Today we present the history of ‘Le Merveilleux Peigne Teinturier’, it launched in Toulouse (France) in 1890, which shows how sometimes something can seem like a great ideas… but not always coming to fruition!
It was commercialized by the maison A. F. Claula at the end of the 19th century and was launched as a much more quick and efficient alternative to the traditional service of coloration, with the ambition to make a big impact on the beauty industry at the time.
The idea was to dye the hair across (through) a bitumen that was distilling the box of the central part of the comb, as the hairs were combed, they were able to obtain chestnut-colored, brown and even fair-haired tones. The tinting comb was launched in Paris, London and New York, and they even developed a specific model for the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900 – an Expo that was marked by the unstoppable rise of Art Nouveau in all its disciplines: architecture, interior design and decorative arts as jewelry, furniture, glassware, pottery, lamps and all kinds of useful objects in everyday life.
The ideal framework never caught on during the presentation of our dear and beloved tinting comb… nevertheless, it seems that it happened without sorrow or glory for the expo… since it was seen as rudimentary and of course a too basic coloration system even for that time.
The tinting A. F. Claula comb can be seen today in the Museum of Hairdressing of Raffel Pages. More information: www.museumraffelpages.com
