The Lard That Binds... (Or My First 18th c. Pomatum)

As you saw in my previous post Mrs. Fox dressed my hair Sunday last and we tested out my "new" pomatum and powder. It worked pretty well, all things considered, and I'll be making up a new batch this week as I seem to have left my large tin in my friend's cooler Sunday evening. Whoops!

The back of my dressed hair

I was introduced to the art of big hair at last spring's Burnley and Trowbridge workshop and since that point I've been fascinated with wanting to improve my 18th century hair. I've been scouring all available resources for primary documents and thankfully the internet is full of them, some can still  be purchased online, and I may be able to find more once I have access to my library at work.

But here's the skinny on my foray into the fat underbelly of pomatum. (Okay- I confess that whole sentence was pretty awful, but I just couldn't help myself...)

First things first, I needed to pick a receipt from all of those sources I had been browsing. There were tons of options. Pomatum was so common and scents could be chosen by the maker based on any number of sweet flowers (lavender, orange blossom, whatever you wanted really). I knew that I already have a particular fondness for clove and citrus, so I used oil of clove and lemon for my pomatum. I'd like to try scenting the pomatum in the 18th c. manner with flowers sometime, I'm just not there yet.

Not having every single ingredient for any one pomatum receipt- I improvised. I used the basic amounts of lard and mutton suet from a pomatum receipt in The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies and substituted lemon oil for bergamot and thyme. The three ingredients I didn't have on hand included alkanet root, beef marrow, and virgin wax.

On a side note, although the blog lists the pomatum receipt indicating use for hair, I'm wondering if it's actually supposed to be a lip salve. The alkanet root is what makes me question. I haven't seen it used in an explicitly "hair only" pomatum but is frequently used in lip salves. There are definitely red pomatums in other sources. For example, The Toilette de Flora  says "white" pomatum says can be used "in the same manner as other pomatums" while the instructions for "red" pomatum are a little more general in just saying to "set it by for use."

The New London Toilette lists a red pomatum with alkanet root with instructions to be "...made up into a paste and rubbed over the face..." to give it a reddish color. So take that for what it is.

Either way, it seems that pomatum in general is made up of mostly lard with a variety of other ingredients being thrown in for good measure (or good fragrance), so I felt okay using this ratio as the base for just a simple pomatum for my hair. We're constantly being reminded in the manuals, though, to not mix anything noxious to the hair into our pomatums and powders. We're way too smart for that, ladies!

Anyhow, here's what I did:

Measured out my lard. You can see how soft the lard is on my spoon. Once it was thawed I was able to scoop it out pretty reasonably into my dish.

 Lard in my bowl and on my spoon.

 The mutton was a bit harder. I ended up "cutting" it with a butter knife (more like scraping and stabbing- semantics!) and it took longer to melt.

Not as soft as the lard...

 Once I had everything measured out, I set to slowly melting it on a very low heat.

It was slow... very slow... but we made it eventually. You can see the mutton
chunks in there.

Once I was done melting, I added my clove and lemon oil to my liking and then poured into my containers for storage.

Left: three four oz ball jars for overflow (and to give to friends.)
Right: a large candle tin to store the majority of my pomatum.

I forgot to take a picture of it once it cooled, but it basically looked like the lard in the beginning. The scent does mask most of what there is of the "lard smell", especially once it's in your hair. It goes on really well and the scent stays for 5-6 days- the clove lingers longer than did the lemon. Overall, I can't wait to try the process again.

I have ordered my virgin wax and a few other ingredients and I am ready for round two. I am feeling a little more confident now that I have a bit of experience under my belt, and I'll be sure to post again with my second attempts.

Until then, I will leave you with my list of alternative literary lard loving punned titles that were almost chosen for this post. Enjoy and feel free to add your own in the comments. =)

P.S. No promises that these are PC, but hopefully you'll find them somewhat humorous.

Lard of the Rings
Lard in August
The Pigslayer
Journey to the Center of the Pig
Lard Times

I would entertain song lyrics, also...

