100 Years of Technical Advancement in Hair Science

Paper Summary:

The paper shows how hair science is a direct result of commercial interest in the industry, and its important role in economics and the social world, which has fostered its profound development over the last century. The hair care industry is a multi-million dollar business with serious economic, technological, social, and fashion attributes. Hair styles have changed dramatically, serving as part of the socio-cultural process of identity construction, gender relations, and political expression. Likewise, they have been as influenced by the social constructions they nurture. The paper examines the last half of the century which has witnessed the most development in hair science, with technical advancement evident in the at-home focus of many products, the introduction of chemical understandings to hair care, and the infrastructural focus on speed and results that has characterized the digital revolution.

Outline:
Introduction
Social and Anthropological Changes
Fashion Follows Societal Norms and Recognition
Beauty at the Turn of the Century
The Great Depression
At Home Styling: Science and Industry in the Middle of the Century
Industrial Growth Spurs Technological Advancement
Market Responds to Social and Consumer Forces
Works Cited

From the Paper:

"At the dawn of the century, the start of the 1900s ushered out the very end of the Victorian era. Known most for its political and revolutionary socio-cultural transformations, the Victorian era was also one of excess, superficial concentration, and popular culture. Hair was an integral part of the culture. "While women's hair, particularly when it is golden, has always been a Western preoccupation, for the Victorians it became an obsession." This infatuation with hair was neither a passing fad nor just an aesthetic attention, but it was a mechanism of societal imagery, assertion of gender norms, and the greater product of cultural symbols."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brownmiller, Susan. Femininity New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984.
• Doyle, Marian I. An Illustrated History of Hairstyles 1830-1930. London: Schiffer Publishing, 2003.
• Gitter, Elisabeth G. "The Power of Women's Hair in the Victorian Imagination." PMLA. Vol. 99, No. 5. (Oct., 1984.)
• Leach E. A. "Magical Hair." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Vol. 88. (1958.)
• Pesman, Curtis. How a Man Ages. New York: Ballantine Books, 1984.

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