on the hair to give it lustre. This is applied with the finger and should be followed with the comb.
The hair having all been curled in either of the ways suggested, a hair roll is placed with its thick roll or part at the back of the head and its points coming over the top of each ear. This is pinned into place and the waved hair is ready to be gathered up for the final dressing.
This is how it is done: First of all the hair must be in perfect condition to retain the impression of the curling iron. Immediately after a shampoo is not a good time to wave the hair, as it will not remain in curl for more than twenty-four hours. About the third day after the hair has been washed and carefully rinsed to be sure all the soap has been thoroughly removed, the heat of the iron will make a far deeper wave and one that will not disappear for several days.
To make the full head wave, or in other words to wave the hair back and front, brush the locks well and part in small sections, crosswise of the head. Take a thin strand, place it between the tongs and twist half way round, at the same time protecting the head from the heat by a long toothed comb. Give the tongs several quick snaps to allow the hot air to escape and to strengthen the crease in the wave. Remove the tongs and place about two inches from the first wave and repeat the movement.
Tea gowns and house gowns in which artistic dressmakers depart from fashion plate models for something on standard lines offer a great field of doing up the hair to match. A belle who is noted for her beautiful negligees always does her hair to a modified Psyche knot when she puts on a certain tea gown which is modeled after a Greek tunic. If she wears one with Watteau effect she puffs it high up with comb. With a little short waisted empire dress she piles it on top of her head and if wearing kimono, she makes her pompadour as tame as possible and thrusts something through it in the way that is commonly accepted as Japanese and which is more becoming than the real Japanese knot.
Now gather up the front section and adjust it in a sort of roll fashion over the forehead, bringing the free ends over the top of the head. Tie the free end, leaving as much loose end as the length of the hair will allow. A string may be used for this purpose, but a rubber band not too tightly applied will answer better.
This leaves only the free end of the front hair and the back hair section to be adjusted. If the front hair back of the comb is sufficiently long, it may be combed in with the back hair. The back hair may then be gathered up as a roll similar to the front hair, fixed at the top of the head with the back comb, and fluffed out as directed with the front and sides, making sure that the loose ends are not shown on top of the head;
To make the most of the latter [back hair] it would better be crimped a little with an ordinary crimping iron if a waver is too hard to manage. Then if the coiffure is to be very low fasten a round hair cushion about four inches in diameter at the back of the head just below the lower parting or so as to let the lower edge reach the nape of the neck and turn the crimped hair up over it and fasten firmly at the top of the cushion. According to the length of the hair there will be a longer or shorter end of hair left hanging and this must be carefully drawn to one side for future use, not tucked away.
The hair is first divided toward the front and back and the pompadour formed by three combs pushed in firmly. Often the hair is not divided at all, being simply pushed forward and the pompadour held in place by three combs, one of medium size for the center, the others at each side.
Next the hair is taken altogether in the right hand about half way down the center of the head and tied there firmly with a narrow tape or else held by rolling lightly about it a thin strand of the hair itself, and held more firmly by a wire hairpin. Elastic bands should never be used for this purpose, as they break the hair distressingly when being removed.
Once all the hair is secure the end is taken, rolled around the two forefingers, forming the large puff which is fastened at each end underneath by long wire hair pins, the outside of the puff pulled only into shape at each end with two pins of medium length. A shell barrette, not too large, is then slipped below the puff to catch in any short hairs that would otherwise fall loose and give an unkempt appearance.
At the top of the puff, bracing the front comb, may be put in two fancy shell hair pins. These will help to hold the hair in place, and with the shell combs and barrette be an attractive finish against the hair.
then brush the back hair up, and secure it with an elastic band or narrow piece of black tape. The front of hair is brushed over the forehead, to be combined with the back hair later on in making the pompadour.
Now divide the hair in three parts, using the back hair for the middle strand. Take each strand separately, fluff the hair with the comb on the under side, and take the middle strand, which is the back hair, and treat it in the same way. The remaining strand must also be combed and fluffed and drawn back; the ends of the three strands are now pinned together and tucked up under the pompadour.
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