The collection of the Sheltozero Veps Ethnographic Museum named after Rurik Petrovich Lonin features a hair comb — a women’s accessory and a personal hygiene item. The semicircular comb with a high carved crown, decorated with white rhinestones, belonged to Tatyana Ivanovna Kemlyakova, a resident of the village of Sheltozero. Many family heirlooms were kept in the Kemlyakov house, which were eventually donated to the museum of their native village.

Such combs were used to create special hairstyles: the hair was combed from the face to the back of the head, and the comb itself acted as both a hairpin and a head decoration. As a rule, combs of various shapes and colors were used and most loved by elderly women. However, over time, combs appeared for both girls and young women. Such combs differed somewhat in shape and were decorated a little more elegantly.

The hairstyles and headdresses of young girls were different from those of married women. The girls parted their hair in the middle and braided it into a single braid using three or six strands. There was a special, “maiden” way of making a braid — when strands of hair were placed on top of each other. A bright silk ribbon was woven into the braid. Thus, the girls’ headdress included not only a comb, but also a ribbon — a wide strip of bright fabric that was tied at the back of the head. Later, the ribbons were completely replaced by multicolored headscarves. Married women covered their heads with a cap-shaped headdress or wore two braids laid on the back of their heads in a discreet bun.

It is possible that the comb presented in the museum could have been a wonderful wedding gift, and was subsequently passed down from generation to generation as a family heirloom. The headdress of the Veps bride was a special wedding band in the form of a wreath with a solid wide frame covered with colored cloth and decorated with ribbons, multicolored scraps, beads or colored wood chips. The wedding was one of the most important events in the life of Veps, which was approached with great responsibility.