Summer Afternoon

Last weekend was spent in Kenosha, WI at an event that is one of my favorites of the year. It is set right on the beach of Lake Michigan and always has some beautiful weather (including the occasional summer storm on the lake). It's an event at which we always have fun as we are able to play with some of our friends and not take ourselves terribly seriously.

Our traditional beach picture. Mrs. Fox is in Regency to
accommodate her baby bump. 

This year's fun consisted of a duel on the beach on Saturday and a trade agreement gone wrong at the Black Horse on Sunday. While I was able to watch my husband in the duel,  I regrettably missed Sunday's scenario due to the fact that Mrs. Fox was dressing my hair.

I was delighted to try out my new pomatum and powder (which I made the Wednesday before the event- post coming soon!). So far, I'm very much loving the combo. It wears very well and leaves my hair feeling great.

Front

Side- at first I wasn't sure about
the dip between the front and
back, but then I remembered the
print of the camp laundry from our
workshop and you see a similar thing
going on beneath the cap of the
woman standing up. 

back

One last exciting thing that came out of last weekend (teaser!) was the beginnings of a new project within Engaging History (check back to the EH blog for more on that soon). So much for which to be excited!

All's Fair: LBCC 1772 Cold Cream (or Pomatum for the Complexion )

In preparation for this review, I have been using the LBCC 1772 Orange Flower Cold Cream for the past six weeks. While some of you may be familiar with cold cream and its uses, I've found for many people the concept of cold cream is a somewhat vague notion of "something my grandmother used in her day." So, before I continue with my review, let's talk a little bit about cold cream. 

Dating back to ancient Greece, cold cream has been around in some variety or another for a very long time. At its core, it's a blend of water and oil. Its simplicity also makes it a very versatile product. It has been used for everything from shaving cream to body lotion. Traditionally, it's used by women as a skin moisturizer or make-up remover or even as leave on deep conditioning mask. 

I don't really do deep conditioning and don't wear a ton of make-up, but I did decide to use it as my daily facial moisturizer. Actually, I also ended up using it a few times as a body moisturizer for my legs and arms. Here's what I found:

Photo courtesy of LBCC. I was going to take my
own, but I've used mine pretty well so it's not as
photogenic as a new jar!

Cost: $18.00

Product Description: A cold cream based on the 1772 Toilette de Flora receipt of the same name. According to the website it is thinner than the 1901 style cream and is a great moisturizer/historical make up remover.

Uses: I used it as a facial moisturizer after showering for six weeks. I also used it occasionally as body lotion.

Pros: It's a nice sized container. You might think that it's small and won't last very long, but after six weeks of daily use I've only used about 1/4th of what's in there. A little goes a very long way. Also, it was nice when traveling to throw in one container for my face and body, instead of a tube of moisturizer and a bottle of lotion. I really enjoyed the scent (orange flower).

Seriously. I use about this much each day for my face.
Maybe a little less.

Cons: I got nothin'. The container worked for me. I even dropped it a handful of times on my tile floor and it was fine. No negative reactions to ingredients. 

How well does it work: I couldn't really document this product in photographs, but I can tell you what I experienced. I have normal-ish skin with a somewhat oilier "T-zone". Overall, my face feels very soft and supple. Softer even than with my moisturizer I used before. My face typically breaks out somewhat in the summertime (extra heat=extra sweat and all that) but this summer I haven't had a breakout nearly as extreme as usual. In fact, I've gotten maybe two little zits total (not the many small bunches near my hair line like normal.) 

Yep. Here's my face sans everything.
No sleep, no make up, and (thankfully)
no zits!

Modern Counterpart: Hmm... I've never used today's cold creams before, so I don't know that I could say how it stacks up (that's a hint to any of you out there who use modern cold cream to try this one and give an in depth report! lol.)

Recommended for: Daily moisturizing. Guys can use it, too, and the citrus smell makes it less girly than a rose cold cream! Score! I didn't use it as a make up remover or mask but it could be used for that as well. 

