1875 Ad for the Parliament Hair Dressing Saloon - E. Miles, Proprietor

A Research Gem! Digging up a whimsical ad like this is worth the hours spent combing through old city directories.

Parliament Hair Dressing Saloon advertisement in 1875 Ottawa Almanac and Dominion Guide

Never mind the ceiling-mounted automated rotary hairbrush thingamajig —Proprietor E. Miles wasn't just offering high-tech scalp massages at his "Parliament Hair Dressing Saloon." He also specialized in the bespoke manufacture of sentimental hairwork jewelry: hair bracelets, watch guards, rings, and ornamental devices of every description and variety.

Ornamental devices are custom artistic arrangements and designs of, often, flat, palette-worked hair, commonly set in lockets and brooches, or framed for display. The term comes from the historical use of "device" to mean a symbolic emblem or artistic layout.

Not ashamed to name-drop, Proprietor E. Miles proudly boasts his position as hairdresser to Governors, Earls, and Lords. 

And in the tiny print at the very bottom, he flexes his award-winning credentials, having won diplomas at the 1871 and 1872 Ottawa Exhibitions and the Provincial Exhibition in Kingston for "General Hair Work" and "Device Work."

Ok, gurl. 

E. Miles, "Parliament Hair Dressing Saloon," advertisement, in 1875 Ottawa Almanac and Dominion Guide (Ottawa: A. S. Woodburn, 1875), 22.