Jazz Age · 1925
Josephine Baker and the lacquered Eton crop
In 1925 a nineteen-year-old from St. Louis arrived in Paris and turned a haircut into a lacquered emblem of the Jazz Age.
The journal · 5 stories
Stories from the archive
Cuts, rituals and the science behind them — search by name, tool or word, or browse by era and culture.
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5 stories
Rococo · 1645
The queue: a hairstyle written into law
For nearly three centuries, a shaved forehead and a long braid were not fashion in China. They were proof of loyalty.
Victorian · 1910
Dry shampoo in 1910: the powders of the pre-shower era
Before running hot water, clean hair came in a tin. Orris root, cornstarch and a stiff brush did the work.
Renaissance · 1540
From barber-surgeons to trichologists: 500 years of the hair professional
The red-and-white pole outside a barbershop is a bandage. It remembers when the man with the razor also let your blood.
Golden Hollywood · 1938
'One hundred strokes a night' and 4 more hair myths great-grandma believed
Brush it a hundred times. Cut it to make it grow. Never wear a hat. The advice was confident. The science was not.