You’ve probably seen some of these Victorian and Edwardian photos of women with ridiculously
long hair . . . and perhaps some of the clickbait-y headlines about said photos.
It’s tempting to look at these and assume everyone in the past could and did grow their
hair super long.
Was there some kind of magical secret?
Did historical hair routines Wellllllll . . . yes, maybe, but not quite.
There was a reason people took photos of hair like this : It was the exception, not the
norm.
While it’s less common today on account of us having more fashionable options for
how to wear hair, some people do still grow their hair super long— by way of example,
please see these photos of my gorgeous friend Courtney and HER super long hair.
I could go on at length about the social context of these photos, the tricks people used to
fake extremely long and thick hair, the struggle of recreating hairstyles from historical sources—
But you’re probably not here for that.
You’re here because you searched for hair growth advice, right?
Or because you already know me and like listening to me snark.
For those of you who do not yet know me, I’m Vi : Fashion historian who used to work as
a hairdresser, so this is like, both my careers at once.
There’s a lot we can learn from history, whether that’s about haircare or anything
else.
My favorite thing to do is sort through it all to find the myths, the facts, and what
we can bring back into the modern world.
If you enjoy fashion history and hairstyling sass, please do consider supporting me over
on Patreon; it helps me keep creating these videos and making them available to everyone!
And, hitting the subscribe button is always helpful too.
So, why is hair growth such a big deal?
Well, lots of people want to have long hair!
Lots of people find it really good-looking on themselves, lots of people find it really
good-looking on others.
Of course, that can lead to some not-so-great societal pressures that entire demographics
of people ought to only wear their hair long, that long hair is automatically more attractive,
and other such nonsense.
We don’t like those pressures much in this house; it is the position of this channel
that everyone should be able to wear their hair at whatever length makes them happiest.
Long hair can serve a practical purpose too.
I literally find it easier to have long hair than short, there are certain things you can
do with long hair that don’t work otherwise.
My chin-length bob required much more upkeep than my current waist-length hair.
But here’s why I actually think it’s become such a big deal : hair growth is slow.
Hair grows out of your head at whatever speed it grows, and influencing that is HARD.
Hence, people and haircare companies make a lot of fuss and try a lot of things to make
it go faster.
Sara, offscreen : 'Scuze me.
Can we go get breakfast pleeeeeease?
Vi : Hey, I’m still filming!
Sara : [undignified squawking] Sorry, I’ve got a friend visiting from out
of town.
Which means the rest of this couch is actually a bed right now— perks of my new house,
I get to turn my living room into a guest room!
And, our sponsor Brooklinen sent me a bonus set of sheets for the guest bed!
Brooklinen makes high-quality home textiles that are actually worth what they cost.
If you want to stock up on bedding to bath essentials for 2023, Brooklinen is giving
my viewers $20 off any order over $100 using my code SNAPPYDRAGON at checkout.
Use the link in my description!
Textiles like bedsheets take a lot of resources to produce, so you want what you buy to last
you a long time, and to get softer and cozier throughout their lifetime.
Brooklinen offers a great variety of materials, colors, and patterns, so there’s something
to suit everyone’s preferences and aesthetic.
My personal ride-or-die are their linen sheets; I’ve slept in them for over a year and they
have thoroughly spoiled me for getting bedding or towels anywhere else.
But linen’s not for everyone, so I’m really happy they’ve started making organic cotton
ones too!
The Organic Hardcore sheet bundle includes a sheet set, duvet cover, and extra pillowcases,
and costs 25% less than buying the same items individually.
You can mix and match colors, and sizes too!
I nearly always get a bigger duvet cover because I love huge snuggly blankets.
These sheets are GOTS-certified, meaning the materials are grown organically and meet environmental
& socially responsible standards, and they’re super smooth and comfy thanks to 100% organic
cotton woven into 300-thread-count fabric.
Now, I can’t tell you what it’s like to sleep in them since this isn’t my bed, but
. . . Vi : Hey, Sara!
How’d you sleep last night?
Sara : Whee!
[giggles] Vi : Hi.
So how'd you sleep?
Sara : I slept super fantastic.
Especially since I don't sleep super great on vacation, so this was excellent.
Vi : And what'd you think of the bedsheets?
Sara : They were super comfy, they were lightweight, they're pretty, they were nicely temperature-regulating
. . . Vi : Didn't get too hot in the stupid third
floor apartment?
Sara : They were not too hot in a third-floor apartment.
Vi : Yaaaay!
