Hair Loss Through History
Hair brings ones self image into focus—it is vanitys proving ground. Hair is terribly personal, a tangle of mysterious prejudices.
–Shana Alexander
Introduction – The psychological and societal impacts of hair loss
Throughout history, humans have had a love/hate relationship with hair. We love and cant live without it; we hate it and cant wait to do something different with it.
For men and women alike, one of the most distressing aspects of growing older is the loss of hair. Since the dawn of time hair has begun regarded as part of what makes each individual unique and special; contributing to how they and others view them. Hair has been referred to as a crowning glory, particularly in relation to women and continues to be a very important part of how most people are identified. Regardless of whether a person likes the texture, length, color or degree of thickness of their hair it is still theirs and when it is lost there is an extreme sense of grief.
In the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah, Samsons hair was the source of his extreme strength. Once his long locks were shorn, he was as weak and defenseless as any other man. A number of childrens fairy tales feature hair as the center of the plot. Rapunzel is one of the most famous and cherished of all childhood fables. The intrigue of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears may involve waiting to find out if the little girl is discovered as she pilfers through the Bears home, but nevertheless the story takes its name from the long golden locks sported by the mischievous little sprite.
Almost from the beginning of time, mankind has sought a way to replace hair as it began to be lost. One of the earliest cures promoted for the restoration of hair loss was found in ancient Egyptian archeological finds. This cure involved combining a noxious mixture of onions, iron, honey and alabaster and then drinking it while praying to the sun god and reciting a spell. Four hundred years later, the Egyptians had apparently moved on to treating their scalps with the fats and greases taken from slaughtered animals in an effort to restore their hair. Other, even less appetizing cures for hair loss involved animal refuse and body parts.
In ancient Greece, Hippocrates noticed, perhaps for the first time, that men who had been castrated never went bald. This led to the discovery that hair loss was somehow related to the sexual organs and what we now know to be hormones. Throughout the rest of his life, the Father of Modern Medicine continued in a search for a successful hair loss cure, however he was never able to find it.
Julius Ceasar is one of the most famous statesmen to have suffered from hair loss. Even during the days of the Roman Empire, it was not considered acceptable to suffer hair loss. During the 19th century a number of curatives were advertised and promoted as being capable of growing and restoring hair. One such product avertised to restore hair growth was manufactured and produced by Fletcher Sutherland. The former preacher toured the country along with his seven daughters, touting the miracle properties of his elixir; known as the Seven Sutherland Sisters Hair Grower. One of the major selling points of the supposed cure was the evidence of the Sutherland sisters extremely long locks-together the seven girls had hair lengths measuring up to thirty seven feet. The infamous elixir was actually composed of alcohol, various vegetables oils and water. During the near 40 year history of Sutherlands elixir business, the family raked in almost $3 million.
Even into the early 20th century peddlers were still doing plenty of healthy business marketing various hair restoration elixirs and products. Sears and Roebuck carried one of these products in their 1909 catalog. The product, called Princess Brand Hair Restorer and Bust Developer, came with a money back guarantee should the consumer not be fully delighted with the product.
In the current day and age, most conservative styles dictate that women are the only ones to wear their hair long; at least without getting a couple of raised eyebrows. This was not always the case, however. At one time in our history, it was quite common, even expected for men to wear their hair loose. Throughout much of the early history of the United States men wore their hair much below the collar. During the 60s and 70s it was all the rage for males to let their hair grow as long as they dared. Some look back upon it now with a bit of a smirk while others are still holding true to this fashion statement.