The word antimacassar has always annoyed me as being too big and important-sounding for the thing it refers to (annoying piece of useless cloth on the headrest of an armchair or sofa). TIL it was protection against macassar oil, popular in Victorian age.
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The very idea is sooo Victorian capitalist. Men use some weird branded hair oil that gets in stuff. Women spin up an entire hobby activity (crocheting antimacassars) that becomes symbolic of the aesthetic of the age. Little bits of ornate annoyingness all over the damn place.
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It’s interesting that hair oil as a mass-use product seems to have largely disappeared, displaced by styling gels etc as a product for fashionable people. Everybody used it for hair “health” when I was growing up. Some bs about scalp “nourishment”.
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No it’s back in again, argan & coconut oils especially. Never went out of style w POC AFAIK either
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My parents still use it. My generation and later in India it’s a mixed bag depending on how westernized they are.
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