beatrice_otter: WWII soldier holding a mug with the caption "How about a nice cup of RESEARCH?" (Research)
beatrice_otter ([personal profile] beatrice_otter) wrote2021-06-11 04:03 pm

Historical Hair

While corsets are my main pet peeve, people not understanding historical hair is a close second. SnappyDragon just uploaded a GREAT video on common misconceptions.

tl;dr
  • Most cleansers were too harsh to use on hair, or too expensive to use often, which is why they didn't wash their hair often
  • This is also why people with long hair kept it up and covered. That protected it and kept it clean.
  • Frequent combing and changing hair coverings not only keeps outside contaminants (dirt, smoke, bugs, etc) away from the hair, they also do a fair job of evenly distributing the natural hair oils and removing the excess.
  • Given the resources they had, they did a pretty good job.