In Conclusion: I can tell you that I definitely plan on continuing to use this product in place of my modern moisturizer and lotion. For a broader perspective, I'd be interested in the experiences of someone who has really oily skin using the product, as mine is more combination. Aside from that, I really loved this one and like that it's helped simplify a shelf in my bathroom, too!

Life, Papillottes, and a Video

Life seems to be sneaking off with a lot of my time lately. Between library remodel, three master's courses, and an emergency trip to South Carolina to be with family (my grandmother passed away last month) things have been a little more hectic for me than usual. Needless to say, I am about five blog posts behind (I've yet to post on my early 19th c. gown workshop, my recently completed Italian gown workshop, two new "All's Fair" product reviews, and my recent girls trip to Williamsburg! EEk) but I am determined to catch up.

To hold you over until I get the other posts finished, I bring you a post on my most recent hairsperiment: 18th/19th century curling implements. Get ready for some photo madness brought to you by Catalyst Design and Photography (check them out on facebook)!*

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending Years of Napoleon at the Macktown Living History Center. It was a lovely event, apart from some wardrobe malfunctions on my part- pretty much ignore my bodice front as the gathering strings broke (pins to the rescue!) and my workshop gown was attacked by my English Mastiff and has to be mended.

But, as always, good overshadowed bad and we were very happy when our friend Alicia from LBCC joined us for the day. To make things even better, she brought along one of her stellar finds. An iron for making curls. The process and equipment are described in Diderot's Arts de L'Habillement.

Left  Image from Diderot showing two styles of irons for curling.
Right The original iron used on my hair. (photo courtesy of LBCC)

Always up for some historical experimentation, Alicia decided to test it out on my more than willing head.

Okay- so maybe I was a little nervous...

The process: We decided to try a bit in the back first, just to make sure it didn't burn my hair off or something. Better safe than sorry, right? We took a small chunk of my hair near my nape, pomaded it, papered it up, and then the heat was on! Luckily, my hair did not go up in a blaze of glory (although, even if it had I feel it would have been worth it... for science!)

In fact, once Alicia got the hang of it, we were able to make some pretty stellar curls. Granted, we were kind of slow to start (I think if you got really good at this technique, it could go a lot faster) but overall not bad.

If you want to see the whole process live, check out the video via the LBCC youtube channel.

Test curl in the back. Mistress Titter
is holding the rest of my mane to keep it
out of the way. 

Pomading and prepping the curl.

Rolling, rolling, rolling the curl. 

She only burnt my head once! But
really, it was no worse than any
iron today (and we had burn salve!)

Test curls done, technique improved,
and ready for the next set. 

The results: We ended up with a fabulous end product. They were maybe a little long for this period, but since I typically do 18th c. I keep my hair on the longer side to make those hairstyles easier.

By the time we were finished and I got to see myself in a mirror, I felt...well... pretty. The curls were very bouncy and made me feel like I had a little more pep. I don't know about you, but I think there's something to be said for having someone doll you up every once in awhile.

In all my curly glory. Special thanks to
Tonya Staggs for the mini turban
workshop and Turbanspiration.
Check out her PREZI if you'd like more
info regarding turbans during the regency.

The aftermath: Mind you, my hair doesn't typically take curl very well, but these curls lasted for three days with very little relaxing before I had to wash them out for a 21st century function. This was with no care to prevent them from relaxing, either. I just slept on them like normal. I think if you actually tried to preserve them they could easily last much longer.

Morning of day 2 curls. Relaxed a bit, but
I didn't take any preventative measures.
(Photo credit: me)

Day 3. I pulled one out of my messy
bun so you could see it. A lot looser
now but still pretty curly. =)
(Photo credit: me)

It's always fun experimenting with history and finding things that just work really well. I think I would definitely use a modern flat iron to recreate this process for whenever I want really curly hair. It worked so well and it was nice to have some curls for a change. It could also be really good for special occasion hairstyles and up-dos.

I will leave you with probably my favorite curl inspired picture of the weekend, taken when we were getting ready to pack out Sunday evening and I needed to tame the curls.

Because we can do it!

