It Was a "Tremendously Touchy" Subject

[Eleanor Rose]

Metropolitan Museum of Art/Public Domain ​

When they posed for photographs, I knew soldiers often dressed up in fresh uniforms and brandished multiple weapons, some of them props provided by the portrait studio. They wanted to look strong, brave, and quite likely handsome. What I didn't know was where the grooming products came in.

According to Sean Trainor, a lecturer at the University of Florida and historian of men's hairstyles, it's hard to know exactly how many 19th-century men used hair dye. Mr. Trainor says men were "tremendously touchy" about the subject because it was often seen as "foppish, vain, and unnatural." Nonetheless, he maintains it's clear they used them. Newspaper advertisements marketed these products, both through urban shops and via mail order, and men could even cook up chemical concoctions at home.

Stephen McBride is the director of interpretation at Camp Nelson, a significant Civil War site that served as a Union Army hospital and supply center, and one of the nation's largest enlistment hubs for African Americans joining the U.S. Colored Troops. At Camp Nelson, archaeologists found evidence that soldiers applied hair dye or oil before sitting for a portrait. Once they cleaned their finds and began to reassemble the glass pieces back into the shape of bottles, they got a sense of the grooming products that they once contained. The team found text on some of the reassembled bottles and began scouring newspaper articles and books about historic bottles to learn about the companies that produced them and what they were advertised for. They found bottles of Dr. Jaynes (also spelled "Dr. Jayne's") and Cristadoro hair dye, plus Bear's oil, which also claimed to make thinning hair a little thicker. Mr. McBride says that, according to a note he encountered in a book on Civil War photos, people sometimes darkened blonde, white, or salt-and-pepper hair for photos, so it didn't look too washed out.

All in all, the archaeologists discovered about 10 bottles of hair dye and seven bottles of hair oil. These bottles are a reminder that, before they went to battle, many men tried to put their best face forward in photographs for their loved ones.

 

[DBF]

I know William Shakespeare often gets the blame for this quote but it was what popped up in my head when I read this:

"Vanity - thy name is woman". - Not So Fast!!

 

[donna]

A lot of men still dye their hair.

 

[nc native]

P. G. T. Beauregard was somewhat vain about his appearance and supposedly used dye on his hair and mustache according to a book I read many years ago. I imagine George Pickett and George Custer would like to put on their best too before posing for any camera or artist's easel based on their reputations.

 

[Mrs. V]

Grecian formula comes to mind! Actually my hairdresser told me I could use the "beard and mustache" colorant on my eyebrows..safer than trying to use dye...I wonder what was used in the hair colourant back in the day? I know you can use henna to makae your hair red..hmm..walnut oil?

 

[Rhea Cole]

Another affectation, as in this image, was to push their caps back. This was done because a high forehead was considered a mark of intellectual ability. Not so silly in an age were bumps on heads was believed to show a person's character.
It is sometimes possible to trace where an image was floated by the photographer's prop weapons.

 

[Mrs. V]

Another affectation, as in this image, was to push their caps back. This was done because a high forehead was considered a mark of intellectual ability. Not so silly in an age were bumps on heads was believed to show a person's character.

Phrenology! I would say I can't believe we did this..but then again, I hear people talk about how "some people just look evil"...

 

[Shannon Wolf]

These old photos really obscured hair color to begin with. I wonder how you would determine if someone did? It's like the heavy eye makeup in the silent films was largely to make the eyes stand out in a medium where they may not normally. They used black lipstick for the same reason.