Board-Work; or the Art of Wig-making, Etc. / Designed For the Use of Hairdressers and Especially of Young Men in the Trade. To Which Is Added Remarks Upon Razors, Razor-sharpening, Razor Strops, & Miscellaneous Recipes, Specially Selected.

by Edwin Creer

Fig. 18.

Waved Fringes[^[10]] are made of curled hair, perhaps twelve or fourteen inches in length, or more, as occasion may require. The hair is closely woven upon silks, and sewn up in diamond fashion; the width and depth of the same being left to the maker’s judgment. This scalpette is very light and lies flat upon the front of the head and forehead. The curl is “broken” by means of damping and a warm iron, and sometimes by a “touch,” but only experts can do it properly. Of course, fringes can be made of all sizes and shapes; that matter is generally regulated by the parties concerned, and the price which is to be paid for the article. Some cover the whole front—in that case they would be nine or ten inches long, or even longer, while others are somewhat narrow, extending from front to back; others again have long hair at the sides (only a small portion it is true); but “circumstances alter cases,” and the requirements of customers have to be considered.

But the most elegant, vapoury, and artistic “fringes” are, par excellence, those which come under the designation of “water waves,” so-called, I presume, because water plays an important part in their manufacture. M. Eugene Ménard delivered a very instructive lecture on this subject at the Académie Internationale de Coiffure, in 1884, and perhaps I cannot do better than quote a portion of it. He said, “Any quality of hair, curled or straight, fine or coarse, can be made into water waves, with more or less trouble; but it is certain that fine natural curly hair is the best for that purpose. In default of this hair, which is now very scarce, I should suggest what we call, in French, ‘Croquignoles.’ This will be found a capital substitute. The next after this, is what is termed in this country, ‘tight curl,’ and so on, but taking coarse and straight hair for the last, as they never will keep waved. In every instance the hair to be used for water waves, must be well tapered, and as much as possible of a pliable nature. As to blocks, those of porcelain or cardboard, covered with prepared calf’s skin or vellum, will be found the most handy and useful for the purpose. Some, I am aware, make use of plain sheet-iron or glass, and yet, after having spent much time over it, they are disappointed at not getting a better result. Why? Because it stands to reason that water waves made in that way, when placed on the head, will not fit any better than the sheet-glass itself, the waves being bound to take the exact shape of that upon which they are made. Therefore, this method will never do, and the idea must be rejected. Others make use of wooden blocks; certainly, when these are new they are quite as good as porcelain, but after they have been put into the oven two or three times—for water waves require to be thoroughly well dried—these blocks become rough and cracked, and consequently, quite useless for that kind of work. Some might, perhaps, object to have the water waves dried in the oven, and would prefer the front of the fire only; if so, my answer would be this: The wood block merely put to the front of the fire might bear the heat once or twice more before being spoilt, but the water waves dried in like manner, would assuredly never last half the time they would if dried in the oven. Experience shows that the oven is the only recipient in which damp hair can be thoroughly well dried, i.e., that the water waves will last with a natural waving appearance.

“Taking for granted that porcelain and cardboard blocks never crack nor become rough by a temperate heat, I will now demonstrate the second great advantage of these two blocks.

“Firstly, I shall deal with the porcelain block, which will be found very suitable for making smooth and perfect water waves, any kind of mounted postiche, such as fringes, partings, fronts, scalpettes, etc. Here, I dare say, an apparent difficulty will be found, as neither pins nor points can be driven into porcelain. Therefore, in order to avoid it, I should advise that the block be perforated in four or six different parts, according to the shape of the mounted postiche to be dressed, and then to fill the holes with a piece of best quality cork, into which to drive pins and to fix therewith any piece of mounted postiche. By so doing the apparent difficulty will be very easily and simply overcome. For instance, place first on the block the scalpette, front, parting, or fringe, in the same way as it is to be placed on the lady’s head by whom it is to be worn, and fix it with four or six pins; next, wet the hair right through, and then when thoroughly saturated with water or spirits of wine, brush or comb it down quite flat on the block, and proceed thus: Maintain the mounting or the last wave made, with the medium finger, lift up gently the hair with the thumb of the same hand, and with the comb in the other hand, wet again to the utmost and make the wave, between the two said fingers, according to your wish of the way required. When two or more waves are made, keep the annular finger on the penultimate made wave and support the mounting with the little finger, till you get to the end. Then wet with moderation in upholding the waves, and lift them up again. If necessary, cover the dressed piece of postiche with fine muslin or net, so as to see whether the waves are in or out of order; put it into the oven, which must be as hot as the hair can bear without being injured; take it off when thoroughly dried; let it get quite cold; pass the comb through the waves, flatten them with the hand, and then you will get waves as smooth and as natural as can be imagined. I dare say these water waves would cause many an experienced eye to be perplexed in the event of being called upon to make a distinction between them and natural ones. Never divide the hair when the divided parts are intended to make but one wave; at least, do not let it dry in that state, or else the hair will never join together, and the waves—if not entirely disfigured—will be, at least, awry or crooked. On the contrary, wave the whole of the hair at once, even if it is a scalpette—I mean if it is only one wave all round, it is not more difficult, and the waves will be regular. When the hair, however, is over ten or twelve inches long, the first two or three rows of waves might be made separately, but then they must be joined together before proceeding any farther. Another thing to be observed in making water waves is, that they be perfect before drying. When the porcelain block becomes dirty, wash it with soap or soda.

