Pre-Raphaelite Tresses

Why were the Pre-Raphaelites so fascinated with a woman's hair? The answer seems obvious....a woman's hair has been considered "her glory" since Biblical days and before. However, further information on the role of a woman's hair in Victorian times gives even more insight into why the hair was such a romantic and erotic image in Pre-Raphaelite art. In a biography of Fannie Cornforth, author Kristy Walker says "Loose hair was seen rarely in Victorian society and had two connotations. A child could wear her hair down, but as soon as she aspired to be a woman, or more essentially a 'lady' her hair was strictly pinned up. To be seen loose-haired was a pleasure reserved for her husband, in the bedroom. It's not a coincidence that the act of pinning up hair is called 'dressing' hair..." This certainly explains the prevalence of Rossetti paintings of a woman at her toilet, combing or unbinding her hair, with a faraway look in her eyes, like the artwork of Fannie Cornforth above.

Author Anne Hollander in her book Seeing through Clothes says "More than at any other time [Pre-Raphaelite] women's hair was important in the nineteenth century...with immediately erotic overtones and a strong connection with real life. Thick and abundant female hair safely conveyed a vivid sexual message in an atmosphere of extreme prudery....Pre-Raphaelite hair, like the Pre-Raphaelite face and body, was one of the truly original images invented by nineteenth-century art. The kinky, thick stuff weights the head and shades the face, as it is also heatedly described as doing in various kinds of Romantic literature. Lines such as Swinburne's "Thou shalt darken his eyes with thy tresses,/Our Lady of Pain" and many more in the same vein parallel the emotional and suggestive--though not so erotic--use of drapery in art."

Often times, however, I've wondered...why is Pre-Raphaelite hair so often today called "Pre-Raphaelite curls"...especially when only one of the Stunners had naturally kinky curly hair (Jane Morris)? The term today seems to have come to mean 'curly spiralled hair in a nimbus around the head,' but more often in PR art, the hair when unbound was very softly waved from the plaits the women kept it in all day.
A photo of Fannie Cornforth combing her incredible long Pre-Raphaelite locks.

So at what point did the term "Pre-Raphaelite curls" come into use? My suspicion is that, like so many modern expressions, it was created by commercialism in order to promote a style that could be only successfully achieved through assistance (i.e. paying for someone to style your hair that way), with a name that automatically conjured up romance and medievalism. In actuality, to achieve "Pre-Raphaelite hair" all one must do is braid one's hair when half dry, and let it dry before taking it down. That is, after all, what the original Pre-Raphaelite woman would do. Shhh...the commercial marketing specialists wouldn't want you to know that!

Yes, I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist there. Either that or cynical. I swear I'm neither. I just think too much.
There IS another solution, however, if your hair tends to not hold a wave when you try the braiding method. Thanks to modern technology, there's a tool called the triple barrel curling iron, a strange torture-device-looking contraption. This device truly works, however, giving Pre-Raphaelite waves to almost anyone who can start with a straight or semi-straight texture as a basis.
Using a triple barrel curling iron is pretty foolproof...one just uses it like a crimping iron, down the length of a section of hair. It does, however, take time to "crimp" the entire hair...my mid-back length hair took about 2 hours.

The bottom line is this...a woman's hair was once a sexual symbol only allowed to be shown to one's "husband" to whom one "belonged." We've advanced far beyond this attitude, but a woman's hair can still be considered extremely sexual. What better way to flaunt how far we've come than to show off your Pre-Raphaelite locks for all the world to see?

Stay tuned Monday for a post about the dark side of Pre-Raphaelite hair!