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HAIRSTYLES

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Hairstyles
HAIRSTYLES - HAIRNETS - EYEBROWS & HAIRLINE

Medieval movies have a great deal to answer for when it comes to accurate portrayal of women's hair styling during the Middle Ages. Characters are usually shown with very long, flowing tresses and nothing more that a metal circlet around the forehead. Reality, however, was far from that.

Women's hair has long been associated with sinfulness and the temptation of mankind and with the medieval life centering heavily around the church, it was the general opinion that the less it was displayed, the better. Any decent, God-fearing woman, and they were all anxious to appear so regardless of their private beliefs, went to great pains to conceal her hair in public. Flowing tresses can be seen in some illuminations with some styles of costume, although it is more usual for only unmarried, young women to have hair unrestrained. A married woman would have adorned her head with veils, wimples, cloths, barbettes, hairnets, veils, hats, hoods or a combination of them to avoid her hair showing. This also gave her the opportunity to show off her taste in dress accessories. Generally, only a woman of very poor breeding or a prostitute left her hair out and even peasant women made an effort to follow the teachings of the church and appear modest. Only in some exceptional circumstances, like the marriage of a royal couple, can the bride be seen depicted with her hair out.

Hairnets
Hairnets were known and extensively used in medieval times as the principle way of restraining a woman's hair. The clergy urged women of good breeding to cover their hair lest they lure a man into temptation and as was sinful for the hair of a married woman to be seen, the hairnet was used in conjunction with many of the beautiful and strange medieval headpieces to do exactly that.

Hairnets were almost always worn under a veil of some kind.

Shown at right, a hairnet found at a London dig dated in the 1300s which looks like the type that is available today. Four examples of hairnets have been discovered in London excavations- one silk one from the late 13th century and three knotted silk ones from the 14th century. These are all the finer kind, hand knotted and with fingerloop braid around the edges which were popularly worn before the heavier mesh cauls became sturdier and jewels were attached.

Hairstyles
Young and unmarried girls had the option to wear their hair down- long and flowing perhaps with a circlet or wreath of flowers at special times. Adult and married women would rarely be seen in public with their hair out.

Plaited hairstyles were extremely popular during the medieval period for women of all ages and all classes.

Shown here at left is a detail from a painting "The Nativity" dated around 1400s. It shows a young girl with a popular medieval hair style for workers- two plaits brought from the nape of the neck and crossed over the top of her head and tied together. Not only was this style easy to dress at home oneself without assistance, it looked pleasing to the eye, was considered modest and kept the hair tied up and clean when performing manual chores.

Shown at right is a scene from The 14th century Tacuinum Sanitatis showing women with similar hairstyles; plaited hair and a young girl with her hair tied back in a ponytail. Often these plaits were interwound with ribbon for decoration and also for securing purposes. Very often, these ribbon-encased plaits which can be seen at right, are mistaken for a padded roll of some kind with ribbon woven around it which was not the case. Later in the later 15th century, some padded rolls attached to heart shaped hennins did indeed have decorative features, but they are entirely different.

The bust at right is dated between 1327 and 1341 is of Marie de France and shows one of the most popular hairstyles- that of the plaits in front of the ears. Her headband or fillet shows holes where jewels or semiprecious stones once were. This style was adopted by both the lower classes and the upper classes. The main difference in the styles here was in the richness of the fillet securing the plaits. A working class woman might have foregone the fillet altogether or have a simple white linen one to secure her veil. An upper class woman would certainly have taken the opportunity to embroider and work pearls and jewels into her headband.

Pictured at left below is another example of a braided hairstyle with the plaits crossed around the face in the same manner as the working girl shown above. She is modestly wimpled, as is expected of a married woman, but still shows a little of her hairstyle. It is important to note that although we can see some of her hair, it is dressed and not out or flowing in any way.


Eyebrows & hairlines
During a large portion of the medieval period, the beautiful woman emphasisd her high, round forehead. This detail at right is taken from a brass memorial of Elizabeth de Northwood from 1335 and also shows the plucked high forehead along with the plaited hairstyle which was fashionable at the time.

If a woman was unfortunate to have been naturally cursed with a low hairline, the correct and fashionable look was artificially enhanced by the plucking of the hairline back up towards the crown of the head. This look was accentuated by plucking the eyebrows to a barely-there line.

Tweezers have been found in archaeological digs as part of toilette sets along with combs and mirrors.

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