Elizabethan hair trends

Culture in England changed dramatically when Elizabeth became queen. The middle ages were so strict on religion, everything revolved around it. Religion was still very important, but Elizabeth encouraged people to show interest in science and art. Perhaps this is why people began to be so adventurous and artistic with their hair! Women showed character through their hair- it was often frizzy and naturally curly (as made fashionable by the queen) and had a lot of height to it. This was because adding height to a hairstyle would create the illusion of a higher forehead, which was a sign of wealth and nobility. Women would use pads and wires to get the desired height and shape. A ‘heart shaped’ hair style was very common, another look make popular by Elizabeth.

Unsurprisingly, as well as fair skin being extremely popular, so was fair hair. To achieve this women would dye their hair with cumin seeds, saffron and oil. Sometimes women would even use urine to dye hair too! As well as fair hair being fashionable, red hair was very desirable too. This was obviously down to Elizabeth and her famous red hair.

Generally, young girls would wear their long hair down and older married women would wear their hair up. This would either be in a bun so that head coverings could go on easily, or it would be one of the extravagant updos that I mentioned earlier. Some women were not able to achieve these styles due to their hair type so they would often completely shave their hair off and replace it with a wig. Wigs were extremely popular and often worn by Elizabeth herself.

The Elizabethans famously wore beautiful head pieces and would use expensive jewels and pearls to decorate their hair. However, these pieces were extremely expensive and only worn by royalty and very wealthy women. A lot of women would wear a head dress that was shaped in a way that would create the illusion of a heart shaped head/face. 

reference- http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-hair-styles.htm

 http://elizabethanenglandlife.com/elizabethan-hairstyles.html

 http://www.extremecostuming.com/articles/twoelizabethanhairstyles.html