The Victorian Era

How Did Victorian Women Style Their Hair?

Article · Fashion & Dress · The Victorian Era, 1837–1901

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Victorian women styled their hair in a wide variety of ways, and the hair style of the period was a central element of the visual culture of the era. The hair of the Victorian lady was generally long, parted in the centre, drawn smoothly back over the ears, and gathered into a knot, a chignon, a net, a snood, a coil, a twist, a plait, or a braid at the back of the head, often augmented with switches, hair pads, and false braids to give it volume. The history of hair styling in the period is examined in Victorian Hair and Beauty, and the broader context of fashion is set out in Women’s Victorian Fashion.

The Hair Styles of the Early Victorian Period

The hair styles of the early Victorian period, the 1830s and 1840s, were generally parted in the centre, drawn smoothly down over the ears, and gathered into a knot or chignon at the back of the head. In the 1830s the elaborate Apollo knot, a high looped knot built up on the crown, survived from the previous decade, but by the 1840s it had given way to lower and more demure arrangements, such as the simple knot worn at the nape of the neck. The hair was often worn with long ringlets hanging at the sides of the face, shaped with curl papers and heated curling tongs, and frequently augmented with switches, pads, and false braids. The hair was dressed with pomade, bandoline, or hair oil, and ornamented with flowers, ribbons, combs, feathers, and veils.

The Hair Styles of the Mid-Victorian Period

The hair styles of the mid-Victorian period, the 1850s and 1860s, kept the centre parting but grew fuller and more elaborate. The side hair was waved or padded out, and the back hair was gathered into a large chignon, often enclosed in a net or snood. By the late 1860s enormous chignons of false hair were fashionable, and the Grecian bend, a forward-leaning posture exaggerated by the high-piled coiffure and the fashionable dress, became a favourite target of the satirists.

False hair was used on a great scale in these decades, and the trade in switches, plaits, pads, and rats (small pads of hair or other fibre used to build up the coiffure) became a substantial industry. The preparations and ornaments of the earlier period remained in use, with ornamental combs, hairpins, and aigrettes among the most common additions for evening wear.

The Hair Styles of the Late Victorian Period

The hair styles of the late Victorian period, the 1870s to the 1890s, gradually moved upwards. The chignon rose from the nape towards the crown in the 1870s, a curled fringe (or bangs) cut over the forehead became fashionable in the 1880s, and by the 1890s the hair was swept loosely up from the face in the full, soft style associated with the Gibson Girl.

Curling and waving were widely practised in the late Victorian decades, with the Marcel wave — a heated-iron technique for producing a permanent-looking wave — introduced from Paris in the 1870s, and false pieces continued to give height and fullness to the coiffure. The pompadour, in which the front hair was rolled back over a pad, pointed the way towards the styles of the Edwardian period.

The Materials of the Hair Styling

The materials of Victorian hair styling were many and varied. Dressings included pomade (a greasy preparation of beeswax, lard, or vaseline scented with rose or another perfume), bandoline (a sticky gum of quince seed or gum arabic used to fix the hair), hair oil, and brilliantine. Ornaments ranged from fresh and artificial flowers, ribbons, and ornamental combs to feathers, aigrettes, and, for evening and court wear, tiaras and diadems. Wires, pads, combs, and pins gave the larger styles their structure.

Hair was also coloured, generally with natural dyes such as henna, walnut, or chamomile, although more dangerous chemical preparations were also sold. Washing was comparatively infrequent by modern standards, generally once a week or once a fortnight, done with soap or early forms of shampoo, often with a sachet of borax in warm water. Regular brushing with a bristle brush remained the mainstay of daily care, and a hundred strokes of the brush at the dressing table was a familiar Victorian ritual.

The Hairdressing Industry

The hairdressing industry of the Victorian period was substantial. The great hairdressers of the period, including the Maison Alexandre in Paris (founded 1814), Truefitt & Hill in London (founded 1805, the oldest firm of hairdressers in the world), Eugène in Paris, and the perfumer-hairdressers Rimmel, Atkinson’s, and Floris, all built their reputations in the period. The hairdressers were not just practitioners but also theorists, and the great hairdressing manuals of the period, including William Thompson’s The Art of Hairdressing and the various Toilet and Mirror of the Graces manuals of the mid-century, laid down the principles of the trade.

The trade included both male and female hairdressers. The male hairdresser, the friseur, was the hairdresser of the gentleman, and he was responsible for cutting, washing, pomading, and dressing the hair of his clients. The female hairdresser, the coiffeuse, was the hairdresser of the lady, and she was responsible for cutting, washing, dressing, and ornamenting the hair of her clients. In the great houses the hairdresser was a regular visitor, and on the morning of a ball or a court presentation the lady’s maid would spend two or three hours on the dressing of the hair.