Concept
A hairstyle, hairdo, haircut or coiffure refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head but sometimes on the face or body. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although practical, cultural, and popular considerations also influence some hairstyles. The oldest known depiction of hair styling is hair braiding which dates back about 30,000 years. Women's hair was often elaborately and carefully dressed in special ways, though it was also often kept covered outside the home, especially for married women. People's hairstyles are largely determined by the fashions of the culture they live in. Hairstyles are markers and signifiers of social class, age, marital status, racial identification, political beliefs, and attitudes about gender. Some people may cover their hair totally or partially for cultural or religious reasons. Notable examples of head covering include women in Islam who wear the hijab, married women in Haredi Judaism who wear the sheitel or tichel, married Himba men who cover their hair except when in mourning, Tuareg men who wear a veil, and baptized men and women in Sikhism who wear the dastar. The oldest known reproduction of hair braiding lies back about 30,000 years: the Venus of Willendorf, now known in academia as the Woman of Willendorf, of a female figurine from the Paleolithic, estimated to have been made between about 28,000 and 25,000 BCE.The Venus of Brassempouy counts about 25,000 years old and indisputably shows hairstyling. File:Venus von Willendorf 01.jpg|The ''[[Venus of Willendorf]]'' with braided hair File:Venus of Brassempouy.jpg|The [[Venus of Brassempouy]] In the Bronze Age, razors were known and in use by some men, but not on a daily basis since the procedure was rather unpleasant and required resharpening of the tool which reduced its endurance. File:Reconstructed sumerian headgear necklaces british museum.
