A history of hair dye, and other things (info thread)

[Nedertane]

I was doing some shower thinking, and I started pondering about 1970s/80s punks using vegetable dye to brightly color their hair. And then I got to thinking about henna and its origins. And then I got to wondering how long humans have been trying to change their hair color, and what all did they use? Could carmine/cochineal have been used? What about woad, or turmeric, or anything else?

So I decided to start this thread to see if anyone had any info/sources they could post, for others who might be historically inclined. It doesn't just have to be about hair color either. It can be about cutting, styling, hair as an industry or whatever else!

Any form of media is welcome: documentaries, academic journals, media articles, podcasts, etc.

Let's get some hair history going!

[*Wednesday*]

Great idea. The Egyptians dyed their hair. I placed a link for an interesting article.

https://www.hairfinder.com/info/haircolor-history.htm

[Arciela]

Interesting thread idea!

I was actually wondering about this myself not that long ago. Apparently in ancient Rome they dyed their hair - http://www.encyclopedia.com/sports-and-everyday-life/fashion-and-clothing/clothing-jewelry-and-personal-adornment/hair-coloring

[HaMalka]

DeBrohun, Jeri. "POWER DRESSING in ANCIENT GREECE and ROME. (Cover Story)." History Today, vol. 51, no. 2, Feb. 2001, p. 18.
This article talks about hair in ancient Greece and Rome but not exclusively.

STRAIGHT, DAVID L. "The Gilded Age Hair Trade in ST. LOUIS." Confluence (2150-2633), Spring/Summer2012, pp. 56-61.
This article talks about the hair trade in Victorian times in the U.S.A..

Brookes, Barbara, and Catherine Smith. “Technology and gender: barbers and hairdressers in New Zealand, 1900–1970.” History and Technology, vol. 25, no. 4, Dec. 2009, pp. 365–386., doi:10.1080/07341510903313055.

[HaMalka]

The following is paraphrasing and quoting Jeri DeBrohun in Power Dressing in Ancient Greece and Rome. The full citation is in my previous post. The full article goes into some of the reasons for the changes in hairstyles and includes other aspects of fashion.

Fifth and fourth-century BC in Athens were young men who copied Spartan fashions with “extravagantly long beards and short cloaks” representing their distancing themselves from democracy in favor of a Spartan Oligarchy.

490-480/79 BC Athenian men who traditionally wore their hair long, began to wear more elaborate hairstyles. Thucydides “described one of these styles, in which men tied their hair behind their heads in a kind of knot, or chignon, fastened with a clasp of 'golden grasshoppers'.”

Second quarter of the fifth century BC in Athens men started wearing their hair short. Long hair for men was associated with the “vices of effeminacy and decadence”.

“Alexander the Great (356-323, BC) provided the impetus behind another great change in men's facial fashions. His own combination of flowing, leonine hair and clean-shaven face became the vogue. This latter innovation was especially a testament to Alexander's status as a trendsetter, since Greek men had worn beards for at least half a millennium.”

“Seneca, the tutor of Nero, writes:
Whenever you see a style of speaking that is too careful and polished, rest assured that the mind that produced it also is no less occupied with petty things. The truly great man speaks informally and easily; whatever he says, he speaks with more assurance than pains.
You are familiar with the carefully coiffed young men, with their gleaming beards and hair -- everything from a box; you can never hope for anything strong or solid from them. Speaking style is the dress and adornment of the mind: if it has been trimmed and dyed and treated, it shows that the mind is not wholly right and has some kind of flaw. Elaborate elegance is not a manly ornament.”

Cicero described Gabinius “'dripping with unguents, with his hair artificially waved',” and Piso “He was clothed harshly in our common purple, which was nearly black, with his hair so shaggy that at Capua, where he held the office of duumvir in order to add another title to the wax portrait image he would leave for posterity, he looked as though he were ready to carry off the whole Seplasia [a street occupied chiefly by perfumers and hairdressers] on his locks.”

