Celtic Hairstyles?

[irishlady]

Hi all!

I am trying to learn about new hairstyles to try out, and well, I need a little bit of inspiration.

I would love to try something with a Celtic feel, and would love to know how you would wear your hair if you imagined you were a Celtic lady (or man?).

I know about the Celtic knot of course, but what other suggestions to get that Celtic look?

If any of you are interested in Celtic history like me, and can suggest anything that you know from that, please do!

It can be anything you imagine :)

[Qwackie]

I like Celtic history, but I don't know any Celtic hairstyles. :C
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=celtic+hairstyles&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=4QJvTOKAGsOblgfShuydDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQsAQwAA&biw=1024&bih=653
I'd use these as inserpation, though.

[irishlady]

I like Celtic history, but I don't know any Celtic hairstyles. :C
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=celtic+hairstyles&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=4QJvTOKAGsOblgfShuydDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQsAQwAA&biw=1024&bih=653
I'd use these as inserpation, though.

Thanks :)
That's okay, I'd just like people's own interpretations anyway :)

I was thinking of some sort of braided bun, or loose with some braids or something...

[Shany]

I tried to find some too.. I searched on Internet to get some info about celtic women and it says that they mostly wore their long hair down or braided...

[enfys]

Celtic? Dirty and crawling with lice I should expect. Icky.

Since that's definately not what you'd want I'd suggest natural materials; wools, leather, stick/bone and even bronze pins for hair fixings. Braids and looped knots and things. The Elling woman bun on this site would be a good start for ideas.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=14032

From what I've seen in the museum shawl pins were popular and probably used in hair too (my guess, but if we do it now we probably did then) and of course braids were a popular motif on everything!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/52085996/shawl-pin-hair-barrette-antler-ring-with

I don't know how to describe this style, but the top image shows something I've seen in lots of illustrations depicting the time too:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/hstchg/celts.htm

If you're in a city in Ireland maybe have a wander around your local museum for ideas; the ones here (South Wales) have lots of artefacts and drawings that show how things may have looked; including people.

I hope this is a start :)

[CourtneyBee]

Did you catch this:

http://www.wyomingcelticfestival.org/braid1.jpg

...from that image search? Thats the coolest thing I've ever seen!

[Teazel]

I've just looked through my albums for 'dos that I think could have a Celtic feel... maybe the Eowyn updo (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=583&pictureid=26361), the braided Fig.8 (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=583&pictureid=25309) or Gumball's Timeless Hug Bun (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=583&pictureid=21858)...?

[irishlady]

Celtic? Dirty and crawling with lice I should expect. Icky.

Since that's definately not what you'd want I'd suggest natural materials; wools, leather, stick/bone and even bronze pins for hair fixings. Braids and looped knots and things. The Elling woman bun on this site would be a good start for ideas.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=14032

From what I've seen in the museum shawl pins were popular and probably used in hair too (my guess, but if we do it now we probably did then) and of course braids were a popular motif on everything!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/52085996/shawl-pin-hair-barrette-antler-ring-with

I don't know how to describe this style, but the top image shows something I've seen in lots of illustrations depicting the time too:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/hstchg/celts.htm

If you're in a city in Ireland maybe have a wander around your local museum for ideas; the ones here (South Wales) have lots of artefacts and drawings that show how things may have looked; including people.

I hope this is a start :)

haha not necessarily (sp?) dirty or full of lice ;) The Celts were credited with inventing soap and the Irish ones were known to have at least one hot bath a day! (I'm a history nerd) I have done a lot of research, but there just isn't a whole lot about the hair apart from the fact that it was long, and I mean long, some had it down to knee. Men spiked it or it was bleached with lime which I won't do lol.
I was just wondering what your interpretation was, and thanks for your answer!

Thanks everyone for your answers so far, some lovely suggestions here :)

[enfys]

haha not necessarily (sp?) dirty or full of lice ;) The Celts were credited with inventing soap and the Irish ones were known to have at least one hot bath a day! (I'm a history nerd) I have done a lot of research, but there just isn't a whole lot about the hair apart from the fact that it was long, and I mean long, some had it down to knee. Men spiked it or it was bleached with lime which I won't do lol.
I was just wondering what your interpretation was, and thanks for your answer!

Haha, looks like the Irish Celts were a bit more image/health conscious than we were! My Celtic history knowledge is pretty limited; metal work and knotting I know about, the rest is a bit sketchy and based on what I've seen in museums (we have a replica Celtic village in an outdoor site) and learnt in early high school. The shame is we have so little in the way of resources.

The soap thing is pretty cool though; I'd be interested to learn more about that.

All I can remember for sure about hair from the museum was the enamelled bronze pins that they said were probably hair pins that looked just like the U pins we use; they went in my silver smithing sketch book :p

Maybe to help with the illusion of length, braiding in some wool or fake hair would be the best? Then you'd have more options of what you could do.

[kittensoupnrice]

Have you checked out the Elling woman bun?
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=14032

[*Rose Red*]

I´m a fan of everything celtic or irish and scotish things, so I´m really interested in this thread. I really like all the hair pics here!

[irishlady]

Haha, looks like the Irish Celts were a bit more image/health conscious than we were! My Celtic history knowledge is pretty limited; metal work and knotting I know about, the rest is a bit sketchy and based on what I've seen in museums (we have a replica Celtic village in an outdoor site) and learnt in early high school. The shame is we have so little in the way of resources.

The soap thing is pretty cool though; I'd be interested to learn more about that.

All I can remember for sure about hair from the museum was the enamelled bronze pins that they said were probably hair pins that looked just like the U pins we use; they went in my silver smithing sketch book :p

Maybe to help with the illusion of length, braiding in some wool or fake hair would be the best? Then you'd have more options of what you could do.

Yeah I wish they had written things down lol, it'd be nice to know for definite how they wore their long hair! :)

[Sagi1982]

What about a Dutch five strand braid?
Looks very celtic to me...
http://a.imageshack.us/img37/5825/00007b.th.jpg (http://img37.imageshack.us/i/00007b.jpg/)

[arwenevenstar37]

what about trying with some braids to the sides which are then tied back and leaving the rest of the hair loose :) I am also a fan of everything celtic and a history nerd :)