Sara : It was LOVELY.
Then again, she can nap literally anywhere so I don’t know how meaningful that is . . .
Sara : Excuse you, I just said I sleep like crap on vacation!
Vi : Hey, let me get back to filming!!
Sara : [undignified grumbling] Ruin my nap!
So, what does historical haircare have to do with anything?
As it turns out, many historical haircare practices are amazing for hair growth.
But to explain why, we gotta talk about what we mean by hair growth!
Time to be a good little historian/hairdresser and define our terms.
On average, human hair grows out of the head at a speed of roughly half an inch per month.
This is the attitude taught by trichology, and it holds true with what I’ve seen on
my own head and the heads of my clients when I did hair full-time.
It’s super easy to track this on people who color their hair all-over, because you
can see the regrowth and measure against how many weeks since the color was done.
Now, hair growing out of the head is dependent on the internal workings of the body— that’s
medicine, not hairstyling or history, and I am not qualified to speak about it in detail.
Various factors (stress, illness, pregnancy and childbirth, hormonal things like pattern-balding)
can reduce hair growth or cause hair to fall out, but these influence density more than
speed and are better addressed with a medical professional than a stylist.
Various treatments can supposedly improve hair growth (vitamins and supplements, scalp
massage, topical products, medical procedures for baldness), but with the exception of certain
medical treatments for hair loss, how well they work on the speed of hair growth ranges
from “worth a shot, maybe, if it’s not too expensive?”
to “snake oil” to “that’s potentially dangerous”.
You generally can’t do much to influence the speed your hair grows out of your head,
and that’s one of the things that makes people try so hard.
But what you can influence is how much of that hair you get to KEEP.
Hair is a fiber, susceptible to wear and tear and breakage.
Given it grows at a set pace, if you want to make it longer, you need to keep as much
of it as you can, and stop it from breaking off or splitting.
THIS is what historical haircare methods can really help with.
Most of these won’t do anything to make hair grow out of your head faster, because
there’s very little you can be sure will do that.
They are, however, SUPER EFFECTIVE for keeping hair healthy and reducing breakage.
Thing 1: don’t overwash your hair.
I’ve done a video already on the late-20th century phenomenon of daily hair-washing and
how it became the norm in Western haircare.
The short version is, overwashing hair with shampoo or detergents can dry it out, leading
to more breakage.
The product we know as shampoo is just shy of a century old, and washing hair with soap
on a regular basis only took off during the later decades of the 19th century, when it
was more of a monthly process.
Everything from Medieval twice-a-day combing with a very fine-toothed comb, to 18th century
hair powder, was a way of keeping hair clean without using water and suds.
You can work these methods into a more modern routine if you want to stretch out the time
between washings.
If your hair takes well to brushing, you can brush your hair and scalp gently but thoroughly
twice a day to exfoliate the skin and distribute the natural oils.
A good dry shampoo— or some reproduction hair powder— can absorb excess oil and add
some volume.
Thing 2 : Braiding!
Braiding is AMAZING for keeping hair protected from tangles and breakage.
I am actually struggling to think of a region of the world that does not have some tradition
of braiding hair when hair was worn long— tell me in the comments about how people from
your culture have used braids, or if you’re from a culture where braids weren’t used!
A lot of these cultural practices have great significance and are not for just anyone to
try; please see this other video for an example of a braiding tradition whose history has
been distorted.
Part of why braids are so useful is that hair can’t tangle as easily when it’s in a
braid.
The structure of the brad holds the hairs in alignment with eachother.
The hair is less damaged by tangling, and less tension is needed to untangle when the
braid comes out.
Also, human hair is a fiber, so it follows many of the same principles of wool or hemp
or cotton!
Combine lots of little fibers, you get something much stronger than the individuals.
Like twisting rope, or spinning wool into yarn.
With the strands of hair all supporting eachother, the force of any given movement is distributed,
and hair is less likely to break.
The braid also physically protects most of the strands of hair from outside damage by
putting them under other strands.
Anything not on the surface can’t really be touched.
Certain types of hair are especially well-served by certain types of braiding.
A general rule is that the curlier hair is, the more prone it is to breakage because each
bend is a structural “weak point”.
So curlier hair tends to benefit even more from styles that protect the hair, like braids.
Everyone who’s learned curly hair care, like me, owes a MASSIVE debt of gratitude
to Black people, who have literal millennia of practice developing protective styles and
braiding methods for extremely curly and delicate hair textures.
