The history of tattoo art: the development of the salon business

Taisiya Milic, Head of the Specialized Curriculum Development Department of the International Association of Permanent Makeup Professionals, Member of the European Research Association of Educational Psychologists Science International School of Practical Pedagogy (ISPP)

Beauty salon today is a small paradise of luxury, where every woman can feel like a goddess. How did it all start? Let's take a look at history. Trust me it will be interesting

The beauty industry is so versatile and unique that you can spend more than a dozen years studying it alone. Man has always wanted to adorn himself, whether it be a leaf of a fig tree or a diamond of a certain number of carats.

To ensure that people remain beautiful in their own eyes, the multibillion-dollar colossus of the beauty industry is working ... Where does such a need come from? Perhaps we just want to be loved?

And let's count the time back again, go back to ancient times and try to figure out how it all began.

Beard: yes and no

From the time of the Sumerians and the ancient Egyptians, the nobility had servants and maids in their personal staff, there were barbers and barbers in public baths and markets. At the same time, they served only men, cut their hair and shaved, and could also “open” blood, tear teeth, and cut calluses.

In a tomb in the lower cemetery of Thebes, a statuette was found dating back to the eighteenth dynasty or even older. Which means it is approximately 3,300 years old. The figurine represents Meryma'at the hairdresser. He was in charge of shaving the priests of the temple of Amun. It was a ritual that took place every three days and consisted of shaving their bodies completely, including the head and face. The ancient Egyptians believed that it was an investment in the purification of their spirituality. This small figurine shows the attitude that the barbers had towards the temple of Amun and their high position.

The art of trimming and trimming the beard became an important profession in ancient Greece. It was there that the first barbershops were created, becoming places of gathering, a kind of clubs for men, where they enjoyed spending time with long conversations about philosophy, politics and public affairs. These barbershops were as important to them as the Agora, a place for social gatherings. In addition to cutting and combing hair and beards, massages were performed, lipstick, beeswax and lotions were applied to add shine. The final touch is to sprinkle your hair with perfume, apply olive oil. Since the hair color of the ancient Greeks was dark, they also dyed their hair light brown. Women usually did their hair at home with the help of servants or slaves.

In the 3rd century BC, Alexander the Great conquered almost all of Asia, but was defeated in several battles with the Persians because of the beards of his soldiers. The Persians used to grab them by their beards, pull them off their horses and kill them, thereby winning battles. Alexander issued a decree to all his subordinates, which stated that all soldiers must be clean-shaven. Soon the rest of the population adopted the fashion - they stopped wearing beards. The more often it was necessary to shave, the greater the need arose for the work of barbers, who had to visit their clients every two or three days.

In the early Roman Empire, men usually wore long hair and beards. But under the influence of the Greeks, hairdressing salons came into fashion. As Pliny the Elder wrote, the first important Roman he saw with a clean-shaven face was the general and consul Scipio Africanus. In this form, it is depicted on a coin minted in the 3rd century BC. From that time on, it was the masculine hairstyle in Rome almost until the fall of the empire, when beards and mustaches came back into fashion. Barbers were called tonsors and among the Romans this profession was highly respected. The Romans were very preoccupied with their appearance, spending many hours in barbershops to get their hair in proper shape. And soon tonstrina A (barbershops), as in Greece, became an important meeting place for Roman men. The procedure for shaving beards was carried out only with the use of water and razors made of bronze, as well as sharpened stones. These razors were called novacula. Hair removal was also carried out using beeswax and tweezers. In addition to cutting hair, barbers practiced head massages and gave their clients some manicures and pedicures. In the Roman Empire, barbers began to practice tooth extraction as well. The patricians, who were people of the highest social class, had their own barbers and stylists among their servants. Women always had their own stylist among the slaves.

The formation of the salon business

One of the first mentions of a beauty salon as a place where women came to improve their appearance dates back to the middle of the 9th century AD. It was at this time that the ruler of Muslim Spain invited the famous singer and musician Ziryab from Baghdad to his capital, Cordoba. As it turned out, he could not only sing and play, but also understood the basics of hygiene and fashion trends. There is a version that he opened several beauty salons for aristocratic women of Cordoba at once. There he taught them to dress according to the season, wash their hair with aromatic oils, showed new trends in haircuts and makeup, and suggested hairstyles with bangs to the eyebrows. But in general, services for women were provided only at home ⎼ until the beginning of the 20th century.

The first beauty salons in North America appeared at the end of the 19th century. Most of them were led by women. A prime example of this is the story of Martha Matilda Harper. A native of Canada, she worked as a servant for 25 years and during that time learned a lot about the use of herbs in facial and skin care. She realized her experience by opening her own beauty salon in Rochester, New York, in 1888. Its success was unparalleled, and already in 1928 there were about 500 salons around the world.

At the end of the 19th century, another salon appeared, the founder of which was the well-known Elena Rubinstein, who is also the “mother” of the cosmetic brand Helena Rubinstein. A young Polish woman, who came from Krakow to Melbourne, drew attention to the fact that the skin of women in Australia is exhausted and dried out by the heat and they do not fight it at all. It was then that Elena began selling sunscreen from Poland in a cafe where she worked as a waitress. The Australians really liked this product, and soon a small room was opened in the center of Melbourne, above the entrance of which a sign “Elena Rubinshtein. Beauty salon". A visitor who looked into this salon received a detailed consultation, a facial massage and a jar of cream as a gift.

Elena Rubinstein did not stop at cosmetic care. She visited the best European clinics, studying in detail all the effective innovations in the field of hairdressing, makeup, dermatology and aesthetic medicine. At the beginning of the 20th century, she created a network of universal beauty salons in Europe, where visitors received the services of a hygienist, hairdresser and makeup artist, manicurist and foot care specialist, whitened teeth, consulted on weight loss and healthy eating, took aromatic baths and contrast showers, and left the beauty salon with the firm intention to return here soon.

beauty salon phenomenon

At the beginning of the twentieth century, beauty salons opened in other countries. In 1905, Hatsuko Endo opened his establishment in Ginza, the main commercial area of Tokyo. Initially, this business was positioned as a wedding salon, however, along with planning the celebration itself, organizing ceremonies and banquets, Endo also offered makeup and hair services. The services were in great demand, and it is not surprising that today, more than a hundred years later, the Hatsuko Endo brand is thriving.

Already in 1935, the Shiseido brand, which was gaining momentum, realized a unique idea - a mobile beauty salon. The main purpose of this innovation is advertising and distribution of brand cosmetics. Initially, such salons operated in Tokyo, and then began to conquer other areas of Japan. Cosmetologists working in these establishments gave women advice on maintaining personal hygiene, techniques for applying cosmetics, and the basics of dermatology. In addition, these specialists were culturally savvy, excellently versed in theater, music, and Western painting. They didn't just sell Shiseido cosmetics, they were actually trendsetters. So it's not surprising that two years later, mobile stores spread throughout the Japanese empire, and then began to appear in department stores and stores in Korea, Manchuria and Taiwan.

Today, the beauty salon has given way to dental care, trichology and aesthetic surgery to specialized clinics, consultations on weight loss programs to health centers and fitness clubs, leaving behind only aesthetic care. But, thanks to constant development, beauty salons are expanding the range of services for complex face, body, nails and hair care every year; to create an attractive image thanks to a stylish haircut or styling, the right make-up, spectacular manicure, professional permanent make-up. A brief historical digression, which began from where we came from as masters of skin painting, smoothly transitions to the environment in which we work and to the people who directly interact with us.