COLONIAL AMERICA18TH CENTURY QUEUE HAIR SERIES

To us today, the wearing of wigs covered in animal fat along with wheat flour or dried white clay may seem bizarre or disgusting or both. However, if wigs were not properly maintained, they could become a haven for a variety of pests. While cleaning lice from one’s own hair could be time-consuming, wigs could be conveniently removed – and boiled to eliminate pests and dirt.

In order to insure a good fit, gentleman shaved their heads, eliminating the hairs upon which lice thrived. The prevalence of highly contagious head lice, and the difficulty in exterminating them, also encouraged the adoption of false hairpieces. Symptoms such as hair loss, scabs, and rashes could be partially hidden beneath a voluminous wig.

Syphilis was rampant in Europe throughout the colonial period. Most people did not wash their hair very often. Used with permissionThe beginnings of this fashion trend were inspired by disease and lice. White or grey powders were especially popular, but adventurous consumers might use black, blue, lavender, pink, red, or yellow.Īn ivory-handled head scratcher and closeup. A power bellows, a ‘carrot’, a swan-down puff, or comb was used to dust hair with powder. A few households featured ‘powder rooms:’ a small room set aside for the application of powder. Powder made hairstyles heavier: as much as two pounds heavier for the large periwigs popular until the 1730s. The combination of lard and powder produced rigid curls and stiff hair styles. Powder was often enhanced by fragrances, such as those of orange flowers, rose petals, nutmeg, ambergris, jasmine, orris root, or lavender.Ī hairdresser or personal valet added the powder, which was freshly applied every morning, or each time a wig was donned. Powder was typically made from wheat flour or dried white clay. Such fragrances helped to lengthen the interval between hairdressing sessions and counteracted any rancid odors. Fragrance then enhanced this mixture, and might include some combination of rosewood oil, bay leaves, bergamot orange, or Macassar oil. Sixteen rosewater-boiled apples were added. One recipe combined a pound of sheep suet (fat) with one pound of pig suet. The word ‘pomade’ derives from the Latin word for apple, “ pomum,” – since early recipes incorporated apples. Throughout the 1700s, whether it was a person’s own hair or a peruke, pomade or pomatum was applied before wigs were powdered.

Owners of perukes made from human hair were often anxious about their quality: it was a widespread concern that the hair of criminals, cadavers, prostitutes, or even plague victims was used to construct wigs. His own hair, not a wig, was pomaded and powdered by his personal valet to look as if he were wearing a wig.Human hair was often used to make these wigs, but horsehair, cow, goat, yak, and sheep hair provided economical options for consumers on a budget. George Washington, 1796, by Gilbert Stuart.

The regimen included several practices that might seem strange or gross to us today. These baked clay curlers were used exclusively to curl wig hair, and formed part of the Washington family’s regimen of wig maintenance.

COLONIAL AMERICA18TH CENTURY QUEUE HAIR SERIES

Here at George Washington’s Ferry Farm and Historic Kenmore, we’ve come to describe our efforts to understand the historically bizarre or disgusting as “Colonial Grossology.” The following is the first in a series of “Colonial Grossology” posts that we’re offering on Lives & Legacies.Īrchaeologists at George Washington’s Ferry Farm have recovered a variety of hair care artifacts, including over 200 wig hair curlers. Before such judgments, however, we should try to understand the reasons behind these practices and recognize that our own descendants will judge some of what we do as strange or gross. When confronted with these weird or gross practices, our first reaction can be to dismiss our ancestors as primitive, ignorant, or just silly. Editor’s Note: Looking back in time, people’s personal hygiene, fashion choices, medical treatments, and more sometimes look, at the very least, bizarre, if not outright disgusting.

Colonial america18th century queue hair