When you picture certain people, you automatically dress them in certain clothes.  Think about the dress-up box in your kindergarten classroom – all those uniforms.  Wearing a uniform helps people recognize what a person does.  But how did we come to associate mortarboards with graduating students, or those tall white hats with chefs and bakers, and so on?

The first police uniforms were created in London in 1829; the first US police uniform was established in New York in 1853.  Those outfits were basically dark, plain versions of what most people wore back then. (more…)

Going into a home where everything is perfectly arranged and coordinated can be cool, but it can also be intimidating.  If you don’t have a natural flair for spatial relations, moving past milk crates and a futon can be sort of scary.  But your dish towels don’t have to match your pot handles; there’s more to having an attractive home than that!

I always tell people who are moving, put up your curtains right away.  You could have a housefull of cardboard boxes and partially-assembled Ikea stuff, but if you’ve got curtains in the window, your place looks lived in and put-together.  It’s practically magical. (more…)

No one should ever leave the house without a scarf of some sort.  If you don’t have one in your purse/glove compartment/desk right now, go get one.  You never know when that piece of fabric is going to come in handy!

Your backup scarf can be rectangular or square, and I recommend that you pick a nice sturdy cotton tichel or a light pashmina.  Here are a few potential uses – besides using it as a headcovering or for warmth – that you may not have considered.

• Baby carrier - in a pinch, you can use a good-sized rectangular scarf as a sling (more…)

You have to admit, superheros always look good.  They’re fit, they’re put-together, and anyone who can save mankind from a deadly scourge is going to have a certain appeal.  With all the superhero movies that have been coming out lately, I decided to take a closer look at what makes them so attractive.

Superheros are incredibly modest – well, in some ways.  Skintight jumpsuits and spangly leotards aside, they love masks.  They don’t want credit for their good deeds!  Sometimes you just feel like hiding in plain sight, in which case a mask would be just the ticket.  If you’ve been crying and don’t want anyone to know, all you have to do is whip out your trusty half-mask.  It’s too bad they aren’t a current fashion trend. (more…)

When you think of a bonnet, you probably think of Laura Ingalls Wilder on the prairie, or little girls in fancy dresses with frilly hats.  Can you believe that they used to be the height of French fashion?

Well, maybe not the height, but certainly in style in various forms, for a good 150 years.  Technically, a bonnet is a brimless hat (hence the term being used to describe several hats that aren’t what you might think of as bonnets – particularly certain Scottish caps).  The predecessor to the sunbonnet were small caps worn to protect hair from dust and so on – similar to what might also be called a coif.  Early bonnets were very unstructured, and sometimes became more like turbans.

By the 19th century they began to take on more specific shapes.  They were made of both cloth and straw, and elaborately decorated with flowers and ribbons.   (more…)

Most women wish, at some point, for different hair than they were blessed with.  In many cases, there are ways to circumvent nature: perms and curling irons, straightening devices and chemicals, dyes and cuts and styles and products, and more.  Today, I got to thinking; people with long hair can always cut it shorter, and there are lots of interesting style options when your hair falls below your shoulder blades; you can put it up if you want it to look elegant, or keep it out of your way.  But what do you do if you’ve got short hair and are longing for some length?

When a celebrity needs longer/fuller/more dramatic hair, they spend thousands of dollars on professionally-applied human-hair extensions (more…)

Did you ever stop and wonder what the difference between curly and straight hair really is?  I mean, obviously they look different, and require different methods of hair care, but what is the cause of this difference?

Scientifically, follicle shape is to blame.  Straight hair grows out of round follicles, while curly comes from oval-shaped follicles; it also grows out of the head at more of an angle.  Softer or looser curls have fewer twists over a given length than tighter curls.  Because it is easier for the oils secreted by the scalp to flow down straight hair, curly often seems dry in comparison.

The chemical makeup of a hair also affects its curliness.  Hair is mostly made up of a protein molecule called keratin (the same protein that fingernails are made of).  If the protein in your hair has formed a lot of disulfide bonds, it will be curly.  Changing the texture of your hair, either through water, heat, or chemicals, involves breaking or creating more of these bonds.

Because curly hair is prone to dryness, it shouldn’t be washed as often as straight hair; it may even benefit the most from a shampoo-free wash routine.   (more…)