Hairdresser

January 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (January 21, 1773).
“He likewise makes Head Dresses for Ladies, so natural as not to be distinguished by the most curious Eye.”

George Lafong described himself as a “Hair Cutter and Dresser” in an advertisement he placed in the January 21, 1773, edition of the Virginia Gazette.  He aimed to generate business by suggesting that he already served a satisfied clientele, extending his “humble Thanks to such Ladies and Gentlemen as have been pleased to honour him with their Commands.”  In addition, he invited new clients to engage his services.

Lafong deployed several appeals in his efforts to convince residents of Williamsburg and nearby towns to hire him.  For instance, he did not require that clients visit his shop.  Instead, they could schedule appointments in advance “by giving timely Notice” and the hairdresser traveled to their homes and “waited upon [them] at any Distance from Town.”  He did not charge exorbitant prices, but instead set “very reasonable Terms” for such excursions.

In addition, Lafong promoted an associate that he recently hired, reporting that he “has engaged a Man from London who dresses in the newest and most elegant Taste.”  That gave Lafong an advantage over other hairdressers who relied on correspondence to learn about the latest trends in the cosmopolitan center of the empire.  His associate had firsthand knowledge and experience with the latest styles in London.  That advantage transferred to clients; not only did their appearance testify to making good choices in selecting a hairdresser but they could also boast about that hairdresser to friends and acquaintances.

In case that was not enough to convince prospective clients, Lafong also indicated that someone in his shop, either his new associate or Lafong himself, “makes Head Dresses for Ladies, so natural as not to be distinguished by the most curious eye.”  In other words, he created wigs and extensions, such as the popular high roll, that withstood close scrutiny.  Observers would not be able to tell which portions, if any, of his client’s hairstyle was not her actual hair.  Such authenticity helped in projecting grace, elegance, and other genteel attributes.

Fashion found its way to places far removed from London as colonizers participated in a transatlantic consumer revolution in the eighteenth century.  Hairdressers offered their services in major urban ports, like Charleston, New York, and Philadelphia, while also seeking to generate demand among prospective clients in the countryside “any Distance from Town.”  Fashion, both as a practice and as a motivation, was not confined to early American cities.

August 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-Hampshire Gazette (August 28, 1772).

“HAIR DRESSERS FROM LONDON.”

Fashion was not solely the domain of elites who resided in London, the cosmopolitan center of the empire, or the gentry in urban ports like New York and Philadelphia.  Instead, colonizers in places like Portsmouth, New Hampshire, also styled themselves according to the newest trends.  To do so, they often relied on the advice and guidance of the purveyors of goods and services, including shopkeepers, milliners, tailors, and hairdressers.

In an advertisement in the August 28 edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette, James Deacon and Robert Hughes described themselves as “HAIR DRESSERS FROM LONDON.”  They did not indicate how recently they settled in Portsmouth, though many readers would have known if Deacon and Hughes were new arrivals or had been in town for some time.  Asserting a connection to London bestowed some cachet on the hairdressers.  It implied experience serving clients who set the latest styles or adopted them quickly as they emerged.  It simultaneously intimated exposure to the newest trends, knowledge that gave hairdressers and others “FROM LONDON” an advantage over competitors who labored solely in the colonies.  When Deacon and Hughes declared that they made “Gentlemen’s Perriwigs … in the genteelest Taste,” they suggested that they could advise clients what constituted that standard in London.  When they stated that they made “Ladie’s Curls & Toupees … on a new Construction,” they hinted that they used methods not previously known in Portsmouth.  Prospective clients, Deacon and Hughes insinuated, benefited from hiring hairdressers with connections to London.

Deacon and Hughes hoped such appeals would convince clients to commit to longer terms of service than a single visit to their shop.  They offered “to dress Ladies and Gentlemen by the Month Quarter or Year,” cultivating and strengthening relationships.  Dressing hair over several months provided many opportunities to advise clients on the newest fashions, convincing them of the value of consulting with Deacon and Hughes.  The hairdressers marketed knowledge as well as skill in their efforts to attract clients.

April 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (April 17, 1772).

“He continues to cut and dress Gentlemen and Ladies Hair in Taste, either antient or modern.”

