Factors that define a hairstyle

Factors that define a hairstyle

Japanese women and girls in Western dress with various Western hairstyles. 1 September 1887.

A hairstyle's aesthetic considerations may be determined by many factors, such as the subject's physical attributes and desired self-image or the stylist's artistic instincts.

Physical factors include natural hair type and growth pattern, face and head shape from various angles, and overall body proportions; medical considerations may also apply. Self-image may be directed toward conforming to mainstream values (military-style crew cuts or current "fad" hairstyles such as the Dido flip), identifying with distinctively-groomed subgroups (e.g., punk hair), or obeying religious dictates (e.g., Orthodox Jewish have payot, Rastafari have Dreadlocks or the Sikh practice of Kesh), though this is highly contextual and a "mainstream" look in one setting may be limited to a "subgroup" in another. This may include what has been deemed "The Helmet Head," a style that was recently re-popularized by Canadian teen heartthrob Justin Bieber before he decided he wanted "a change" and chopped his quaff in the great Biebertrimming of '11.

A hairstyle is achieved by arranging hair in a certain way, occasionally using combs, a blow-dryer, gel, or other products. The practice of styling hair is often called "Hairdressing."

Hairstyling may also include adding accessories (such as headbands or barrettes) to the hair to hold it in place, enhance its ornamental appearance, or partially or fully conceal it with coverings such as a kippa, hijab, tam or turban.

Optical illusion

Optical illusion

See also: Barberpole illusion and Strange loop

A software rendering of a spinning barber pole

A spinning barber pole is the basis for the motion perception optical illusion, in which the stripes appear to be traveling down or up the length of the pole,^[12] rather than around it.^[13]

As one psychological expert noted, while making a metaphor to an auditory illusion:

The counterclockwise motion of the diagonal stripes (rightward, from the normal view of the pole) moves each stripe out of view in the same way that an apparent fundamental quiets itself during its ascent, while the emergence of a new stripe resembles the rise of a new fundamental. The cylinder as a whole resembles the amplitude envelope of the ST^{[clarification needed]} [Shepard Tone] because it does not change in height. The barber's pole appears to rise infinitely because visible portions of the stripes rise in the visual field, but the stripe at any given height is actually making a 360° rotation.^[13]

It is said that the applicable limits of perception are due in part to the aperture problem

Use in prostitution

Use in prostitution

In some parts of Asia, a red, white and blue barber pole is used as a symbol for a brothel. While prostitution is illegal in many parts of Asia, laws against it are often not enforced to the degree that all public solicitations for it are eliminated. The barber's pole is used as a euphemistic way of advertising a brothel, thus reducing the likelihood of police intervention.

In South Korea, barber's poles are used both for actual barbershops and for brothels.^[10] Brothels disguised as barbershops, referred to as 이발소 (ilbalso) or 이용실 (iyongsil), are more likely to use two poles next to each other, often spinning in opposite directions, though the use of a single pole for the same reason is also quite common.^[11] Actual barbershops, or 미용실 (miyongsil), are more likely to be hair salons; to avoid confusion, they will usually use a pole that shows a picture of a woman with flowing hair on it with the words hair salon written on the pole.

Origin in barbering and surgery

Origin in barbering and surgery

Antique red and blue striped pole in Pottstown, Pennsylvania

The origin of the red and white barber pole is associated with the service of bloodletting and was historically a representation of bloody bandages wrapped around a pole.^[2] During medieval times, barbers performed surgery on customers, as well as tooth extractions. The original pole had a brass wash basin at the top (representing the vessel in which leeches were kept) and bottom (representing the basin that received the blood). The pole itself represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow

Barbers, being medieval surgeons, would be present at the birth of a child, and were there to cut the umbilical cord—a red (artery) and blue (vein) on a pale colour umbilical cord was passed to the parents by the barber after the umbilical cord had been cut, and this blue/red/pale tube or pole became the Barber's pole, and the symbol of the pole represents a freshly cut umbilical cord.

Others opine that the red, white and blue format in the United States may be an homage to the colours of the flag.^[2]

At the Council of Tours in 1163, the clergy was banned from the practice of surgery.^[3] From then, physicians were clearly separated from the surgeons and barbers. Later, the role of the barbers was defined by the College de Saint Come et Saint Damien, established by Jean Pitard in Paris circa 1210,^[4] as academic surgeons of the long robe and barber surgeons of the short robe.

After the formation of the United Barber Surgeon's Company in England, a statute required the barber to use a blue and white pole and the surgeon to use a red pole. In France, surgeons used a red pole with a basin attached to identify their offices. Blue often appears on poles in the United States, possibly as an homage to its national colours. Another more fanciful interpretation of these barber pole colours is that red represents arterial blood, blue is symbolic of venous blood, and white depicts the bandage.

Prior to 1950, there were four manufacturers of barber poles in the United States. In 1950, William Marvy of St. Paul, Minnesota, started manufacturing barber poles. Marvy made his 50,000th barber pole in 1967, and, by 2010, over 82,000 had been produced.^[5] The William Marvy Company is now the sole manufacturer of barber poles in North America, and sells only 500 per year (compared to 5,100 in the 1960s).^[6] In recent years, the sale of spinning barber poles has dropped considerably, since few barber shops are opening, and many jurisdictions prohibit moving signs. Koken of St. Louis, Missouri, manufactured barber equipment such as chairs and assorted poles in the 19th century.