Once again, many of these styles and methods have great cultural significance and are not
for just anyone to do or wear.
Rather, we should admire the artistry and ingenuity, learn from the foundational principles,
and find ways to incorporate that knowledge into haircare practices that ARE ours to use.
My friend Jackie, another haircare historian, made a video with me last year about some
cool-looking braids from European history; go check that out if you want some inspiration.
Other pinned-up styles can protect hair in many of the same ways that braids do!
Most updos, even simple buns, group hair together, prevents tangles, and secure it to keep it
out of the way and protect it from breakage.
They also reduce wear and tear on the ends, the part of the hair that’s the oldest and
most worn-down where breakage is likely.
Yes, a lot of cultures in Europe and around the Mediterranean came to associate the pinning-up
of hair with modesty, but it started out as utility.
Which brings me to thing 3, another practice that started out as utility and became associated
with modesty : Headscarves!
Tons of cultures have traditions of covering hair with scarves, kerchiefs, wraps, cloth
caps, and other similar accessories because it works really well.
If your hair is wrapped and covered, the outside world can’t cause it to break, tangle, or
get dirty.
Not only are your ends protected by the bun or braid or whatever style is under the headscarf,
the scarf itself is protecting them from sun, dry air, and mechanical damage.
Plus, the fabric covering was often something that absorbed excess oil and kept the hair
cleaner that way too.
So we’re talking everything from hijabs to bandanas to 18th and 19th century “mob
caps”, helps serve this function.
For instance, in my culture, many Jewish women would traditionally wear a “tichel” after
getting married.
It started out as a common practice and therefore a social norm back in the Bronze Age— there’s
that utility angle— and became associated with religion and modesty and reserving the
sight of your gorgeous hair for your husband.
If that’s meaningful for someone, great!
But I am not a fan of anyone dictating ideas about modesty to others, especially along
gendered lines.
It’s each person’s choice if they want to show their hair or not, and what that means
to them.
There’s been some movement among Jewish folks to wear tichels on our own terms, without
the patriarchal reasoning.
So there are lots of Jews (like me) who wear them regardless of being married or not, or
who only wear them sometimes, or wear them for reasons that have nothing to do with patriarchal
ideas about modesty and partnership.
What I personally like tichels for is when my curls have gotten messy but I’m not ready
to go through my whole washing process yet.
Ordinarily I’d either need to spend time doing an interesting braid, or throw my hair
up in a plain bun and miss having something cool-looking and artistic on my head.
A pretty scarf can take the place of hair that way.
My current favorite is this one, from the Crown Collection by Elke Reva Sudin.
It’s got absolutely gorgeous art on it}, it’s a robin’s-egg blue that goes with
most of my clothes, and is a really soft silk-rayon blend.
I’ll drop a link in the description, and there will be some more photos of it on Instagram.
I also highly recommend using veil pins for more artistic draping options; mine are from
my dear friend Opus Elenae but you can make your own or even use sewing pins.
Silk pins are good for very fine scarves, like the 100% silk version of Elke’s designs.
The same cautions about cultural appropriation apply when it comes to headscarf styles.
I would not wear this scarf in any specific style that has significance to a culture I
don’t come from.
But I would absolutely learn from the amazing draping and pinning skills that many Muslims
use for their hijabs, and then use that learning to make my tichel draping stay put better.
Does this mean historical hair care is the magic bullet for hair growth?
And what if you don’t want to wear your hair braided or covered all the time?
Well, for one thing, there is no such thing as a magic bullet for hair growth.
Historical hair care gives us more tools, some of which are very effective, but it’s
not going to solve every one of every person’s haircare woes.
Historical hair care was the best people could figure out in the context of their times and
circumstances, but we have actually come up with some cool things since the middle ages.
Like conditioner!
Many historical hair care methods relied on moisturizing hair with oil, from combing the
scalp’s natural oils through hair to applying plant oil or sometimes animal fats.
This is certainly better than ignoring one’s hair, but conditioners can be a lot more effective.
Oils and fats are “emollients”, which, in haircare, are used to coat the hair strand
and prevent moisture from evaporating.
They do moisturize, but only in a limited way, and can make hair greasy.
A good hair conditioner also hydrates using “humectants”, ingredients that draw water
in, keeping the hair strand more supple and flexible rather than brittle.
Not every conditioner is a good conditioner, but chances are your hair is better off with
conditioner than without.
Another modern invention I am very much a fan of : health trims!
I recognize the seeming irony of telling you to cut your hair to get it longer, and I thoroughly
reject the myth that cutting hair “makes it grow faster”.
