We know that veils were important in this case, as they protected against (or encouraged, according to Seneca the Elder) solicitations by men. Perhaps due to its erotic association, hair was often linked with Roman ideas of female modesty and honour. This hairstyle is that of the Antonine Period.

Usually, the time a Roman would perform this act was when they reached the age of 20 or donned the toga virillis. It was a popular custom to dedicate the hair from someone's first haircut to the gods. Pliny the Elder suggested many possible cures and remedies for balding hair. The Romans also believed that shaving one's head was necessary for diagnosing certain illnesses. In Martial's Epigrams a character named Encolpus dedicates their hair to a character named Phoebus.

The Vestal virgins would hang leftover hair on trees as a religious service and to consecrate a person. It was common for sailors to shave their eyebrows and dedicate the hair to the gods, to earn their protection. Preadolescent girls would often have long hair cascading down the back where as women would have equally long hair but it would be controlled through wrapping and braiding. There was a marked difference in hair acceptable for preadolescent girls and sexually mature women. In addition to ceremonies hairstyle defined the age of a woman. A bride's hair was parted with a hasta recurva or hasta caelibaris, a bent iron spearhead and crowned with flowers. Īpart from society, hair was used symbolically to mark rites of passage for instance, loosened hair was common at a funeral, and the seni crines was the hairstyle worn by brides and Vestal Virgins divided and plaited into six braids, and in the case of the bride, it was parted with a spear. It was the job of slave hairdressers, called ornatrices, to create their master's hairstyle new each day, as well as pulling out any grey hairs. The association with barbarians was why Roman men kept their hair cut short. 'Natural' showed a lack of culture, and grooming of the hair went hand-in-hand with being part of a sophisticated civilization. For women to have a fashionable hairstyle showed they were part of the elegant Roman culture.Ī 'natural' style was associated with barbarians, who the Romans believed had neither the money nor the culture to create these styles. In other words, having a complex and unnatural hairstyle would be preferred to a simple one, because it would illustrate the wealth of the wearer in being able to afford to take the time to style their hair. But unlike modern-day hairstyles, comfort and naturalism for the Romans took a back-seat to hairstyles that displayed the wearer's wealth to a maximum. Hair was seen as much as an indication of wealth and social status as it was of taste and fashion. įor more than just attractiveness, hairstyling was the leisure pursuit of the cultured, elegant female.

However, the numerous depictions of women hairdressing and mirror-gazing in tomb reliefs and portraiture is a testament to how much hairdressing was seen as part of the female domain.

Lengthy grooming sessions for women were tolerated, despite writers such as Tertullian and Pliny commenting on their abhorrence for time and energy women dedicate to their hair. Hairdressing and its necessary accompaniment, mirror gazing, were seen as distinctly feminine activities. As a result, it was seen as appropriate for a woman to spend time on her hair in order to create a flattering appearance. Hair was a very erotic area of the female body for the Romans, and attractiveness of a woman was tied to the presentation of her hair. How one dressed one's hair was an indication of a person's status and role in society. A woman's hairstyle expressed her individuality in the ancient Roman World. Hairstyles were determined by a number of factors, namely gender, age, social status, wealth and profession. Much like today, hair for the Romans was as much an expression of personal identity as clothes. A young woman sits while a servant fixes her hair with the help of a cupid, who holds up a mirror to offer a reflection, detail of a fresco from the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, c.

Black hair with red front pieces