Edwardian hair care

**MamaCimino** · February 10th, 2012, 11:31 PM

I was looking around at some pictures from one of my favorite eras and came across this blog post about how to take care of and style hair written in the early part of last century. I thought it was pretty interesting...

**Sister13** · February 10th, 2012, 11:34 PM

Nice! Singeing, no. What about washing?

**darklion** · February 11th, 2012, 12:11 AM

geez.... I was ready to read onto the styling part... but it hasn't been released yet.
I'm really not sold on the backcombing.... she says to not be afraid of it, but I am.
I'll need to find another way to gain volume close to my head!

**Lamb** · February 11th, 2012, 12:32 AM

I've heard about this before. And then let's not forget the false fronts, hair rats, extensions, even wigs... :

Whatever the (often altered) photographs from that age may indicate, not everyone had 2c/C/iii hair back then, apparently. And by the time a fashionable lady got through a few years of teasing, crimping, and 100 brush strokes per day, her hair probably wasn't up to our ideal of health and beauty.

**sumidha** · February 11th, 2012, 02:53 AM

Wow, the first in that series of articles has some pretty wild hair care recipes... Carbonated ammonia? :S

I've pondered using lanolin on my hair before, but never had the courage to try it. They were right on with their combs and boar bristle brushes at least.

**GaJunebug** · February 11th, 2012, 07:12 AM

Thanks so much for sharing this resource- I can't want to take some time and read through all of it. In high school I used to do a Gibson Girl style when I wore my vintage clothing.
Can't wait to see how they achieved the look back in the day-

**Elphaeba** · February 11th, 2012, 07:44 AM

Wow. Setting your hair on fire to get rid of split ends....

**notasign** · February 11th, 2012, 09:04 AM

I can't decide if this is disturbing or fascinating. Both, I guess. I've been doing a lot of steampunk stuff recently, so period haircare--even if it's Edwardian rather than Victorian--is really cool to see.

But man. Imagine how damaged they must have gotten before this stuff went out of fashion.

**ktani** · February 11th, 2012, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by notasign

I can't decide if this is disturbing or fascinating. Both, I guess. I've been doing a lot of steampunk stuff recently, so period haircare--even if it's Edwardian rather than Victorian--is really cool to see.

But man. Imagine how damaged they must have gotten before this stuff went out of fashion.

Not to mention how toxic a lot of "cosmetics" were back when. Over the years I have read of many such products.

In the Middle East, lead is still found in kohl used as an eye cosmetic in sufficient amount to warrant concern by scientists and doctors. It is still used.

In North America most "kohl" is safe and monitored for levels of anything toxic.

This is from 2005
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media...05_103-eng.php
"Health Canada is advising Canadians that some varieties of traditional kohl products have been found to contain lead. Kohl (also known as: kajal, surma, al-kahl/al-kohl) is a traditional eye cosmetic of Middle Eastern, Asian and North African societies that is also at times used medicinally as a natural health product. Several children in Canada exposed to kohl containing lead have been identified with elevated levels of lead in their blood, putting them at risk of serious health problems."