In my most recent research travels, I came across a medieval
text known as The Trotula: A Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine. The text
is broken up into three parts, and one of them focuses specifically on women’s
cosmetics. I imagine that once a woman was able to keep her pesky uterus from
wandering (see this fascinating article
for more information), she was free to focus on her appearance.
One section that stood out to me was tips for dying hair. According
to Medievalists.net,
the Trotula recommended that “to achieve blonde hair, medieval women cooked
greater celandine, agrimony root, and boxwood shavings, tying them with oat
straw. They then created a cleanser using ashes of oat or vine to wash their
hair, resulting in lighter, golden locks.” This is pretty similar to ancient
Egyptians who used plant based dyes such as henna. Throughout history, women
have turned to natural ingredients they had easy access to in order to change
their appearance.
I became interested in learning about historical hair dye
when I got some highlights myself a few weeks ago. My natural hair color is
very dark, and I got some nice caramel blond streaks throughout my head. I
inherited some red in my hair from my Irish grandmother, and these highlights
make them pop. I usually get it toned in the salon, but I decided to try out an
at home gloss to save some money. I really enjoy using the L’Oréal Le Gloss
toner in Cool Brunette. It takes away any brassiness in my hair and also acts
as a mask. I’ve used it on wet hair, but I may try it out on dry hair to get a
more intense color pay off.
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