*Thanks again to Catalyst Design and Photography for consistently taking such great photos of us. They make us look fab!  All photos are credited to Catalyst unless otherwise noted. Check them out. =)

All's Fair: LBCC A Fine Burn Salve

Last Saturday I was honored to attend a graduation party for a former student. As it was in the high 80s I wore an appropriate sundress to keep cool, since most of these parties are outside. It was also fabulously sunny out; While I remembered my sunglasses, I definitely forgot the sunblock. My fair Irish complexion, needless to say, was more than a little displeased at this breech in conduct and made its disgruntlement known.

While luckily not a disabling burn,
it definitely was enough to hurt!

About an hour after I returned home, the pain set in and I knew I would have to act quickly if I didn't want this to end badly. That's when I remembered I had picked up some Burn Salve for just such an occasion! I decided since my shoulders were pretty equally burnt that I would treat one shoulder with plain old aloe vera and treat the other with the burn salve. 

Cost: $10.00

Product Description: From Etsy:
1oz tin
Lavender, Tea Tree oil, Calendula and Aloe

Great for kids and keeping in your camp and around the fire.

...All natural products will help heal and soothe your burns ...Use this lovely salve on your skin when you get burnt, either from the hot sun, cooking fire, or for those scrapes and cuts that all kids get. This recipe is a combo of various historical recipes I have been collecting over the years. It comes in 1 oz tins. ...This Historical Salve has Calendula and Lavender, which not only is an antiseptic, but it will help PREVENT Scarring. In addition, this salve will help heal not only burns, but skin irritations and other conditions including wounds, insect bites, rashes, scrapes, abrasions, cuts, inflammations. It is suitable for the sensitive of skin.

Uses: Sunburns, burns, insect bites, rashes, scrapes, abrasions, cuts, inflammations.

Pros: It actually treated the pain of the sunburn much better than the aloe vera and had some pretty immediate results. It lasted longer between applications so I didn't have to apply as many times. This was nice because by Day 2 I was back to work and didn't have time to stop and reapply AV every hour. It also helped the burn heal more quickly and abated the reddening of the burn area much faster. In fact, even now after five days the AV side still has a pinkish tinge that the salve side does not.

Cons: I need something better to call the "con" section, because this isn't really a con but something to keep in mind. The aloe vera soaks into your skin after a bit and "dries" if you will. The burn salve takes much longer to do this. You rub it in, but it leaves more of a coating on your skin than the aloe vera does. I find this makes my skin feel less dry and itchy, but is something to bear in mind when choosing your clothes.

How well does it work: Pretty darn well. See pics and comments below: (In case you are wondering, YES- I am wearing tube tops in these pics- just cropped it out so the different colors wouldn't throw the photos too much! I also tried to be careful of lighting, but Day 4 had a bad storm so I  had to turn on the artificial ones so it's a touch yellow.)

1 day after burn. Left side (of photo) treated with Aloe Vera
right side with burn salve. You can see the right side is already
slightly less red than the left.

Day 2. Left side (of photo) treated with Aloe Veraright side with burn salve. Right side is lightening up.

Day 3. Left side (of photo) treated with Aloe Veraright side with burn salve. Left side is still pretty red.
Right side is even lighter.

Day 4- Left side (of photo) treated with Aloe Vera
right side with burn salve.Note the obvious difference between the left and right
in this pic. It's even more pronounced in person.

Today would be Day 5- and I forgot to take a picture this morning because honestly, this is the first day the Aloe Vera side hasn't hurt. The Salve Side quit hurting after less than a day. By day two I was almost ready to give up on the experiment and put the salve on both sides... but for science I persevered! I haven't started peeling on either side yet, but I will update with photos if I do.

Modern Counterpart: I guess aloe vera or an after sun treatment. I've also used vinegar on a sunburn to remove the sting of the burn with much success. I could see myself using the vinegar first and then applying the salve.

Recommended for: Everyone. It is safe for children, convenient to carry, and a little bit goes a very long way.