Amos Morrisson described himself as a “Peruke-Maker and Dresser.”  He made wigs and styled hair for colonizers in and near New Haven in the early 1770s.  He placed an advertisement in the April 17, 1772, edition of the Connecticut Journal to inform current and prospective clients that he “lately removed from the Place where he formerly work’d, to a new Shop on the Church Land, next to Mr. Fairchild’s.”  That amounted to sufficient direction for patrons to find his new location.

Morrisson incorporated several marketing appeals into the remainder of his advertisement.  He addressed fashion and customer satisfaction simultaneously when he stated that he “continues to cut and dress Gentlemen and Ladies Hair in Taste, either antient or modern.”  In so doing, he hinted at debates about hairstyles that colonizers took seriously during the era of the American Revolution.  Men and women who adopted “modern” styles faced accusations that they indulged in luxury at the expense of good character.  Women wore high rolls, their hair and extensions elaborately arranged atop their heads.  Some men adopted a similar style, prompting critics to refer to them as “macaronis” as a critique of hairstyles, garments, and comportment associated with Italy.  Morrisson did not take a position in the debate.  Instead, he signaled that he was proficient in the “modern” style for those who wished to wear it, but he also served clients who preferred more conservative or “antient” styles.  Either way, his clients could depend on having their hair done “in Taste” at his shop.

In addition to styling hair, Morrisson “carried on Wigg-Making in all its Branches.”  He once again emphasized customer service, promising that “Gentlemen (both of Town and Country) … may depend upon being used in the best Manner.”  He constructed his wigs “of the best Materials” and set lower prices than prospective clients would find anywhere in the vicinity.  Morrisson declared that he sold his wigs “much cheaper … than has formerly been sold in Town.”  He also highlighted his experience and roots in the community, referencing clients “that have favoured him with their good Custom” in the past and inviting them to “continue the same.”

Morrisson’s advertisement was not particularly lengthy, but he managed to include a variety of appeals to incite demand for his services.  In so doing, he replicated aspects of advertisements placed by his counterparts in larger urban ports like New York and Philadelphia.  Fashion was not the province of the elite in those places.  Instead, purveyors of goods and services, including a “Peruke-Maker and Dresser” like Morrisson, served consumers throughout the colonies.

November 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Pennsylvania Journal (November 8, 1770).

“Experience has taught him to cut hair according to art.”

Lewis Fay, a “Periwig Maker and Hair Dresser,” offered his services to the residents of Philadelphia, especially “the Ladies,” in an advertisement in the November 8, 1770, edition of the Pennsylvania Journal.  His message to prospective clients was as elaborate as some of the styles that he created.  As a newcomer in the city, he aimed for his advertisement to help establish his reputation.

To that end, he first informed readers that he was “From Paris,” perhaps the most cosmopolitan center of fashion on either side of the Atlantic.  Hiring his services, he suggested, came with some extra cachet.  Thanks to his Parisian origins, he was familiar with the “newest fashion” and had gained the experience “to cut hair according to art.”  Fay proclaimed that he “can dress Ladies in fifty different manners with their own natural hair,” but for those “who have not sufficient hair” he could outfit them “with false curls so well as not to be distinguished from their natural ones.”  He did so with such skill that others would not be able to recognize those “false curls” even “by the nearest inspection.”  He also accepted male clients, stating that he “dresses also Gentlemen’s hair in thirty fashionable and different manners, agreeable to their faces and airs.”  Fay apparently offered advice, consulting with his clients about which styles indeed suited their physical features and the impressions they wished to make on others.  The hairdresser also provided ancillary services, including cutting children’s hair “at a reasonable rate” and selling products like “Pomatum, which changes the red and grey hair into black.”

Although he was new in town, Fay anticipated running a thriving shop in Strawberry Alley.  Expecting that his services would certainly be in demand, the French hairdresser instructed ladies who would “favour him with their commands” to make appointments at least a day in advance.  Otherwise, they might end up being “disappointed” due to “previous engagements” that would prevent Fay from dressing their hair.  He sought to incite demand for his services through puffery that emphasized his origins and skills while lending the impression that his services were already popular among genteel ladies in the city.

October 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

South-Carolina and American General Gazette (October 23, 1770).

“The newest and most fashionable Taste.”

