The Reflection of Iranian hairstyles (coiffure) in the descriptions of Persian romantic poems (Fourth to Sixth centuries)

Study on people’s daily life, aiming at understanding both science and art used by them, is among the most extensive categories of research world. Exactly it is during such studies that most uncertainties are resolved and new theories are formed. Adoring beauty is something rooted in human being’s nature; for the same reason there is a desire to adornment in their nature. Hairdressing is an occupation that has long been recognized as a form of art and since literature of each nation is where one can find interests and inclinations of that nation, manifestation of this art is found in the ancient literature. In Persian literature, thanks to their lyrical nature and fictional form, romantic poems are one of the most important resources proving Iranian’s inclination to adornment; as research on their descriptions about “lover” not only provides the reader with a sort of literary pleasure and joy, but also helps them to reach a better understanding about make-up and its different types and forms during different eras. 

In this basic descriptive-analytical research, both library method and note-taking tool were used. It is necessary to note that since adornment is a very extensive subject, only hairdressing in the well-known romantic poems of fourth, fifth and sixth centuries A.H. have been considered in this study. The purpose is gaining knowledge about Iranians’ hairstyle in different times and comparing them to each other in order to resolve some poetic ambiguities and making them available for the interested researchers. 

Adoring beautiness has been illustrated in different extensive forms in the Persian poems; as most of them can be seen in the lyrical literature. Reflection of the “lover’s” beauties across the romantic Masnavi[1] descriptions, apart from limitations one may face in other poetic forms like odes, proves how important poems are as valuable resources regarding Iranian desire to adornment. Throughout the cultural and social history of Iran, adornment had been recognized and accepted by all Iranian ethnics and religions. Adornment can be divided into several separated categories: head and face trimming, using clothes and ornaments, pointing to the fact that adorning hair is a subcategory of head and face trimming. To understand Iranians’ adornment, hair usage and its synonyms including Zolf, Ja’ad, Giss and Gisu in the romantic poems were studied. While some differences found in the meanings of these words and terms, they only refer to hairstyle of Iranian men and women. The necessity of conducting such interdisciplinary studies is that they not only resolve some poetic uncertainties, but they pave the way to start investigation in other fields such as history, social sciences and etc. and also can begin new and innovative ideas on various arts such as filmmaking, sculpture making and make-up.

Our study made it clear that along with the tight mouth, lip’s speckle, tall height, arch eyebrow, narcissus eyes and etc. other descriptions such as long hair, lock of hair, blacks and fragrant hair are among the critics to percieve someone’s beauty. Some hairstyles like braided, pinned hairs, dropping hair on forehead or shoulders, fragrant hair, using ornaments such as crowns and jewelry were common between men and women. However, there were styles which were only for women: center parting, using bonnets and scarves. The most attractive descriptions about hairstyles can be found in the sixth century poems and it seems that both content and origin of story and time and place of the poet have been very effective in description and explanation of hair adornment.