Medieval Hair Styles

Humans developed long head hair centuries ago, and we have been using it for self-expression (or just expression) ever since. A professor named Emanuele Luigli has written a whole book about how hair was used to symbolically represent order in Florence, Italy. He goes on at great length about Jesus’s center part being the epitome of order and Venus’s wild, ankle-length hair in Botticelli’s painting representing something uncontrollable.

At a practical level, I can bring you a few facts for you to express your own love of cosplay.

Ram’s Horns

These are now known as ‘the Princess Leia buns.’ You create two braids and then coil them over your ears. Paintings from the high middle-ages represent women wearing their hair in this style, and there are some interesting drawings of maids rolling massive braids into place.

Single braided buns high on the head also get a look in, though the standard low-hanging un-braided bun wasn’t particularly common.

These are good ways to get your long hair out of your face.

Braids Everywhere

Later, the one long braid tied onto the hair so that it goes across the forehead became basically mandatory. These were made by tying a ribbon onto the end of the braid and tying a needle onto the end of the ribbon. You then guide the needle around the body of the braid, scooping up the underlying hair to tie it on, while stretching the braid from one side of the head to the other. (Morgan Donner demonstrates this on YouTube. I tried copying her, but my arms do not work that way.)

Important Note:

If you are a married woman, your hair will be covered with a hair veil. A stray lock outside of the wimple and veil was scandalous and something that might cause your neighbors to question your morals. This is why Gretl in ‘Deaths At A Wedding’ asks Brynhild to tie on her hair covering at her first dinner with the in-laws. It’s also partly why Brynhild, in ‘The Importance of Loyalty’ and later books, wears a hair veil and wimple. It’s a way of borrowing a beard and representing her authority as someone ‘married’ to her job as Castellan of Meiser.

This is just a small slice of hairstyle history. I haven’t even touched on men’s beards and the importance thereof. Maybe next post. Just remember that, when you want to express your love of medieval hair, try the Princess Leia buns.