The first chapter of our investigation into Mirrors for Princes (aka fürstenspiegel, speculum principum), the medieval genre of advice literature for future rulers, looks to grooming as an equally pedagogical and social phenomenon (i.e. raising a child) as a cosmetic one (i.e. brushing, hair, etc.). Just as mirrors for princes, which first attempted to put secular writing (state-craft) on an equal footing with religious scholarsip (jurisprudence, theology) have swung to the other extreme and become the norm, (from CNN ireporter to the blogosphere and twitter), grooming has over recent centuries become an exclusively secular practice, eviscerated of its original sacred, ritualist significance.

Similarly, the glass combs of Bazm u Razm swing between the afro-combs of hip hop culture and talismanic forms found around Uighur tombs in Xinjiang, western China, where they are used as family designations or seals. The grooming or taming of hair has been tied to that of civilization and order for some time, with the curly, frizzy, unruly often construed as a social, sexual or psychological menace. Bazm u Razm, literally “banquet or battle”, extends the combs as markers of order and violence: the Turkic peoples extending from Mongolia all the way to the Balkans, were renowned for their skills as warriors and as hosts.