Table of contents:
Video: How in the old days a hairstyle could lead to trouble: a diadem with a burner, combs with a surprise and other oddities
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Fashionable hobbies at all times could lead to disaster. Even today, you can find items of clothing, jewelry or trends that are not good for health, and in the old days this happened much more often, because the ladies were ready to try on any novelties of science and technology, sometimes not knowing about the consequences or simply not thinking about them.
Diadem with gas burner
Fortunately, this dangerous invention never became a mass product. It is not known whether the cause was accidents or whether the innate sense of self-preservation played a role in women, and there was simply no demand for the novelty. However, attempts to decorate oneself with burning gas have undoubtedly been made. In May 1863, the following advertisement was published in the magazine "Fashion Shop":
It remains to be seen whether any of the 19th century fashionistas ventured into such an experiment.
Surprise combs
The fashion of the beginning of the 20th century demanded lush hairstyles from the ladies. The art nouveau style meant intricate hair ornaments, and therefore the combs were the favorite ladies' trinket at the time. They made it possible to decorate the hair and maintain a complex structure. They were made from a wide variety of materials - from expensive jewelry samples made of precious metals and stones to the simplest ones. Combs made of tortoise shell, ivory and mother-of-pearl were fashionable at that time. However, chemistry soon came to the aid of women of fashion and offered material that, given the relative cheapness, made it possible for fantasies to unfold. It was the newest invention that triumphantly conquered the household goods market - celluloid. Since the middle of the 19th century, tennis balls and many household goods have been made from it. A little later, a plastic and lightweight material that allowed molding products and easily dyeing them in bright colors began to be used for the production of cheap combs.
However, the delight of women who could not afford more expensive trinkets did not last long. It soon became clear that the new material has one big drawback - high flammability. During fireplaces, kerosene lamps and candles, this became a problem. The combs melted even when working with an iron, and when near an open fire they could ignite, with all the ensuing dire consequences. In 1902, the University of Aberdeen even gave a separate lecture on celluloid burns. The fashion for such combs soon passed, but in everyday life this flammable material was used until 2014. A huge number of haberdashery items and children's toys were made from it.
Death hats
In the past centuries, amounts were spent on such an item as ladies' hats, comparable, it seems, to the cost of the entire wardrobe. The fashion for them was extremely changeable, and going out without a headdress on the street was considered simply indecent. However, all museum workers know that samples of felt products of past centuries can be deadly, since mercury compounds were used in their manufacture in the old days. Despite its volatility, the hazardous metal can still be harmful to health. The studies carried out unambiguously prove that
Not so long ago, all the hats in the costume collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London were packed in special mylar bags marked with skull and crossbones stickers and the words “toxic”. People suffered for almost a hundred years and even died from incomprehensible ailments - skin and nervous ones, without even knowing their cause. According to historians, it is precisely with harmful production that the English proverb "Mad as a hatter" is connected, which gave mankind a bright literary character - the Mad Hatter Lewis Carroll.
Although mercury may not yet be considered the most dangerous chemical element that has been used by humans. Now widely known facts of the use of radium in cosmetics and other industries in the 20th century.
Recommended:
Why did they talk to diseases in Russia, what is the "bad wind" and other facts about medicine in the old days
Previously, people did not trust doctors, and medicine in general left much to be desired. In Russia, the magi were engaged in healing, and over time, their place was taken by healers. They gained knowledge through trial and error, through the transfer of experience from generation to generation, as well as with the help of records in various herbalists and healers. Often, in their treatment, the doctors of those times resorted to various magical rites and rituals, which in our time sound, so to speak, very strange. Interestingly, in the old days it was often used
How a house-ship, buildings on "chicken legs" and other oddities appeared in an old Siberian city in the 1970s
The architecture of the old city of Irkutsk delights with wooden architecture and Siberian Baroque, however, in addition to this, you can find many strange buildings here, as if anticipating the time with their originality. The style of these houses is non-rutalism, or, as it is also called by local lovers of architecture, “Irkutsk Renaissance”. Such buildings were built in the city mainly in the 1970s and 1980s: then non-rutalism was in vogue in our country. True, there is still controversy about whether they are beautiful
What dreams in Russia were considered harbingers of trouble and how they tried to prevent trouble
In the old days in Russia, among the peasants, the attitude towards dreams was very serious. There were beliefs that in a dream a person can be warned of possible troubles. Therefore, people carefully analyzed dreams, trying to prevent trouble and warn their loved ones about it. Read in the material why it was dangerous to see lost teeth in a dream, when it was necessary to think about health and why it was unsafe to build a new house
Why in Russia in the old days they changed their name several times throughout life and other strange rituals
Russian culture is rich in its own traditions, ceremonies and rituals. Most of them appeared from the time of ancient Russia, when paganism still reigned, and were passed down from generation to generation. Almost all rituals are associated with the unity of man and nature. Our ancestors believed in the powers of gods and spirits, so many rituals were of a mystical nature. The most important ceremonies were associated with the birth of a person, initiation into adulthood, and the creation of a family. Our ancestors believed that if the ritual is not performed
Portraits of celebrities from buttons, combs, hairpins and other junk. Paintings by Jane Perkins
British artist Jane Perkins knows how to turn unnecessary into necessary, and not just necessary, but beautiful and talented. For several years now, she has been transforming small junk that gathers from time to time in the house into amazing portraits of celebrities. When inspiration falls on Jane, everything is used: mixed-sized and multi-colored buttons, fragments of combs and hairpins, pieces of toys and broken plastic boxes … All this as a result becomes one