Keep Your (Victorian) Moustache Nice! by Kristin Holt

by Kristin Holt

USA Today Bestselling Author of

Sweet Romance set in the Victorian-American West

Mustache, moustache.... that hairy patch above a man's lip. Apparently our Victorian ancestors spelled the "moustache" with an 'o', at least in Chicago where this 1891 article originated.

My husband wears a full beard (and mustache), and I love it. He keeps it trimmed nicely and I find it handsome. Our son wears full facial hair, too. The younger Mr. Holt uses beard oil, a trendy bamboo beard comb, and his new bride bought him a beard iron/curling iron thingie as a Valentine's gift last winter. I think today's men love facial hair almost as much as their Victorian counterparts.

This 1891 article is a beautiful "slice of life" view of a barber's no-nonsense replies to both "keep that moustache nice" (was spelled in 1891 after all), and "dandruff!"

Notice this late Victorian-era barber's solution for a moustache that won't grow. Note that this barber shop of the nineteenth century employed hot irons (yes! curling irons!) to moustaches. "Don't curl it with your fingers!" Okay. I won't. (Never had a mustache, even a few hairs in need of bleach, myself.)

Note the 1891 treatment for dandruff. Salt water and brisk brushing. But don't you dare use a wire brush, said the barber. Never, never never.

This one's definitely worth reading:

What fun!

For more articles about the happenings inside a Victorian Old West Barber Shop don't miss out on my related history bits like this.

Thank you for joining me! Please scroll down and comment. Your thoughts are welcome (as is "conversation", especially amidst COVID-19).

Warm regards,

Kristin

Copyright © Kristin Holt LC

Rapid Wooing: Courted and Married All Inside of Twenty-four Hours (1891)

by USA Today Bestselling Author Kristin Holt

I'm genuinely fascinated by the "Love at First Sight" phenomenon. Must be the romance writer in me, or perhaps the experience of thirty years of marriage... but I wonder what can make people so sure they've found the love of their life.

Last month, I shared an article with you called Modern Lovers Have New Ways (published in the Chicago Daily Tribune, 1902). The subtitle: Twentieth Century System Is Bizarre and Usually Hurries Matters.

The newspaper clipping I have to share with you today takes that "hurrying matters" into warp speed. This couple, purportedly, first noticed each other, sort-of courted, and married before twenty-four hours were up. This article was published in The San Francisco Morning Call on June 16, 1891. Mr. Lee Anderson, of Philadelphia, discovered a woman he could not ignore on the train from St. Louis to to Fort Worth, Texas. 

That woman was Miss Sadie Michael, of Saint Louis, Missouri, on her way to Muskogee, I.T. (Indian Territory) to take a position in a hotel. Mr. Anderson offered her something better; he offered marriage.

 

The San Francisco Morning Call of San Francisco, California, on June 16, 1891.

I wonder what became of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Anderson. I'm a bit (admittedly, far more than a bit) of a believer in happily-ever-after. I want to believe Lee and Sadie lived into their eighties, celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, and spent as few nights apart as Lee's business (and Sadie's travels to help their daughters with new babies) allowed. They might have fallen for each other quickly, but neither regretted (not seriously, anyway) the fateful and glorious decision that June day in Denton, Texas.

Why did Sadie say yes to Mr. Anderson's heart-felt proposal? I'll leave that little detail of our fictional story completion up to you. Please, scroll down and reply. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

July's a special time at SweetRomanceReads.com! Specials (including free reads and 99-cent deals) every single day in July!
 

Copyright © 2017 Kristin Holt LC