“I shall now proceed with covered cardboard blocks. Vellum or prepared calf’s skin, as suggested, is, for the subject I am treating, best adapted to cover cardboard blocks with. These blocks will be found useful for almost any kind of postiche to be dressed in fantaisie water waves, more especially for light pieces, such as curls on pins, marteaux for crown chignons, flat twists, false nuques relevées, transformations, loose or unmounted hair, as used by M. Auguste Petit, of Paris, for his well-known “Universal Postiche,” etc. The way of proceeding for this kind of water waves is quite different to the former. It will take more time to get the waves made, as it necessitates two distinct preparations. On the first one—although it is very easy to make—will depend the success of the second; and on this second preparation, which requires some little taste to make properly, will depend the success of the waves, whose beauty is to get them methodically hollow. To proceed: Take the marteau or any other mounted or unmounted piece of hair—if mounted, the mounting must be straight and not exceeding two inches wide, so as to get the waves perfect from beginning to end—saturate it well, and pin it on the block, then comb it straight, hold it flat between the index and the medium fingers of both hands, and start, either side, by making a kind of zigzag in the same way as you would make waves with curls, varying from one to two inches and a-half wide, according to thickness and size of waves wanted. These zigzags must be very regularly made, and great care taken in order to always have the hair perfectly straight, or in other words, to prevent the underneath hair coming over, and vice versâ. Starting from the right side, pull the whole of the piece of hair with the two above-mentioned fingers of the hand; keep the piece of hair loose, and close to the block, between the two same fingers of the left hand, just in the middle of the zigzag; leave off, first, the medium finger of the right hand, elevate it a little, weigh gently on the hair with the index, take this finger off, fix the part made of the zigzag with a pin; proceed in the same manner with the left hand, and go on alternately till you get at the end of the piece of hair to be waved. Curl the extreme point of the hair if thought necessary. Then put it into the oven and let it well dry. Here ends the first preparation.

“Now for the second. When the zigzag piece of hair is quite cold, take off the pins that served to fix it on the block, pass the comb through, friz it underneath, if necessary, place and fix it again on the block, but dry this time, tap slightly over it, fix another pin at each extremity of the intended waves, attach a thin thread or cotton to the first pin, pass that cotton or thread pretty tightly over the zigzag—which will now soon be a wave,—widen this in forming the hollow by the help of the fine teeth of a dressing comb, tighten the thread, stop it at the pin opposite the one from which the thread comes, and so on till the last wave is made. Then damp the dressed piece of postiche, put it once more into the oven; let it thoroughly well dry; and when quite cold, take off pins and filament, and you will get some splendid water waves ready to wear. When pins driven into the skin-covering of the block leave a kind of rough bump caused by the heat, pass over it the pressing iron, and it will become flat and smooth again.

Now, concerning the liquid to be used—I am of opinion that warm water, previously boiled with a very little soda in it, is the very best component to wet the hair with for water waves; boiling water and soda, or potash if preferred, having both the property of softening the hair; but, of course, this is only recommended for dark colours. For light ones, suppress the soda, and for grey or white hair, let the boiling water get quite cold, and add to it a very little of Reckitt’s blue, so as to prevent the hair from turning of a yellowish tint. To dry this hair it will be also very prudent to cover it with light blue tissue paper. Spirits of wine is also a very good liquid to make use of for water waves; it does not soften the hair so much as the above-stated, but on the other hand, it causes the waves made with it to last much longer. To make use of it, like water, a great quantity is required, more especially when waves are to be made on a porcelain block; therefore, unless a great number of waves are made with it, it would cost very often more than the piece of postiche itself. It is more adapted for hair merchants or coiffeurs posticheurs. Great care must be taken in using spirits of wine, chiefly when postiche dressed with it is drying at the front of the fire. The slightest spark would be enough to spoil it.

Scalpettes and fringes, as I have before indicated, admit of great variety. Indeed, both in make and style of dressing, there is ample scope for the coiffeur to exhibit his skill, and those scalpettes of a fanciful and gossamer-like character are remarkable for taste and ingenuity.