You are correct ravenreed and thanks for a valuable comment. As you experienced, latent disposition toward female hair loss can be revealed by post partum telogen effluvium: I've seen it on clients and it is discussed in medical literature. I am finishing an article that treats Domna's portraits it much greater detail: it includes this information. Hopefully I will get a publisher soon! Best regards, J
Your videos is just what I've been looking for! I'm a roman reenactor and I'm so gonna try out every single one. Your videos are so informative and well-made and I really like how you some times puts references in the end. Thank you so much for doing this vids.
@liviusdrusus08 I'm so glad you like it! Re: JD's waves, Wave is omnipresent and consistent in both portrait type 1 and 2 (from 193 ca-217 AD). My personal conviction (as a hairdresser) is that it had to be natural wave: the strenghth and regularity of her curl is really hard to fake without modern tools (i.e., electric dryers) and would be extremely time consuming in any era.
@pepperminttea42 It is true that post-partum alopecia can cause dramatic shedding, but PPA loss usually grows back. The coin portraits show her back hair shrinking over a very long period of time: almost 24 years. Her children were born in 188 and 189 AD (portrait type one was sculpted ca 193 AD) but the P-type 2 change occurred no sooner than 210 AD. After that, the bun continued to shrink until 217, when she died. I have a detailed article I hope to publish soon, stay tuned! Cheers!
Wonderful, as usual! Thanks so much for uploading these hair videos. I always get excited when I see a new one!! They are very informative and interesting.
Just a note: For those who might want to use period methods to construct hairstyles, a nalbinding needle is flat, blunt ended, and usually quite large. You can buy one on etsy, or ebay. You can also find hand-spun woolen thread on Etsy for a reasonable sum. As far as the scissors, I can't say, but chopsticks make very nice bodkins.
Dear C, yes, I believe they may have, but we can't know the exact ingredients or formulations. I know that acacia gum (an edible, water soluble tree resin) was used as was olive oil, and beeswax. I don't know much about quince, I presume it was a food known to the Romans, but whether it was used in hairdressing contexts I cannot conjecture. cheers, J
Really great video- informative and entertaining, beautifully produced and i love that a real person adds to the flavor of the hairstyle. I hope you make more!
You make very interesting videos. Please tell me how the Romans washed hair? What surfactants did they use? I feel sure they had a large selection of oils, perfumes and other dressings for the hair. I have always wondered how they kept their hair clean. 👍
Hi 👋 I came across your channel when looking for diy tutorials on hair taping. I love the little to no use of hair pins in your styles and buns. Could you make in depth tutorials , preferably diy, on those hair buns and how to make the know and sew almost hip length hair into the bun. Thank you ☺️
I bought my scissors I hold in my hand (at left) from the New York department store "Pearl River", an oriental import establishment in lower Manhattan. They are inexpensive ($3.00 ea when I bought them) and they cut threads quite well. Cheers, J
That's a great idea also, but for my work, I try to stick with materials and methods that are "proven" to have been used; either by clear literary reference (a specific material is mentioned in context with hair) or chemical analysis done by others (i.e., published in archaeology journals). My bible is Alfred Lucas's Ancient Egyptian materials and industries, an older book, but full of useful information. Pliny is extremely valuable, but he is vague about actual recipes and processes.
Congratulations, it looks like also byzantine hairstyle from Ravenna. About it, I'd like ask you an advice: i'd like to reproduct some byzantine hairstyles from the mosaics of St. Apollinare in Ravenna. It seems a stitched braid fixed by a tiara, doesn't it? Thank you in advance.
Just discovered you. As someone with long straight very flat and thin hair, I've discovered braids are the only way to deal with it. I don't have the luxury of a hairdresser in any language, but have had fun creating styles that work with this flat stuff I was born with. I shed bobby pins though (the witch in the Bugs Bunny cartoons and I are kindred spirits), but I had never thought about sewing it down. What do you use for needles? Again thanks for creating all this.
I've used needles mean for the viking craft naalbinding in my hair. You can find them in wood or bone usually. I bought mine at a craft fair, but check etsy or ebay as well...
besides flax, acacia gum, and waxes, fat and oil based preparations were used as early as 1074 BC... (perhaps earlier) And I think using some sort of preparation would encourage the hair to lay in neat rows or waves as you see on the busts and coin.... but I commend you for using only proven products.
@jntvstp I lost a lot of thickness after each of my two sons and while most of it grew back, not all of it did. Now in my 40's, I have about half the hair that I did in my teens. I still have a 'normal' amount of hair, but it is getting on the thinner side of normal. For someone who started with less hair, it might have been much more noticeable. Just a thought. LOVE the videos, BTW. I do historical costuming and one of the hardest parts, IMO, is getting the hair right. Clothes are easy!
This style could stay up for a while, but how well it looked over time would depend on the woman's hair type (curly or silky) what type of fixative she used on her hair (oil or resin) and whether she was and "active" sleeper. cheers, J
Awhile ago I found a video of a similar bun style but without the side rope braids. I'm 90% sure you were the one who did it. It had simple small French braid and the rest of the hair after was put into a normal braid and than putting it into the serpentine braid???? I think is what it's called. I was just wondering if you had this video somewhere. Or if you even know what I'm talking about??
What about flax? I have a friend who uses boiled flaxseed gel in her hair. There are recipes online, but basically, boil, simmer, cool, strain, use. It's goopy, slightly thinner than Dippity Doo. Flax has been cultivated from the Mediterranean to India, down into Egypt & Africa since around 30,000 BC. Chia seeds have the same mucilaginous property, and can be used in the same manner - not sure of their cultivation history, though.
Hey Janet just a question when you do these histroical hairstyles do you makesure that the thread matches the models hair colour as seen with two of your models the manequin and the real model because I have noticed that in this video since the two of your models are both brunette and you used a brown coloured thread just asking
Beautiful style! Great that you had a real model, too! It's possible it might not have been alopecia, too: A tapering braid could indicate a damaging routine, or a large shed (ie. post-partum or poor nutrition), and having some "baby" hairs around the hairline that have a shorter terminal length is normal. The style is certainly a great way to hide it though, whatever the cause. :)
OMGs that is beautiful.. For me, it's a little bit late (we "reenacting" the early Caesar Vespasianus era ~ 70), but it is so nice! I need a slave.. I coulnd't say it enough! :D (sorry for my bad english :D )
@Janet Stephens There is an updated volume by Nicholson and Shaw on ancient Egyptian materials that I find very interesting and enlightening - they correct some of Lucas's misinterpretations and cover a broader range of sources.
