Men's Long Hair in European History?

[Outmoded]

Myself and a female friend of mine enjoy dressing up in historically inspired clothing from time to time; however, I am determined to keep my long hair this time, so, rather than cutting my hair to suit our sewing projects, we are instead trying to find the sewing projects that would suit our hair lengths.

As there seem to be a number of people on this forum with a good working knowledge of hair-styles throughout history, I wonder if you good people could offer us some advice? What are the various periods/places/cultures/subcultures in North-Western European history in which one could find men with long hair (arm-pit length or longer) but without facial hair or the style necessitating a wig? Especially those in which their contemporary women had waist length or longer hair that could be worn uncovered.

[Iyashikei]

From what I can find the Celts wore their hair either long or in the "glib-hairstyle", which was short on the back and sides and long enough to cover the eyes upfront. Facial hair depended on the tribe and status but clean shaven is a possibility. Source https://theceltsat.blogspot.com/2012/01/celtix-hairstyles-grooming-hair-decor.html?m=0

[EdG]

The Renaissance period has quite a few examples of somewhat long hair on men.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botticelli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael

Ed

[Outmoded]

Thank you for the links.

Though I can find plenty of medieval images of men with shoulder-length hair, images of longer hair, without an accompanying beard/moustache or fringe, are proving rather illusive for that period. The long-haired (longer than shoulder-length that is) and clean-shaven look does not seem to be common until the Renaissance, and then, unfortunately, disappears again in the 1800's. Though that still gives me a lot to work with.

[MadelineMomo]

I'm reminded of this youtube video I once saw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puzgpBoesss

[Outmoded]

Cheers for that, I keep reading conflicting information on Viking hair lengths, cannot argue with the hairstyle found in an actual burial.

[Finda]

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=153892

Maybe Siv's historic project could be of interest to you as well.

[Outmoded]

Subscribed!

[Outmoded]

I wonder if the general depictions and descriptions of men's hair for various periods may be much too generalised retrospectively by history. I mean, today, though most men may have short hair, there is still roughly 1% who have long hair.

In looking at the Victorian era, in which short hair and bushy facial hair is the norm for men, you can still find clean-shaven men with shoulder length hair; just look at Franz Liszt or John James Audubon for example:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Franz_Liszt_1858.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/John_James_Audubon_1826.jpg

Then in the Baroque era, when those huge bushy and tightly curled long wigs were all the rage, there were still men who wore their own long hair in a more natural looking way, and it was not just among the middle and lower classes who could not afford the fancy wigs. Here is the Duke of York and the Duke of Pastrana:

http://www.kipar.org/archive/costume-workshop/images/lesson4/hairstyles/men/1661_james-duke-of-york.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Juan_Carre%C3%B1o_de_Miranda_-_Duque_de_Pastrana.jpg

And I am currently having an email conversation with a historian about 16th to 17th century or so Gaelic hair, and though he said that men would have begun growing a moustache as soon as they were old enough to physically do so, I can nevertheless find images from that period that clearly show Irish men without facial hair:

http://warfare.ihostfull.com/Renaissance/Hieronymus_Tielch-Irish_Lackey-1603.jpg?i=1

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP. fMwPjCRPf0ISFyGctf5dDQHaHQ%26pid%3DApi&f=1

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tr3ZdoYxFyQ/U6KPEw6LIsI/AAAAAAAAAk8/xucncSwfBKU/s1600/Durer+Image.bmp

[Miss Thyme]

Wow, the Duke of York was handsome!
Trying to think of specific historical figures with long hair, my mind drifts towards kings so here are a few:

Danish king Christian V, 1685
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Cristian_V.jpg

And his adviser rocking a beautiful mane in 1672
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Peder_Griffenfeld_%28Abraham_Wuchters%29.jpg

King Frederik IV (possibly in a wig?)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Frederick_IV_by_Le_Coffre.jpg

[EdG]

I wonder if the general depictions and descriptions of men's hair for various periods may be much too generalised retrospectively by history. I mean, today, though most men may have short hair, there is still roughly 1% who have long hair.I think so.