In Conclusion: While this particular product is not a recreation of a single, specific historical receipt, it is based on a number of historical receipts that Alicia (owner of LBCC) has been collecting for some time and is made in the historical manner. This means that this is one of the few products from LBCC that doesn't have an exacting provenance but is based on research into a quantity of similar historical receipts and practices. I will definitely use it again and am actually thinking of getting some for my fairer friends who may get a bit sun kissed this summer. It might be a touch more expensive than AV alone, however, the fact that it lasts longer and (more importantly) treats the pain better makes it worth it in my book.

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.

One Hairy Weekend

Recently, I was fortunate enough to find myself at the B&T cap and hair workshop and what fun! Sarah and Abby of the Margaret Hunter Shop led us through the finer details of not only 18th century cap construction and hair, but of reading and interpreting caps in prints and paintings. We were learning not just how to make a specific style/pattern of cap, but how the various pieces and treatments of a cap work together to create the final product. This would hopefully help us feel more confident in our abilities to see a cap in an image and then recreate for our heads.

I always appreciate the approach the presenters take at these workshops, teaching us skills that we can take with us and apply rather than teaching us simply how to read directions and follow a pattern. Not only did we learn about cap styles, but we learned about what has to happen underneath those caps to make them so fabulous.

So, before we could get to making our caps, we had to take care of the hair underneath. We made rollers for our hair to give it some of that height so typical to the later 18th century.

Alix and I with our rollers in and ready to measure for our caps!

Once we had our rollers done and roughly placed (for measurement's sake rather than beauty!) we could continue on to some bigger decisions: cap styles. The ladies from the shop had brought along a few styles of caps that we could try on to get an idea of how certain bands, wings, and cowls would look on ourselves. It was like playing dressup in a most grown up fashion.

Huge wings!

This cap was almost universally
flattering!

After some contemplating and discussion of which features we wanted for our own caps, we set to work diligently rolling hems and whipping gathers. Saturday's homework was to get as far as we could assembling our caps and contemplate trimmings.

By Sunday morning, we had made significant progress on our caps and were able to discuss a variety of trimmings for caps, as well as get a pomatum/powder demo to illustrate potential uses of what was dubbed "the doughnut"- a gigantic doughnut like roll we'd all been curiously eyeing during the weekend. It must have also been my lucky day, because Abby decided to pomade and powder my hair for the demo.

I have to say, I really enjoyed both the process and the result! 1- It felt like I was getting a head massage as she worked the pomade through my hair. 2- My hair was hugely voluminous when she was finished. I had the most well behaved sloppy buns for a week after this. Anyhow- after prepping my hair, we got to see what the doughnut was all about.

Pulling the hair up over
 the doughnut

The back 

Finished front

It was a-maz-ing. I feel like I can never really have an excuse not to dress my hair ever again. It took about ten minutes and it's the best historical hair I've ever had! I am soooo making one of these for myself. (Maybe a few in different sizes?) Once Abby was done we took the opportunity to try on Sarah's cap from "The Morning Ramble". I felt like a fashion plate come to life.

Eventually, though, it was time to go home. The doughnut had to be returned (although I would have loved to take that hair-do through airport security!) I gave my hair a quick brushing and threw it into a bun. When I got home, instead of washing it right away, I just let it do it's thing. I brushed it in the morning and before bed and that was about it. And you know what? It was fine. My scalp felt nice, my hair wasn't greasy, and nobody really even noticed except to say that I looked a little blonde.

My hair a few days after pomade/powder treatment.

In fact, I'm really intrigued by 18th century hair care, and I think this summer I want to do a little experiment. I'd like to go 8 weeks using only 18th century hair care methods and products. I want to see what happens. What does it feel like after prolonged use? What happens to my scalp/hair? How does it do in the heat? I already don't use normal shampoo (I'm a baking soda and vinegar rinse girl) so that aspect doesn't bother me. I just need to gather some resources to pin down a typical 18th century hair care regimen, assemble the materials, and apply to my head.

I'll definitely share my findings as I go and results when I'm finished. What fun! B&T workshops always leave me inspired!