One Hundred Years of Ladies Hair Combs

 



I decided to follow up the fan montage post with the even more epic " Hair Combs I Have Known".

This is almost, but not quite all, the hair combs and pins I collected over the years. A few aren't here, but just a few. Most of these are celluloid, although tortoiseshell and horn represented too.The dates run from 1820s to the 1920s.  I wish I could say there was some over riding theme to

A Trio of Hair Combs

I recently posted up three antique hair combs at pastperfectvintage.com. These are the last of my 75+ hair comb collection I have been selling for several years now. That isn't to say there won't be more combs added to the site. It just means any added after this will be bought for resale. I started collecting Victorian and Edwardian celluloid  hair combs some 34 years ago. Then I branched

Sometimes it's the Small, Pretty Things

Sometimes it's so easy to get lost in all the pretty vintage dresses and forget about the smaller, pretty accessories. I don't mean hats and shoes. Those hold their own in the collector's attention span. As do purses and handbags - my goodness, collectors do love those. And certainly vintage jewelry has had it's own huge and devoted following for many years.

No, what I have in mind today are

Vintage Hair Doodads

 
We return to vintage thoughts after a extended 4th of July break, a day of errands, a little personal shopping, and too many hours of post vacation yard work. It wasn't pretty. Let's just say it involved a lot of poison ivy. 
We listed these four hair accessories, more technically called 'doodads' here at Past Perfect, on the website and the top three sold instantly! We will be shipping them

Oh this old thing? Just a little doodad I picked up.

"Oh this old thing?" That was a response we were taught many years ago. Something self deprecating to say when we were complimented on a dress, a purse a, well, almost anything we wore. "Oh this old thing? I've had it forever". I know it was about being modest/humble. But it was also about a conceit that nothing we wore was New. My question now is: what was so bad about wearing new clothes? That

Old, Old Combs

In order of age: First, a horn comb. These combs are an early American treasure. They date 1800-1830s, and were hand made, sawed out of pressed and clarified steer horn. They are often plain and sometimes stained dark to imitate tortoiseshell. The shape is always similar - a large comb with a wide band and many, many teeth. Occasionally, like this one, they were dyed with stains in a decorative

It's All About the Hair Combs

I know the world of vintage clothing collectors seems small sometimes. But believe me, the world of Vintage Hair Comb collectors is really tiny in comparison. These are the decorative type I am talking about, found in horn, celluloid, tortoiseshell, metals, gutta percha, rubber, mother of pearl and ivory. They were worn from about 1800 to the 1930s. They are still around, but the techniques of

Combs, Combs, Combs

The gals of the Victorian and Edwardian eras sure loved their hair accessories. They must not have felt dressed unless they had a doodad in their coiffure, because an awful lot of these decorative hair combs and pins have survived. Far rarer are the bandeaus and tiaras. By far the greatest number of combs found today are celluloid in a wide variety of colors. Sometimes the celluloid is treated to

Those Fancy Victorian Hair Combs

I have collected these little treats for years. Truth be told, I am not sure what got me started. Maybe it was that they had rhinestones. That could have been all it took. The range of colors and styles in the celluloid combs is certainly such to encourage the collector. And then there’s all the materials: tortoise shell, ivory, horn, metal, well, almost anything including rubber has been used in