In the fall of 1770, John Brown, a hairdresser, informed “the Ladies in particular” and “the Gentlemen” as well as that he had set up shop in Charleston.  In an advertisement that ran in the South-Carolina and American General Gazette, he announced that he had “Just arrived from LONDON.”  This was a common marketing strategy among advertisers from a variety of occupations, from doctors to artisans to tailors to hairdressers.  They listed their place of origin as part of their credentials, suggesting to colonists that those who had trained and worked in the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the empire possessed greater skill and a better understanding of taste and fashion than their counterparts from the colonies.

Brown stated that he “was regularly bred to the Business,” invoking a common phrase that indicated extensive training, but he also made the claim to superior circumstances more explicit by clarifying that he learned his trade “in one of the genteelest Shops in London.”  Unlike other hairdressers in Charleston, Brown had not yet established a reputation among current and prospective clients.  As an alternative, he used his connections to the urban sophistication of London to encourage residents of Charleston to associate additional cachet with his services.

Brown also emphasized his recent arrival in South Carolina.  Many advertisers deployed the phrase “from London” in their notices, some after living and working in the colonies for years.  That made it significant for Brown to proclaim that he “Just arrived from LONDON.”  His experience working in one of those “genteelest Shops” was recent.  He possessed a familiarity with tastes and trends in the metropole that was current.  Other hairdressers relied on travelers and correspondents to keep them apprised of new styles, but Brown brought that knowledge with him when he crossed the Atlantic and set up his own shop in Charleston.  He pledged to dress hair according to “the newest and most fashionable Taste,” a common appeal that had greater resonance when deployed by a coiffeur who had “Just arrived from LONDON.”

September 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Sep 6 - 9:6:1770 Virginia Gazette Rind
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (September 6, 1770).
“TOUT A LA MODE.”

George Lafong introduced himself to the ladies and gentlemen of Williamsburg as a “French HAIR-DRESSER” in an advertisement in the September 6, 1770, edition of William Rind’s Virginia Gazette.  Apparently, he was new in town and had not yet established a clientele; he announced that he “intends carrying on the said business.”  He also made two familiar marketing appeals, though he put a twist on the second one when he proclaimed that he styled hair “in the cheapest manner, & TOUT A LA MODE.”  The hairdresser concluded by inviting “Gentlemen who may please to honour him with their commands” to come to him for shaving.

Extending only eight lines, it was a brief advertisement, but Lafong managed to pack a lot of meaning into it.  Throughout the colonies, newcomers often noted their origins in their advertisements, especially when they thought this signaled greater prestige for their wares or services.  Artisans often described themselves as “from London,” suggesting that they possessed greater skill and had better training.  Apothecaries and others who provided medical treatments and services also emphasized their connections to London and other places on the other side of the Atlantic, often listing their credentials.  For hairdressers, being from London hinted at the cosmopolitanism associated with the thriving metropolis at the center of the empire, but being a “French HAIR-DRESSER” may have been even better since even the genteel denizens of London looked to France for fashion cues.  Hiring a French hairdresser in colonial Virginia could have been an expensive luxury reserved for the elite, but Lafong declared that his prices were not exorbitant.  His clients could have their hair elegantly styled and adorned “in the cheapest manner.”  Hiring a French hairdresser at all alluded to exclusivity, but the newcomer did not seek to become so exclusive that he priced himself out of the market.  He also put his own spin on familiar marketing appeals that emphasized fashion.  Shopkeepers, tailors, milliners, and others who provided consumer goods and services frequently incorporated fashion into their advertisements.  Lafong did so as well, trumpeting that he styled hair “TOUT A LA MODE” or “all in fashion.”  This appeal simultaneously underscored his identity as a French hairdresser and enhanced the aura of exclusivity for prospective clients who learned French to appear more genteel to their friends and neighbors.

Upon arriving in Virginia, Lafong placed a savvy advertisement intended to cultivate a clientele among the “Ladies and Gentlemen” of Williamsburg.  Incorporating several familiar marketing appeals, he also introduced an innovative means of underscoring his origins as a “French HAIR-DRESSER” by making his appeal to fashion in French rather than English.

December 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Dec 25 - 12:25:1769 Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (December 25, 1769).

“Many Years experience in the most eminent Shops in London.”