It doesn’t.
Nothing you do to your already-grown hair will change the speed at which it grows out
of your head.
What health trims do is remove the oldest, most worn-down, brittle, split- and breakage-prone
hair at the ends, so the rest remains healthy and you get to keep as much of what you grow
as possible.
A health trim can remove as little as 1/4” or 1/2” of hair— two weeks to a month
of growth.
This does not mean cutting hair with any old sharp implement!
Hairdressing scissors are carefully made and frequently sharpened to cleanly cut hair strands.
Using dull scissors can actually cause more split ends and damage because they don’t
cut the hair strand, they snap {use hand motion} it, leaving an uneven break and lots of cracks
in the outer layers which will lead to more tangles and splits.
I recommend getting your hair trimmed once a year at the ABSOLUTE minimum, and for most
people it’s best to do it between two and four times a year.
If your goal is growth, you want to get into a routine where you take a tiny bit off the
ends before they get brittle and fragile, so you can trim the absolute minimum and not
lose any length to breakage.
The reality is, lots of us don’t want to wear our hair in historical styles all the
time!
In fact, many people who want to grow their hair longer wish to do so specifically because
they like how it looks when it’s down or out or otherwise on display.
Historical methods were intended for historical context, they don’t necessarily play well
with modern goals.
So you do have to pick and choose and combine to figure out what works for you, based on
your goals and your hair type and your lifestyle.
Which is the entire point!
There is no magic method, from this time or any other, that will make your hair grow a
foot overnight.
But the joy of studying history is that you get thousands of years of humanity’s cleverness
and adaptability to learn different methods from, then work out something that’s just
right for you.
You’re not restricted only to current or local fashions or knowledge.
Whenever I talk about haircare, I get a lot of people asking me to share my routine, usually
meaning the products I use.
But here’s the thing : My hair is not the same as your hair!
Everyone’s hair is different.
There is no one product or method that will work for every person, so the products I use
in the combination I use them won’t necessarily work for anyone else’s hair.
My routine isn’t useful information if copied exactly.
But I do want to give an example of integrating historical methods into a routine for modern
use, so . . . here you go!
I wash my hair once a week, a frequency most common in Western fashion in the earlier half
of the 20th century.
Some hair likes more, some hair likes less, you just have to find what’s right for you.
I use a very gentle shampoo— a modern invention!
So happy we’ve invented cleansing molecules that are gentler than soap or sulfates.
I use lots of conditioner, I don’t rinse it out, and I load my hair up with a combination
of styling product and oil while soaking wet.
Pretty straightforward curl care stuff.
I’ve practiced and noticed what products and techniques work for me, you should do
the same for you.
I air dry my hair, preferably outside in the fresh air.
Much faster, and no heat damage!
This is also an old method, as hair dryers are, in the grand scheme of things, a very
new invention.
I like to wear my hair loose or half-up for the first few days, then I’ll braid it or
put it up when it starts to get frizzy and the curls get less defined.
This can be everything from loosely winding it up and sticking my big medieval reproduction
pins in it, to modern braids— I like how rope braids look on me— to full-on historical
two braids wrapped around the head, and covered with a scarf or tichel.
Last year I did a month-long experiment where I stuck fully to historical methods, didn’t
wash my hair at all, and kept it braided and/or covered.
I didn’t find it was more or less healthy afterwards, but given that my old house didn’t
have hot water for two of those four weeks, it sure made life easier!
I hope these methods help you take care of their hair in whatever way suits you best!
Tell us in the comments about your favorite historical or traditional haircare technique;
I love when my comments section turns into a place to swap hair tips, so maybe you’ll
inspire or be inspired by someone else.
Do remember to click the button to tell Youtube you liked what you saw, and subscribe for
your regularly scheduled dose of fashion history sass.
You can find me around the internet @MissSnappyDragon on Instagram, Facebook, and very occasionally
TikTok, and on Patreon.com/SnappyDragonStudios.
Now, I gotta go deal with a Sara interrupting me—
Sara : Hey, I was perfectly nice about that interruption!
Vi : You were very nice, but I am still filming!
— perhaps you’d like to check out this playlist of my historical hair videos?
Or this gigantic documentary series I just finished?
Thanks to Brooklinen for making sure Sara and I both get good sleep during our weekend
of adventures.
Brooklinen is giving my viewers $20 off any order over $100 using my code SNAPPYDRAGON
at checkout.
Use the link in my description!
See you next time~