BinkieBaumont said:Miss Sis said:As long as there's not too much of it junking things up - like my pillowcases or sofa, then go for it. My chap uses Brylcreem rather than an actual pomade and he wears more for evening than for day.
I'm totally with the 'Don't touch the hair!' ladies. If I've spent ages doing mine, I don't want it messed up and I'm not going to mess his.
An antimacassar
is a small cloth placed over the backs or arms of chairs, or sofas. Historically, the Edwardian male penchant for oiling one's coiffure continued into Victorian times; necessitating the invention of washable decorative fabric blotters. They are still used in luxury rail lines and immaculate Japanese taxis. The name is derived from the Indian unguent for the hair commonly used in the early 19th century, macassar oil— the poet Byron called it, "thine incomparable oil, Macassar." They first came to have elaborate patterns, often in matching sets for the various items of parlour furniture; they were either made at home using a variety of techniques such as crochet or tatting, or purchased from drapers.
The original antimacassar was often made of white crochet-work, stiffened and uncomfortable, but in the third quarter of the 19th century it became simpler and was made of soft coloured stuffs, usually worked with a simple pattern in tinted wools or silk.
Oh that's awful I have always gotten the creeps from those things I never actually knew what they were for. But now that I do know it makes my skin crawl.