The latest style

I just got my hair cut. Ok, not just, 2 weeks ago, but am still getting used to it. I donated 13 inches of hair to Locks of Love, and regret only that last inch. I’ve never had hair this short…except possibly back in the day that whole Dorothy Hamill ‘do. But it’s best not to reminisce on styles better left to the history books.

During the long era of Victoria, there were many popular styles, you can’t have one last 60 some years, it just isn’t done.

But let’s talk about inventions. Crimping for instance. I know, I know, it harkens back to that ‘80s best left to the history books style. It was the rage for nearly 30 years.

Invented in 1872, by Parisian hairdresser M. Marcel Grateau, crimping pulled the hair over a hot iron, making it wave. The "Marcel wave" consisted of loose waves arranged around the head. Since there was no spring action on the curling iron/heating tongs, it was opened and closed by hand. The Marcel wave remained popular for almost half a century, and helped usher in a new era of women's waved and curled hairpieces, which were mixed with the natural hair.

The hot irons damaged hair, burning it with that nasty burnt hair smell. Since hair was never cut, heavy perfumes were used to mask the odor.

Music

The 'Victorian Era' is so long and encompasses so much, that it's nearly impossible to pick a trend or place or tune or much of anything. So I found a few sites on it, one really great one from the British Library. Or this one. This one is great (you need ActiveX to listen) Victorian Station.

Here are some children's songs, Nursery-songs.com. Again you can't listen to them only read the lyrics and see the illustrations. Worth it, but I'm not tune-ality inclined.

The Victorian Music Library allows you to borrow sheet music (at a cost). Here's their catalogue.

It was during this era that the gramophone came into use. Emile Berliner patented it, and records, in 1887. He was the first to use flat discs instead of cylinders. And was also the first to be able to mass produce them, making them cost effective and widely available. The first ones were made of glass, then zinc, and eventually plastic. [http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/a/gramophone.htm]

There are a lot of other musical inventions and I'm sure a lot of other websites out there with songs and recordings you can listen to. Anyone have a favorite?