Ovid said “'It is impossible to enumerate all the different styles: each day adds more adornments.'” During the Roman Empirefemals haistyles changed often enough that those who could afford it had their “portraits sculpted with separately-carved wigs, presumably in order to change the wigs when necessary to keep up with the latest styles.”

“Measures against grey hair and baldness were also common. Suggestions for the former included massaging the scalp with either bear grease or ointments made from worms. Remedies for baldness were equally important for women and men because Roman hair dyes contained follicle-destroying ingredients. Ovid provides a portrait, both amusing and poignant, of his girlfriend who sits weeping, holding her hair in her lap, a victim of frequent dyeing. The good news, he wittily informs her, is that it can soon be replaced with a wig from Germany. Wigs were frequently imported from both Gaul and Germany, as the Romans were particularly attracted to the blond and red hair of the Celts and Germans.”

[Nedertane]

Oh HaMalka, I loved your posts! I've read a little bit about hair in the Classical Era, but never that kind of detail. Thank you for sharing - I'll have to see if those books are available at my local library.

[HaMalka]

Thanks Nedertane. I referenced articles from a variety of journals above not books. If your library has access to a research database they should be included. I found the articles on Ebscohost.

The following are a few books:

The Duties of a Lady's Maid: With Directions for Conduct, and Numerous Receipts for the Toilette. J. Bulcock. January 1, 1825.
This books includes an overview of hair history as it was viewed at the time. It includes directions for dressing the hair and various recipes. Free on Google Play.

Mother's Remedies; Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada. G. H. Foote Publishing Company. January 1, 1910
Hair things begin on page 847. It is Free on Google Play. It provides the following Henna instructions.
"To prepare the dye, get a quarter pound of henna leaves; to this add two quarts of cold water. Let stand on the back of t.he range where it will steep slowly for four or five hours. Add three ounces of alcohol and bottle. Apply with a tooth-brush. It gives a sort of red dish-brown color." page 849

Sherrow, Victoria. Encyclopedia of Hair : A Cultural History. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2006., 2006.
This has some great information on it including an article spicifically on hair colorants with a history subsection. She mentions that the Celts and Gauls used limewater, a type of lye, to wash and bleach their hair. Soldiers painted their hair with woad to turn it bright blue. She answers the OP's question about how long Henna has been used. Sherrow says that Ancient Egyptians, Middle eastern women and Persians used henna to dye their hair. "The first recorded use of henna as a hair dye has been traced to an ancient Egyptian queen named Ses, who also used henna preparations to cure hair loss. Cleopatra and Nefertiti are two other famous Egyptian beauties known to have colored their hair with henna." page 207.
The author lists the following as further reading on Henna: (Please note: I have not read these so I cannot speak for their quality or their pertinence.)
Abercrombie, Thomas J., “Arabia's Frankincense Trail,” National Geographic, October 1985, 474–513;
Miczak, Marie Anakee, Henna's Secret History: The History, Mystery, and Folklore of Henna (2001);
Weinberg, Norma Pasekoff, Henna From Head to Toe (1990).

Some Websites:
http://www.extremecostuming.com/articles/twoelizabethanhairstyles.html
Gives instructions for doing two different Elizabethan Hair styles.

http://chertseymuseum.org/hair
Gives a basic history of hair in England.

http://thehistoryofthehairsworld.com/index.html
Has lots of Pictures. Covers hair from ancient to modern times.

[lapushka]

So I decided to start this thread to see if anyone had any info/sources they could post, for others who might be historically inclined. It doesn't just have to be about hair color either. It can be about cutting, styling, hair as an industry or whatever else!

Recommending the book, "Haircutting for dummies". It gives a few basic techniques for cutting hair, and the 2 layering methods that are on this site go back to that book (the compact cut methods for layering).

I have read a few haircutting books, but this is a good basic one!