The First hair Salon

Combers 1982 AD adopted a strap line ….’ bringing out the best in you’ and it has become a tribe mantra. After all we all want to look or be our best, but often it is with the perspective and guidance or influence of someone else that we find it easier.

Bringing out the best in you

I remember watching my mum painting her face when I was younger and took it for granted when subsequent girlfriends did the same in what I came to learn was a technique passed on through the generations for bringing out the best in eyes, cheekbones or general complexion.

Make-up

Makeup was known to be worn in1323 BC in Egypt by both Women and Men. Construction workers of the day would down their tools if it was not made available as it formed much needed moisturising sunscreen protection.

Hair

Pictorial documentation and history tells us that hair styles along with Make-up were also key in bringing out the best for ancient Egyptians over 3000 years ago. However the hairstyles worn were wigs, as not only was it seen that cleanliness was next to Godliness but also hairlessness. Using early razors made of bronze, it all had to go!

The first Lifestyle Magazine?

The invention of the hair salon, was attributed to a man named Ziryab in 823 AD who was  influencing cultural living in Cordoba, the capital of al-Andalus,(Andalusia) Spain. Not only was he the Vidal Sassoon of his day but he and the ruler ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II, may have published the first 9th century Lifestyle magazine. 

Fashion and taste

Clearly an artisan of his day, and an arbiter of fashion and taste, he started out as a musician and poet. He is said to have had a lasting influence on fashion including sophisticated styles of clothing starting a vogue by changing clothes according to the weather and season. Cuisine; he invented the 3 course meal and influenced modern day table placings and designs on furniture. He also introduced crystal to drink from.

The first Hair Salon

The hair fashion of the time was to part their hair down the middle. The opening of Ziryab’s beauty parlours created new shorter hairstyles leaving the neck, ears and eyebrows free, that were considered risky at the time, including a fringe. Designs on eyebrows, he invented the first depilatory wax, deodorant, toothpaste, perfumes, rose shampoo with sulphates. He was a lifestyle specialist in his time, bringing out the best in people, and having a lasting influence on modern day lives and living, that I can only aspire.