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CLEANLINESS
SKIN CARE
COSMETICS
ORAL CARE & DENTISTRY
HAIR CARE
HAIRSTYLES
BODY HAIR
FEMININE HYGIENE
GENERAL HEALTHCARE
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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.
Copyright © Rosalie
Gilbert
All text & photographs within this site are the property of Rosalie
Gilbert unless stated.
Artifact images remain the property of the owner.
Images and text may not be copied and used without permission.
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