Elizabethan Hair Techniques

     Considering that Elizabeth I reigned almost 500 years ago, it's amazing how the people of the era did not allow the limitations they faced to prevent them from being innovators with regards to their hair. Far from the convenience of today's home hair dyes and electrical styling appliances, the people of the golden age had to think outside of the box to find way of altering the natural appearance of their hair. 
     Today, we take the most basic of styling aids for granted, such as hair grips. I know that when I had long hair, I would get through hundreds of grips as they are easily lost and damaged but I couldn't live without them. Rewind to the 1500s and this most simple of tools was not available to women of the period so they fastened their hair by sewing it into place with ribbons. Whilst this is much more time consuming than to pop in a few grips, it had it's benefits; hair could be styled before sleeping and it would retain it's form for days! 
     Another popular hair feature of the time was to be fair or red-haired... But this was difficult and quite disgusting for the Elizabethans to achieve. As a naturally dark haired woman, I have had my hair professionally lightened to achieve a red colour. For me, this was a simple process of visiting a salon and having a colour correction treatment in which a low peroxide solution was applied to my hair and placed under heat, extracting the existing dye and preparing my hair for a bright red colourant to be applied. Below you can see my hair close to it's natural colour and the result after the dying process (please note, this was not my own work but the work of a professional hairdresser at 'The Egg' in Norwich)

   

     Unfortunately, it was not so simple if you were around in Elizabethan times. To lighten their hair they used some hideous substances like oil and urine which was applied to the hair and then slowly cooked in the heat of the sun. The problem with this method was that the sun would colour the skin, but the favoured complexion was one of alabaster white. To prevent their skin tanning as their hair bleached, the ladies would wear a kind of hat which only had a brim... the hair would be fed through the hole in the crown to be exposed to the sun, whilst the brim of the hat would protect their faces. Genius!