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Medieval hair care products included dry shampoo and sulfate free shampoo bars-- and maybe flaxseed gel and ACV! Head to to get 15% off free shipping for life on Pique’s Radiant Skin Duo. You also get a complimentary Starter Kit (beaker frother) when you start your new ritual. Medieval hair care may be very different from modern hair routines, but many hair products are older than we think! Dry shampoo, sulfate free shampoo or “no shampoo“ hair washing, and shampoo bars are all old hair products with a fascinating history we may not be aware of. However, a few hair products we think of as age-old, like vinegar rinses for hair or flaxseed gel, might not be as old as we are told they are. Hair powder is known as a staple of 18th century hair care, used to create the powdered wigs and tall 18th century hairstyles. It's actually very similar to dry shampoo! 18th century hair powder recipes are very similar to some modern dry shampoo sprays. We also have a hair powder recipe that go all the way back to the 12th century from the Trotula, and it's used for very similar reasons as dry shampoo is today. Sulfate free shampoo, known today as no poo, also goes back to the Middle Ages-- because sulfates are a 20th century invention! In Medieval Europe hair was washed infrequently, because the available products were made from bar soap or lye, neither of which are good for frequent use. In the rest of the world, saponins from plants like several species of soapberry or from quinoa provided a gentle means of cleaning hair and many other things. Even modern shampoo bars are often just soap, and while I love shampoo bars, this is a hair care trend I would be happy to leave in the past. However, it turns out modern curly hair care staples like vinegar and flaxseed gel are not documented in the Middle Ages in Europe. Vinegar makes an appearance in recipes for natural hair dye and for pest control, but not so much in hair care routines! And the flaxseed gel for curly hair we know and love is a possibility in Medieval times, but it isn't a proven fact. We know Medieval people made gel from flaxseeds, but we don't have any evidence that it was used as a hair product until much later hair care recipes. While it's certainly plausible, I think it's important to stay aware of the marketing myths that are used to sell us hair products-- because even these myths can go back centuries. Join my Patreon for behind-the-scenes updates, pattern diagrams, research lists, monthly video chats, and more! Or, you can buy me some Ko-Fi : Follow me on IG for more stitchy business : @missSnappyDragon For business inquiries, send an e-mail to : SnappyDragon at TBHonestSocial dot Com I do not take personal costume/sewing or research commissions. Want to send me letters? Send mail to PO Box 3884, Berkeley CA, 94703! Letters and cards only please 💚 Attributions : The following music was used for this media project: Music: Tavern Loop One by Alexander Nakarada Free download: License (CC BY 4.0): Vetch plant photographed by byself in 1979, Unterfranken, Germany, CC-BY-SA 3.0, Sapindus emarginatus in Hyderabad, India, photographed by J. M. Garg, CC-BY-SA 4.0, Western soapberry photographed by Rotareneg, CC-BY-SA 3.0, Chapters : 0:00 Some 18th century hair styling 0:34 An ad for hair powder 1:18 Hair products that are older than you think 1:55 Teatime, with our sponsor! 3:46 Dry shampoo from the middle ages 5:38 18th century hair powder 7:18 Why sulfate free shampoo is so old 8:45 Some gentler historical shampoo recipes 9:50 Shampoo bars that are just bar soap 10:44 Vinegar rinses? 11:46 The complicated history of flaxseed gel 16:02 Hair product MARKETING is older thank you think!
