The dedication to François-Rupert Carabin (1862-1932) shows that around 1891 Toulouse-Lautrec was personally acquainted with this Alsatian sculptor, potter, goldsmith, and cabinetmaker who took part in the founding of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, in 1884, and was later to become head of the École des Arts Décoratifs, of Strasbourg. The theme is similar to that of another work conserved at the Musée des Augustins, in Toulouse, for which the title Woman Combing her Hair suggested by Dortu would be more suitable, as brought up by Camesasca (1987, p. 214). The painting in the Masp Collection features two characters in a composition that is much more complex; the pictorial space dissolves into the depth, producing a specular arrangement of field and counterfield and the two vertical figures contrast with the two horizontal lines dividing the background in three identical strata. While space is controlled with classical rigor, the focal point of the composition is a shapeless blotch of red hair on the upper center part of the picture.

— Unknown authorship, 1998

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