The sandy-colored braid and hair piece on the auction table seemed like an anachronism. It was in its original box and on the inside top was written:
Mdme. Pauline Kohlerman
Manufacturer & Importer of Human Hair Goods
Baltimore
Braids, Curls, Frizzes Made to Order
The pieces were small so they may have been made for a child. They were not likely for a doll: Too much hair.
As I looked over the pieces, though, I wondered: Did Mdme. Kohlerman manufacture her own pieces? Did she buy then from a local manufacturer? Or did she get them from a foreign supplier, much like what is done today?
I was thinking about Chris Rock’s 2009 documentary “Good Hair” as I asked myself the last question. In one segment of the film, Rock followed the route of hair shaved from the heads of Indian women in Hindu temples to their attachment to the heads of black women as weaves or sold to them as wigs in Asian shops in this country. It’s a fascinating segment, with Rock asking pointed questions that were comical but biting.
When the four of us bloggers at We Are Black Women wrote about the history of our own hair, I came across an ad in a March 1946 edition of “Headlines and Pictures, A Monthly Negro News Magazine” with a form for ordering black hair pieces. I’ve never come across any of those pieces at auction. In fact, it’s not often that I come across any vintage wigs or pieces.
It’d be great to know who Mdme. Kohlerman was or if she even existed (the name has an air of snobbery about it). The wig pieces appeared to be from the 1940s or 1950s, based on their appearance and the box. I wasn’t able to find much about vintage hair pieces on the web, so I’m not sure how big the market was. I did come across a website called The Hair Archives of vintage hairstyles. All of the women were white, but since black women (with the help of Madame C.J. Walker) tended to mimic those styles back then, they were our styles, too.
As for Mdme. Kohlerman’s hair pieces, no one at auction seemed to be especially interested. The pieces sold for $5.
Do you have any old photos of your black mother, grandmother or other older female relatives all dolled up in 1940s and 1950s hairstyles? Please email them to me. I’d love to display some of our vintage hairstyles.
