Dear Teachers,
I read this:
“During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, hair was curled with hot tongs and arranged over pads on top of and on either side of the head.”
Does this mean that they accutually used some kind of pads to arrange their hair? Or the pads refer to the hair itself?
They apparently used horsehair pads or even cage frames!
The following quote gives us an amusing glimpse into Elizabethan hairstyles (!):
The 18th century saw the emergence of elaborate wigs, mile-high coiffures and highly decorated curls. White powdered wigs with long ringlets were the order of the day often tied back with a black bow for men or decorated with feathers, bows and garlands for women. Big hair was definitely stylish and many hairdos were modeled over a cage frame or horsehair pads, the bigger the better. Some immensely tall coiffures took hours to create and were heavily starched and powdered. However, the length of time spent creating these elaborate styles did mean that weeks went by between styling and the mixture of horsehair and heavy powder created perfect nesting material for vermin. This didn’t seem to put them off though, and some adventurous souls had mini gardens or maritime scenes complete with model ship incorporated into their style in fact it was not unknown for imaginative ladies to create mini-bird cages complete with birds on top of their heads.
Hairstyles Through the Ages: crystalinks.com/hair2.html
Can I ask what horsehair pads are? Are they a kind of wig made of horsehair? It seems they don’t exist in my culture. I did a little search with google and they seem to be related to cars in today’s society.
It does seem that horsehair (from the mane or tail) was used to make wigs in the past – as well as for padding furniture. It isn’t so popular nowadays, though I believe it is still used.