As 1769 drew to a close, the residents of Boston and many other cities and towns throughout the colonies were still embroiled in a dispute with Parliament over the duties imposed on imported paper, glass, lead, paint, and tea by the Townshend Acts. Merchants and shopkeepers continued to participate in nonimportation agreements, refusing to order merchandise of all sorts as a means of using economic pressure to achieve political goals. Especially in Boston, newspapers provided updates about traders who either declined to sign or subsequently violated the boycotts. Discourse about the virtues and vices inherent in making or abstaining from certain purchases became a regular feature in the public prints, in advertisements as well as in editorials.

Yet colonists in Boston and other places did not abstain from all things associated with Britain even as they rejected imported goods. They still looked across the Atlantic, especially to London, for cues about fashion. Colonists continued to imbibe British culture and tastes even as they eschewed British goods. Timothy Kelly, “Hair Cutter and Peruke-Maker from LONDON,” depended on that continued allegiance to British styles in his advertisement that ran in the December 25, 1769, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy. This wigmaker leveraged his previous experience serving clients in the most cosmopolitan city in the empire, underscoring to the “GENTLEMEN and LADIES” that he “had the advantage of many Years experience in the most eminent Shops in London.” That alone gave his perukes and other hairpieces cachet not associated with wigs made or styled by competitors whose training and entire careers had been confined to the colonies. Kelly claimed he possessed knowledge of the current styles in London, vowing that he made “any kind Perukes now in fashion” and did so “as genteel as can be had from thence.” Why should colonists import wigs from afar when they could consult with an “eminent” stylist in Boston? After all, this stylist was so eminent that he deployed solely his last name as the headline of his advertisement, expecting that to sufficiently identify him when prospective clients perused the newspaper. Kelly did far more than merely promise that he “dresses Hair in any form in the neatest manner” in his advertisement. He accentuated his connections to London and the fashions there, anticipating that doing so would resonate with residents of Boston even as they continued to boycott goods imported from England. British fashions could still be replicated in the colonies, and Kelly offered his services.

November 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Nov 24 - 11:24:1769 New-Hampshire Gazette
New-Hampshire Gazette (November 24, 1769).

“HAIR ROLLS for LADIES.”

A very short advertisement in the November 24, 1769, edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette informed readers of “HAIR ROLLS for LADIES, Made by Williams and Stanwood in Portsmouth.” Although brief, this advertisement demonstrated the reach of fashion beyond the major port cities to smaller towns in the colonies on the eve of the American Revolution. In “Fashion and the Culture Wars of Revolutionary Philadelphia,” Kate Haulman documents clothing and hairstyles favored by the elite in the largest urban port, but such styles were not confined solely to places like Charleston, New York, and Philadelphia. Williams and Stanwood made “HAIR ROLLS for LADIES” available to the better sorts (and anyone else willing to pay their fees) in Portsmouth and its hinterlands.

Haulman offers a description of styles adopted by ladies in Philadelphia. “At tea tables, assemblies, and even in city streets, ladies’ hoops grew wider, and heads appeared larger with high rolls. Fashionable hairstyles for women began to grow in the late 1760s, and with them rose the ire of social critics.”[1] The high roll became popular at the same time that many colonists participated in nonimportation agreements as a means of resisting the duties that Parliament imposed on imported paper, glass, tea, and other good in the Townshend Acts. Women who chose high rolls to express themselves emulated fashions “that English ladies all too eagerly copied from their French counterparts.”[2] For many, the high roll became a symbol of luxury that contradicted the spirit of sacrifice that patriots practiced when they abided by nonimportation agreements. Furthermore, the high roll testified to continued cultural dependence on and deference to England. As Haulman notes, residents of Philadelphia “asserted the city’s, and their own, stylish, cosmopolitan character through fashion even as the imperial ties that engendered those cultural forms began to unravel.”[3]

Such inconsistencies did not occur only in Philadelphia, though they may have been most visible in large port cities. Hairdressers, wigmakers, and others did not limit their efforts to market high rolls and other fashionable styles to the gentry in urban centers. Instead, colonists in Portsmouth as well as nearby towns and villages had access to “HAIR ROLLS for LADIES, Made by Williams and Stanwood.” Opportunities to purchase (or not) such items as well as other garments and goods allowed them to express their own personal style and political principles while grappling with any incongruities between the two.

**********

[1] Kate Haulman, “Fashion and the Culture Wars of Revolutionary Philadelphia,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 62, no. 4 (October 2005): 638.

