Victorian Hair Augmentation

Victorian Hair Augmentation

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Given Victorian-era women (no matter where they lived in the world) seldom trimmed their hair, much less cut it, their hair usually grew to astonishing lengths.

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From personal experience (I’ve worn my natural hair past my hips) and discussion with modern hairdressers, it’s apparent not everyone’s able to grow hair past a certain length. And the comparable body part is seldom the ankles, or even the waist.

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What would YOU have done, had you lived during a time where one sign of a woman’s femininity was the length and quality of her hair? Particularly if you’d been born with thin, fine hair that couldn’t reach your shoulders without hair extensions?

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The Montgomery, Ward & Co. Catalogue of 1895 and Sears Catalog of 1897 provide an historic view of Victorian hair solutions

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“Challamel wrote in 1871 ‘False hair was worn more generally than ever’. Interesting statistics of the era show that 51,816kgs of false hair were sold in France in 1871 and 102,900kgs in 1873. Yet by 1876 false hair was denounced as passé by The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine.”

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~Pauline Weston Thomas for Fashion-Era.com

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Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg, French Ringlet Front

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All those hair pieces had to come from somewhere.

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In my recent post, L-O-N-G Victorian Hair, I illustrated the 1890‘s style of cut bangs that were curled about the forehead.

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For those who didn’t want to cut off hair that had taken a lifetime to grow, simply to bow to the whims of modern style, hair pieces were readily available, at least by the late 1890‘s (when cut bangs where ‘in’). Such pieces would also cover thinning hair (a woman’s nightmare in any era of time) and add volume to any head of hair.

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“$3.50 of 1895 dollars would be worth: $117.86 in 2021.”  ~ Inflation Calculator

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“$1.25 of 1895 dollars would be worth: $42.09 in 2021.” ~ Inflation Calculator

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$2.50 of 1895 dollars would be worth: $84.90 in 2021.” ~ Inflation Calculator

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“$0.50 of 1895 dollars would be worth: $16.84 in 2021.”  ~ Inflation Calculator

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“$3 of 1895 dollars would be worth: $101.03 in 2021.”

“$0.06 of 1895 dollars would be worth: $2.02 in 2021.”

“$0.08 of 1895 dollars would be worth: $2.69 in 2021.”

“$0.10 of 1895 dollars would be worth: $3.37 in 2021.”

~ Inflation Calculator

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“$3 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $101.03 in 2021.”  ~ Inflation Calculator

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“$1.25 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $42.09 in 2021.”

“$3 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $101.03 in 2021.”

“$4 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $134.70 in 2021.”

“$5 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $163.38 in 2021.”

“$6 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $202.05 in 2021.”

“$8 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $269.40 in 2021.”

“$10 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $336.76 in 2021.”

“$12 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $404.11 in 2021.”

“$15 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $505.13 in 2021.”

“$18 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $606.16 in 2021.”

~ Inflation Calculator

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Given my hair is silver, a 24″ wig (perhaps to replace my own lost when the doctor told my husband my head must be shaved to save me from a very high fever), would cost me (per the advertisement) a 50% surcharge because of the color. In today’s money, such a wig would cost more than $1,000.

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Perhaps, therefore, it’s not reasonable to say all women had access through a catalog to hair pieces. It might be more reasonable to say the well-to-do could afford hair pieces and augmentation if they so chose.

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For ladies (or ladies’ maids) who wished to create something (such as a braid to wrap about their up-do) or even to add fullness to their coiffure, swatches of hair was sold.

 

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WOMEN WORE FULL WIGS

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MEN WORE WIGS TOO…and fake beards

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I have a hard time believing these bears and mustaches looked natural.

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ARTIFICIAL AUGMENTATION reason for breach of promise when men fooled by mail-order brides

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Apparently false hair had been used as early as 1873 (and likely before). But note the list of everything else this Judge John H. Arbuckle found as grounds for divorce from a mail-order bride: cosmetic paints, artificial bosoms, bolstered hips and padded limbs. Guess what? Most of these were available for purchase from Sears Catalog and Montgomery, Ward & Co. Catalog by 1895. Then a woman didn’t need to make her own such appliances.

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MAKE HER OWN HAIR?

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Yeah. Especially hair pieces. After all, when hair you’ve spent your whole life growing comes out in the bristles of a hairbrush or tines of a comb, why not hold onto it? Women made “rats” of their own hair, literally balls of the fallen hairs to then fill out the hairstyle pinned upon their heads (result: a fuller bun or French twist). The color was right (until they aged or unbleached), a lady knows where it came from, and it cost nothing whereas wigs and hair pieces cost plenty.

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IF ANYTHING SHOULD’VE BEEN ILLEGAL…

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…perhaps it should’ve been the unfounded claims of potions, elixirs (external or internal use), and washes.

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I might be persuaded to believe a potion could add moisture, smooth, and perhaps redeem damaged hair (to a degree)…but return gray hair to the color of youth? Really? Who believed this stuff?

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Related Articles

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In reference to the WARNING by Judge John H. Arbuckle, commercially prepared other augmentation devices (without Victoria’s Secret) what was a Lady Victorian to do?

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Updated June 2022
Copyright © 2016 Kristin Holt LC
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