Hair Care in the Good Old Days

 If any of you have read either my Clear Creek Bride Series or The Snows of Clear Creek, then you know that my character Gilbert Snow is an inventor. He's known for inventing Snow Flakes. An all purpose soap flake that can be used for laundry, dishes, and as his sale slogan goes, even to bathe your children with! Mr. Snow is known as the Soap King of the Eastern Seaboard, and has been working on his next big invention. Scented shampoo. These stories take place between 1889 and 1892. I wonder how much history of shampoo Mr. Snow dug up before beginning his new invention.

I'm sure he discovered that the 18th Century saw the rise of wigs, and how people used lye soaps or water to grease their hair so the wigs could fit. And sure he knows that the Victorians popularized the use of eggs. They'd split an egg over their heads, then massage it until it turned into a gooey mess, then rinse it with water. It was also during this era that Doctors began to encourage people about the importance of soaps and shampoos.

While bars of "soap shampoo" were available for purchase during the 1800s, at-home, daily shampoos were still pretty far off. An 1891 issue of the Boomerang, says the best thing for washing the hair is hard kitchen soap, rubbed on quickly and washed off, concluding: “Soap suds thickened with glycerin and the white of an egg are responsible for the lovely satiny gloss.”

Practitioners were the place to go to get clean. Otherwise known as the hairdresser and the bathhouse.

With the professionals in charge of your hair, it was not a daily practice. Besides, bar shampoo left one's hair and scalp dry and lacking shine.

So, other methods of hair-cleaning were used. Victorian women washed their hair brushes daily, and the infamous brushing your hair “100 strokes” was done to spread conditioning oils from roots to tips and to remove older or excess oil and dirt. Of course, this was more time-consuming than modern washing, and thus one of the reasons “good hair” created class distinction. After all, women of the upper classes could afford all the various rats, rolls, and other fake additions to bulk out their real hair. In addition, women hardly wore their hair lose unless it was in the process of being put up or taken down. That and if they were having a picture taken of it! And at night, most women braided their hair for bed. 

Then glory of glories, in 1898, powdered shampoo was invented in Germany by Hans Schwarzkopf and made available for sale in drugstores. Less harsh, easier to use, and readily available, this product began the movement of washing one’s hair regularly at home.

Still, in a pinch, if one didn't have bar shampoo, people used whisky mixed with castor oil to cleanse their hair. To style their hair, some women used heated pencils as curlers. Now there's a hair hack that used things you could find around the house—very resourceful!

So we can safely say that Mr. Snow is ahead of his time when he invents his own shampoo and begins to test it on his own family with great results! What are some of the old shampoos you remember that they don't make any more? For me it's Long and Silky. I had very long hair from grade school and on into college. I could sit on it! Everyone used to tell me I should be in a Long and Silky commercial, and yes, I did use those products for a time! Thank goodness the days of using harsh soaps on hair are gone. I'll take some Herbal Essence any day!

Until Next Time,

Kit