The Basics

The Basics

How to keep your hair from flying away:

To keep your hair in place, you need to use a hair pomade. This also helps smooth out frizzies that you might have as well as keep back your bangs, if you have any. A few brands of hair pomade I have heard works wonderfully are Citre Shine Highly Polished Glossing Pomade and Main ‘N Tail Hair Dressing. I have used the Citre Shine brand and it works wonderfully. I thought I have heard that Speedy and Kara at Corner Clothiers sell pomade that comes in a period correct containers. I've used it before and it also works great. They are inexpensive and should last you quite a long time. This is a much more period alternative to hairspray or gel and in my opinion, works so much better.

Hairpins:

There are a few types of hair pins that truly keep your hair from falling out. One of the kinds I particularly like look a lot like pins used in the mid 19^th century. Although, these are made of plastic. I found mine at Sally’s Beauty Supply, but you may also get them online here.

I have also heard that some people use these hairpins from an Amish and Mennonite head covering store online. I have never used them before, but they do look like they would work very nicely.

Another alternative is to just use bobby-pins, although I’m not sure how authentic they are and they always pop out of my hair. If you do use bobby-pins, when you stick them in your hair, make sure you don’t catch a huge hunk of hair at one time. Just take a small amount of hair for each pin and they will stay in your hair a lot longer.

Hairpieces:

If you have short hair, or would like to try a hairstyle out but don’t have thick enough hair or long enough hair to accomplish it, you might consider purchasing a false hairpiece. There are a few places I know that carry them. Some Sally Beauty Supply shops carry them. I found some once at a shop near me, but they don’t carry them anymore. At least, they have a smaller selection of colors than they used to. But, one near you may, and it’s worth checking out. They sold some as low as $2.00 that were pretty good, if you could get one to match your hair color. They also had some human hair that matched my hair perfectly. Although, the one I purchased is only 10" long and you can’t very well braid or twist that length of hair into many types of buns. (I am planning on braiding smaller sections and using it for a somewhat wild 1830s hairstyle.) In March 2004 I went to a hair workshop by Stacy Hampton for the Ladies and Gentleman of the 1860's Conference and I found out that Heirloom Emporium carries very nice hairpieces. Although, I cannot say that the other products they carry are worth purchasing. These hairpieces are a bit more pricey, but they are of better quality than the cheap ones at Sally’s. They have many more colors as well. In fact, I actually found a color that matches my hair perfectly! But, it’s much better if you can get your hair matched in person than sending a piece of your hair for them to match.

Other Hairstyling sites online:

Alaina's Guide to Civil War Hairstyles