In ancient China, a comb was an item that everyone had to own, especially women who could hardly survive without a comb. Over time, the habit of inserting a comb was formed.
Cha Shu (插梳 ; chā shū), is a comb that is inserted on the head. Cha Shu has been popular for a long period, has wide popularity, and has some practicality, but it is not a fashion item that has been used throughout several historical dynasties.
From current archaeological results, the Neolithic era has been inserted into the hair of the stone comb. However, from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States to the Qin and Han dynasties, women did not seem to have this preference.
After the Wei and Jin dynasties, especially in the Tang dynasty, inserting combs became popular as a popular aesthetic.
Women could insert the comb horizontally in front of the high bun, with the back beam exposed, some inserting several small Shu at the same time, as depicted in “Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk”.
After the middle Tang dynasty, inserting two large combs on the head with teeth facing each other was also popular.
In the late Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties period, more and more combs were inserted into the head.
In the Song dynasty, combs were mostly half-moon shaped, and women became obsessed with them. Some women like to insert several large white combs in the crown of the hair above, but this fashion is not compatible with life, because the size of the combs is very large, making women sitting and walking very inconvenient.
Since such a large comb is a hair ornament, the issue of ancient women’s hair volume is also explained here. Not everyone has a large amount of hair, there is a kind of hair accessory called a “fake bun”, a wig (that can be mixed with real hair). It can also be directly inserted into the bracket inside, made into a fixed shape to wear on the head.
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