Dying Your Hair In 1650

 

There is a great website called Ask The Past with all sorts of advice from old books. Some of it is pretty funny. Some of it is horrifying. A tremendous amount of research has gone into all these articles by the woman who compiles it. Check it out. Here’s one of the articles. I had to look up some of the words so you wouldn’t have to. You’re welcome. I’m also putting some of it in more modern language. Have no idea about copyright on this kind of thing. I’m not using the original picture either. I found one that will fit.

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To dye your hair black, take 20 or 30 horse-leeches, as many as you can get. Steep them in a stoppered bottle with a half pint or more of course red wine for two months. Then apply and comb through your hair often while sitting in the sun. The hair will soon become brown if not quite black.

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Haemopis sanguisuga (horse leech) is a truly disgusting critter. They can get up to 6 inches in length.

Now imagine a handful of 20 or 30 of them. *shudder*

Imagine what the stuff smells like. *shudder*

Imagine combing this through your hair on a regular basis. *barf*

 

All in the name of beauty…