I also think that today's short hair is mostly a consequence of WWI military hair styles. In older times, men could not have gone to the barbers every few weeks. ;)


Here is the Duke of York and the Duke of Pastrana:

http://www.kipar.org/archive/costume-workshop/images/lesson4/hairstyles/men/1661_james-duke-of-york.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Juan_Carre%C3%B1o_de_Miranda_-_Duque_de_Pastrana.jpgThose guys would fit right in to a 1980s Hair Band. :rockerdud
Ed

[Outmoded]

Trying to think of specific historical figures with long hair, my mind drifts towards kings...

There are indeed a lot of kings with long-ish hair (or a long wig to achieve the long haired look)... Here is Philip V of Spain, Charles II of England, and Louis the XIII of France:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Felipe_V_de_Espa%C3%B1a%2C_Rey_de.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/King_Charles_I_after_original_by_van_Dyck.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Luis_XIII%2C_rey_de_Francia_%28Philippe_de_Champai gne%29.jpg/1024px-Luis_XIII%2C_rey_de_Francia_%28Philippe_de_Champai gne%29.jpg

Speaking of kings, there is also the Merovingian dynasty, all of whom had long hair, and would not have been allowed to be king without it (here is a picture of Clovis II):

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP. uK6m__qs78ieTKmOhvzdggHaI-%26pid%3DApi&f=1

[Outmoded]

After watching a Youtube video, about the history of men's long hair, linked from another LHC thread, it appears that, in contradiction to a previous post of mine, the Renaissance was actually the beginning of a decline in short hair, not the beginning of an abundance of it. I guess the many Renaissance images I can find of men with long hair, must simply be due to the increasing amount of artwork produced in that period, as apposed to their actually being more long haired men. I am still always going to think of the likes of Dürer and Raphael when I hear the word 'Renaissance' though:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_1500_self-portrait_%28High_resolution_and_detail%29.jpg/866px-Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_1500_self-portrait_%28High_resolution_and_detail%29.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Raphael_missing.jpg

Interestingly, though it is beyond the scope of my "North-Western European" inquiry, I also learned that Spartan soldiers had long hair, even well after other Greek soldiers began cutting their hair short. Damn you Holywood revisionism for depriving us of those locks on screen (though not even long hair would have saved that pile of a film '300' - Oh, and the Persians were unfairly shorn of their hair in the film too). Some statues representing Spartans:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP. b-XLlZbyZ-ILLOF6lRjjiAAAAA%26pid%3DApi&f=1

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP. f4Sl4D7q_xROeSvbakDZRQHaGx%26pid%3DApi&f=1

[Miss Thyme]

Damn, now they have to remake 300 with long hair :D

[Outmoded]

Though men's shoulder-length hair is everywhere in European medieval manuscripts, I have failed in my search to find any depictions approaching waist-length. This is about the best I could do:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP. Drwcs6j8MbxpgxuNs5dBPQHaHU%26pid%3DApi&f=1

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP. w5IzOrs8lRFwVBV5g-dENQHaML%26pid%3DApi&f=1

Asia definitely has us beat.

[MadelineMomo]

Yeah, I thought I'd heard that King Louis 14 had long natural hair when he was young. When he got older and started to loose his hair, he was Big Sad about that, and that's when the wig thing started.

But I can't remember where I heard that now, so take that with a grain of salt.

[Outmoded]

Yep, I have read the same thing about Louis XIV, I am pretty sure it is true.

[Corvana]

Also keep in mind that not every man can grow facial hair. It's likely true historically as well, so even if facial hair was popular there would always be those who couldn't have it no matter how they tried! So that's certainly a valid argument to never having facial hair, no matter the era you'd like to choose.

[Outmoded]

I never thought of that, good point. I rather wish I was one of them, I cannot deal with the scratchy feeling of facial hair, but shaving is a pain too. Hopefully a greying 5 O'clock shadow can pass unnoticed.

[BexLocks]

I don't have specific examples, although I'd say you have enough evidence for a plausible long hairstyle across eras with what you've collected so far. I love these images! One thing you could consider instead of cutting would be to hide your length under a hat. Lots of hats in nearly every period!

[Outmoded]

Making use of a hat had actually not occurred to me, that is a very good idea to broaden my options.