An 18th Century Hair Day

This past weekend Nat and I headed out to Vincennes, IN for our first official event as members of the Kings Own Royal Regiment, Grenadier Co. Unfortunately, we weren't able to leave Friday night as planned, but we were able to get there for most of Saturday and all of Sunday. I thought that the event would be a great chance to put some of the skills I learned in the cap/hair workshop to work!

I already had some lemon blossom pomade from LBCC ready to go (I'm working on a couple of others for me to test out this summer) but unfortunately I didn't have any hair powder. (LBCC has lavender hair powder available that is nice- but I'm just not a lavender girl. It happens.) So, after rumaging through the the Toilette de Flora, my notes from class, and talking with Alicia, I made a quick trip to the grocery store to get some make do powder materials. Talk about last minute, right?

I already have a powder puff for finishing, but I picked up a shaker to dispense the powder while I'm actually pomading/powdering. I wasn't sure how successful I was going to be doing this on myself, but no time like the present! After whipping up my make do powder, I set to work.

My hair- one lock already powdered,
one lock just pomaded.

Mostly finished, just one section left undone

All done! Very full and a little lighter than usual.

My tin of pomade after I was done... I think I need
a bigger tin! 

 It took me a bit longer to do my own hair than it did when Abby did it, but it was manageable. I slept on it Friday night so it would be ready to go. After leaving a little behind schedule and a 5+ hour drive, we arrived just in time to watch the battle tactics demonstration and then changed into our historical clothing for the evening.

I didn't really have the energy to attempt big hair for the evening, but Sunday morning it was go big or go home. I hadn't finished my workshop cap yet, but I had a cap that could accommodate modestly high hair that I brought along for just this reason. The pomade/powder made my hair very manageable when I put in my hair roller- but holy high hair volume, Batman! Between the pomade/powder and the roller, my hair was too large for my cap to fit! (Not to mention way larger than when we had practiced with the rollers in class.)

I decided that the pomade/powder must work wonders for my hair volume and maybe I could go without a roller. So, instead, I took a spare piece of wool and made a very small "roller" about as wide as a 1/2 inch dowel rod. I used that to start rolling my hair up and voila! It worked really well. My P/Ped hair without a stuffed roller was about the height my naked hair had been with a roller. A little bit of playing with my silk ribbon bow and my cap was settled onto my head, firmly secured with straight pins. 

Sunday afternoon. You can see my
"Sunday Casual Not Too Big But
Still Big" hair do underneath my cap.
My husband just had to get in on the big
hair action! =P

I did some sausage curls on the bottom back of my head but totally forgot to take pictures. I also dressed my friend Kate's hair (and rather prettily, if I do say so myself) but the pictures are on her camera. I'll have to see if she can send me one to post here. I was probably proudest of the back of her hair.

It was fun engaging the public with my hair (and I did- so many people wanted to touch it and know if it was my real hair) and I think it sparked a lot of interest and thought into the 18th century concept of hair care vs. our modern one. I can't wait to delve more into this subject as I prepare for my all 18th century hair care regimen for this summer.

I also can't wait to practice my big hair more and try out more styles on myself. This just opens up so many fun interpretive options with which I want to play and have some 18th century hair days.