In Rome they had a special importance to their hair. Their hair, makeup and dresses signified their social class, age, political and religious beliefs.
Men
In the Early Kingdom and early times in Rome the men had their facial hair in beards and had long hair. At the end of the Republic, Rome brought in a great influence from Greek to be clean shaven with the assistance of barbers. Baldness was seen as a sign of physical diminution and was looked down upon. Some people hid their baldness but others such as Julius Caesar imbrased his baldness. The shaving of beards was made only with water and razors of bronze which were sharpened with stones. |
Women
Plinius the Elder used to say: "How tedious and boring is the time dedicated by Roman women to those endless sessions of hairdressing..." Women that were Patricians would have their slaves or what they called "ornatrix" would help address their hair needs. The higher the women were in the social class the more sophisticated their hairstyles would be. The most simple styles showed a sign of barbarism. Women would use a tool called a calamistrum which we call today, a curling iron. The calamistrum was a hollow iron tube that was heated in the ashes and their hair would be wrapped around it to create the curl effect. Some to most women wore wings to exfoliate the size and volume of their hair to the max. Poet in Rome Juvenal said: "The more important is the matter of their beauty, more stores piled one on each other like a building". The common name used for the wig in Rome was "Galerus". Most of the wig’s came from actual human hair. Blonde from German slaves, black from India. Henna was used to make the dyes along with herbs to get the reddish hair color. Saffron flowers was used from blonde hair. "Applying leeches that have rotten in red wine for 40 days, and, with the juice obtained of that, to colorize the hair” was the strange recipe for the black hair. The recipe was recommended by Plinius the Elder. To bleach or decolorize they commonly used potassium water and hydrogen peroxide. |
The Tutulus
This hairstyle was inherited from the Etruscans. It was the most usual hairstyle you would see in everyday Rome. It was used by the mothers of the family. It was almost used everyday of every week in Ancient Rome. |
The Nodus
This hairstyle was when the hair was parted into three. Then the hair from the sides of the head were tied in a bun in the back. The middle section was the tied in a knot at the top of the head. |
The Sine Crine
When six locks were independently braided was only worn by brides or Vestal virgins. |