As early as 1905, use of the poles was reported to be "diminishing" in the United States.^[7]

There are locales where use of barber poles on barber shops is required by local ordinance.^[8]

In Forest Grove, Oregon, the "World's Tallest Barber Shop Pole" measures 70 feet (21 m).^[9]

The consistent use of this symbol for advertising was analogous to an apothecary's Show globe, a tobacconist's Cigar store indian and a pawn broker's three gold balls.

Barber's pole

From Wikipedia(See original Wikipedia article ») Last modified on 16 February 2011, at 13:56

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Barber pole, ca. 1938, North Carolina Museum of History

Barber shop in Torquay, Devon, with red and white pole

A barber's pole is a type of sign used by barbers to signify the place or shop where they perform their craft. The trade sign is, by a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, a staff or pole with a helix of colored stripes (usually red, white, and blue in the United States; often red and white in other countries). The pole may be stationary or may revolve, often with the aid of an electric motor.^[1][2]

A "barber's pole" with a helical stripe is a familiar sight, and is used as a secondary metaphor to describe objects in many other contexts. For example, if the shaft or tower of a lighthouse has been painted with a helical stripe as a daymark, the lighthouse could be described as having been painted in "barber's pole" colors.

Issues

Issues

Today, barbers have fewer customers, due to the fashion of growing one's hair out.^{[citation needed]} This has raised a problem and forced them to charge a customer more. Barber Sam Mature, whose interview with Studs Terkel was published in a novel, Working, says "A man used to get a haircut every couple weeks. Now he waits a month or two, some of ‘em even longer than that. A lot of people would get manicured and fixed up every week. Most of these people retired, moved away, or passed away. It’s all on account of long hair. You take old-timers, they wanted to look neat, to be presentable. Now people don’t seem to care too much."

History of baeuty

History

Barbershop in Bucharest around 1842. Woodcut. As shown in this image, the barbershop also provides an opportunity for social contacts.

The barber's trade has a long history; razors have been found among relics of the Bronze Age (circa 3500 BC) in Egypt. In ancient Egyptian culture, barbers were highly respected individuals. Priests and men of medicine are the earliest recorded examples of barbers. In early tribes, a barber was one of the most important members, as it was believed that certain evil spirits were able to enter a person's body through their hair, and that cutting it was a way to drive them out. Due to their spiritual and religious beliefs, barbers even performed religious ceremonies, such as marriages and baptizing children. During these ceremonies, they would leave the person/people's hair hanging down until after dancing; they would then cut the hair and tie it back tightly so that no evil spirits could enter and no good spirits could escape.

Before the Macedonian conquest brought the custom of clean shaving, men in Ancient Greece would have their beards, hair, and fingernails trimmed and styled by the κουρευς, in an agora, which also served as a social gathering for debates and gossip.

Shaving, either of the head or face, was not always a voluntary act, for it has been enforced by law in England and elsewhere.^{[citation needed]}

Barbershop 1951 Lord Clarence and the gang hanging out at the typical 1950's neighborhood barber shop

Humayun's Tomb, built 1562 CE, with his Barber's Tomb (Nai-ka-Gumbad) in the foreground, Delhi, the only other structure in the royal enclosure. 1858 photograph.

Barbering was introduced to Rome by the Greek colonies in Sicily in 296 B.C., and barber shops quickly became very popular centres for daily news and gossip. A morning visit to the tonsor became a part of the daily routine, as important as the visit to the public baths, and a young man's first shave (tonsura) was considered an essential part of his coming of age ceremony.

A few Roman tonsores became wealthy and influential, running shops that were favourite public locations of high society; however, most were simple tradesmen, who owned small storefronts or worked in the streets for low prices.

The barbershop in Fluvanna, Texas, has been restored as part of a pioneer village in Snyder in Scurry County in West Texas. Note the rusted tin roof and the horizontal striped pole, instead of the common vertical one.

Interior of a barber's shop, circa 1920

Barbers in the Middle Ages often served as surgeons and dentists. In addition to haircutting, hairdressing, and shaving, barbers performed surgery, bloodletting and leeching, fire cupping, enemas, and the extraction of teeth; earning them the name "barber surgeons". The barber pole, featuring red and white spiraling stripes, indicated the two crafts (surgery in red and barbering in white). Barbers received higher pay than surgeons until surgeons were entered into British war ships during naval wars. Some of the duties of the barber included neck manipulation, cleansing of ears and scalp, draining of boils, fistula and lancing of cysts with wicks.
In the early 1900's a alternative word for barber came into use,

Terminology

Terminology

A street barber in Shiraz

A hairdresser or hairstylist is a universal term referring to someone whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair colouring, haircutting and hair texture techniques. Many hairdressers are actually beauticians or cosmetologists. Barbers differ with respect to where they work, which services they are licensed to provide, and what name they use to refer to themselves. Part of this terminology difference depends on the regulations in a given location.

US states vary on their labor and licensing laws. For example, in Maryland, a cosmetologist cannot use a straight razor, strictly reserved for barbers. In contrast, in New Jersey both are regulated by the State Board of Cosmetology and there is no longer a legal difference in barbers and cosmetologists, as they are issued the same license and can practice both the art of straight razor shaving, colouring, other chemical work and haircutting if they choose.

In Australia, the official term for a barber is hairdresser; barber is only a common title for men's hairdressers, although not as popular now as it was in the middle of the 20th century. Most would work in a hairdressing salon.