[2] Haulman, “Fashion and the Culture Wars,” 638.

[3] Haulman, “Fashion and the Culture Wars,” 640.

August 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Aug 29 - 8:29:1769 Essex Gazette
Essex Gazette (August 29, 1769).

“He proposes to carry on Wig-making and Hair-Dressing.”

Fashion helped to fuel the consumer revolution of the eighteenth century. Consumers devoted great attention to changing styles and purchased garments, accessories, and accouterments to match trends as they changed. Colonists in the largest port cities looked to London for guidance, while colonists in smaller towns looked to both London and urban ports like Boston, Charleston, New York, and Philadelphia. Fixations on fashion were not confined to the better sort in urban centers. Middling folk and others in towns from New England to Georgia also participated in the rituals and display that made the consumer revolution a very visible aspect of life in the colonies.

Like others who earned their livelihoods by providing goods and services to consumers, Alexander Cambell realized that markets extended into the countryside. In late August 1769, he inserted an advertisement in the Essex Gazette to announce that he had just opened a shop in Marblehead where he “carr[ied] on Wig-making and Hair-Dressing” for the ladies and gentlemen of that town. Cambell did not elaborate extensively on the services he provided, but he did promise that prospective clients “may depend upon the best Attendance” when they employed him.

Cambell’s wigs were embedded in networks of exchange. Colonists glimpsed those extensive webs of commerce that played such a significant role in the consumer revolution when they read the Essex Gazette and saw Cambell’s advertisement nestled in the middle of a column that began with the shipping news from the customs house for the port of Salem and Marblehead and ended with the shipping news from the customs house in Boston. Cambell’s work as wigmaker and hairdresser did not occur in isolation in Marblehead; instead, his shop was a local manifestation of a consumer revolution that was taking place throughout the British Atlantic world and beyond. The vessels listed in the shipping news carried finished goods or the materials for producing them, but they also carried news and information, including updates about changing fashions. Widespread circulation of these updates cultivated interest in changing trends and other aspects of the consumer revolution in even the smallest towns. As part of that process, Cambell identified a potential market for making and selling wigs and dressing hair in Marblehead; he published an advertisement to offer his services and to incite even greater demand in the summer of 1769.

August 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Aug 4 - 8:4:1769 New-London Gazette
New-London Gazette (August 4, 1769).

“Good Work … equal to any in Boston.”

The consumer revolution of the eighteenth century extended far beyond major metropolitan centers like London and into the provinces, both the English provinces and the colonies on the other side of the Atlantic. For colonists, participating in consumer culture became part of their identity and a marker of their membership in the vast British Empire. For many, acquiring goods also testified to their status. This sometimes prompted both anxiety and competition among consumers … and advertisers cultivated both for their own purposes. Some deployed an eighteenth-century version of “keeping up with the Joneses” to stimulate demand in their goods and services.

Consider the advertisement John Smith and Company placed in the August 4, 1769, edition of the New-London Gazette. Smith and Company introduced themselves as “Peruke-Makers and Hair-Dressers for Gentlemen and Ladies,” but before they specified their occupation they first proclaimed that they were “From BOSTON.” This inverted the usual order of information that commonly appeared in eighteenth-century advertisements. Most advertisers listed their occupation first and their place of origin or site of significant employment second, but Smith and Company made certain that their affiliation with Boston, the largest and most cosmopolitan city in New England, foregrounded everything else in their advertisement.

Smith and Company had recently opened a new shop at Norwich Landing, a much smaller town than the busy port of Boston. Despite the relatively bucolic setting, Smith and Company’s prospective clients could depend on “having good Work … equal to any in Boston.” This “good Work” presumably applied not only to the quality of the goods and services available from Smith and Company but also to the assistance they provided clients in demonstrating taste through adopting the latest styles, an important aspect of making wigs and dressing hair. Smith and Company encouraged readers of the New-London Gazette to consider current fashions and the services provided by wigmakers and hairdressers in Boston even though they lived at a distance from that busy port, much the same way that their counterparts in Boston, Charleston, New York, and Philadelphia urged their prospective customers to look to London or Paris and promised to deliver the current styles from those places. No matter where consumers resided, according to advertisements in colonial newspapers, purveyors of goods and services could help them achieve the fashions currently en vogue in places they considered one rung up the cosmopolitan ladder.