18th Century Hair, Don't Care

Styling with my 18th century hairdo

Sometimes we do really stupid stuff in the pursuit of recreating an aspect of history. Dressing my hair in an 18th century style using period means and methods (to a reasonable extent) is by no means the dumbest, but it's probably the messiest.

So why would one even go into this venture? Surely, if you want to look ye olde timey there must be a better way? There probably is. I could wear a wig, maybe I could use modern products, but where's the fun in that? As I would come to learn at the end of this experiment, a wig or modern products just don't give you the same look at all. So wanna learn about 18th century hair stuff? Ok, here we go.

To best understand dressing 18th century hair, you should understand the complex sciences of cooking a hearty breakfast complete with bacon and pancakes. Essentially, that's what you're putting in your hair: bacon grease and pancake mix. Alright, so it's a little more complicated than that, but same basic concept.

Two major products are used for 18th century hair dressing: pompatum (pomade) and hair powder. Several period recipes for both of these products exist and can easily be found via a simple google search. In true 18th century fashion, the recipes are fairly vague and don't call for specific ingredients or include ingredients that cannot be easily obtained in the 21st century.

Applying the pompatum.

In simple terms pompatum, now called pomade, is a mixture of rendered animal fats (and occasionally beeswax) meant to hold the hair in place. Hair powder is a very fine starch that absorbs the moisture from the pompatum and locks the style in place. Each recipe can be customized in small ways, such as changing up the animal fats used, adding color to powder, scent, etc., but the effect is consistent across the board. I have used several types of pomades in my lifetime: fat based, petroleum based, and water based, and I have to say that the fat based is the best stuff by far. It holds in place unlike water based, but it doesn't run like petroleum based does.

Anyway, I didn't really feel like experimenting with different fat mixtures, starches, and recipes, so I let the ladies at American Duchess do that for me, and I used the recipes out of their new book. The recipes work well though I do have a few thoughts. Thought one being that you do not need to wash your mutton tallow. It may give you a good feeling that you're going to remove the gamey smell by washing the tallow for a week, but in reality it doesn't do anything. Take it from a guy who makes beef tallow on the regular, the smell is either going to stay or go based on the nutrient content of the fat and there's nothing you can do about it. All that washing your tallow is going to do is potentially introduce bacteria into the tallow mixture via the water and extend the process. My other thought is that after working with both beef and mutton tallow, I think that beef tallow made from true suet is a viable (and cheaper) alternative to mutton tallow. I'll try that one on my next batch though.

Freshly powdered hair.
Now I'm ready to terrorize the neighborhood kids

Both products are very simple to make and take about 30 minutes total. I was going for a simple style with buckles on the sides of my head only, so i really didn't need too many tools to style my hair. All that was needed was something to separate the hair (my wife suggests alligator clips), a makeup brush to apply the powder (she suggests a kabuki brush), a curling iron, hair ties, and bobby pins. You will also need something to cover yourself with so you don't get powder all over your clothes and a buddy to style your hair.

The first thing that you have to do after combing your hair out is apply the pompatum and powder. To do this, you section out the hair and work the pompatum in one section at a time using your hands and combs. Your hair should look greasily damp when you're done, not soaking wet. We didn't have alligator clips to easily section it out so this process took about 30 minutes using hair ties and combs.

After greasing your hair down you apply the powder with a brush. Once again, you section is out and do it one bit at a time to prevent clumping. Make sure that you absorb all of the pompatum or you will have problems later on. Again, no clips so we used hair ties and we had a crappy small brush, so it took about 30 minutes to complete. More lessons learned.

We had to pause to powder the tiny human's hair too.

Now that you have the pompatum and powder in your hair, you will look like a scary witch and are prepped to scare all the neighborhood children.

The hair looks really cool at this stage. It was at this point that I realized that trying to recreate 18th century hair with a modern wig or using modern products just doesn't cut it. The definition of colors in the hair created by the natural hair color and powder simply is not something that can be duplicated with any modern means.

The next part is styling. This is the cool part because you get to experience how crazy the pompatum and powder really is. We were just doing two curls on each temple which is pretty simple to do in theory. I didn't think I had enough hair for two curls, and Allie assured me that I have enough hair for at least five on each side. Essentially, you section out the hair for the side curls, style them, and then push everything in the center back while trying not to fry your hair or get powder everywhere.

Allie's hand for volume compairison

To make the curls, you back comb the side section, which will result in your hair literally standing on end straight off your head because that's how fricken crazy the pompatum and powder holds. Then you apply some more pompatum to the base of the hair section and then your curl. After the curl is done, you will roll it over a cylinder to hold the hard shape (we used a section of 5/8 PVC pipe, but the originals were made of clay, and then you pin it in place. You can use regular old bobby pins, but if you want to be more historically accurate you can use Amish hair pins because they look almost exactly like surviving 18th century hair pins.

And that's really it in a nutshell. Tie the rest of your hair back, put a ribbon in it, and call it a day. The powder doesn't really go everywhere once it's set in the pompatum so it's really not that messy. And getting it out it a breeze. Shampoo your hair while everything is dry, then jump in the shower and it all comes right out. Your hair will feel fantastic afterwards too because you've just given it a nice oil treatment.

So what does it feel like to wear all this crap in your hair? It's quite nice actually. Your hair isn't that heavy, and the scents from the essential oils in the pompatum and powder are quite relaxing. I don't feel greasy nor are you permanently emanating a cloud like Pig Pen from the peanuts. Everything pretty much stays in place. The product will give your hair an insane amount of volume. I have super thick hair in general, but this stuff brings that to a whole new level.

If you want to find out why the wife and I were doing this, stick around for the next post to find out. It's for a super cool even that's on the horizon.

Stony Point Recap

So many things can be said about this event. First and foremost: it was absolutely amazing. The organizers rocked it to create an event that was amazing for spectator and participant alike. We were having fun, so the attendees were having fun.

The scenarios themselves, like the actual battle, were absolute chaos and adrenaline. The aftermath continued with the various scraps in the prisoner corral and the women giving the Continental troops one hell of a time while being captured. Go on social media, do a search for it and you'll see all the charged interpretation that was going on. You know you've done good when the spectators are getting worried, upset, and even crying at the interpretation that they are watching.

Besides the battles, we were doing what soldiers really should have been doing. During the day, we build fortifications to prevent oncoming attacks. Well, we built them as best as we could for a place where we couldn't dig. At night, there was music and leg wrestling. The ladies did laundry, and the kids played on the rocks. The life of an 18th century British regular may seem mundane, but immersing into that role is something truly spectacular.

Allie in the completed Virginia cloth gown. 

My favorite and truly immersive moment came during a work detail, where myself and two others were sent back to camp to get some rope. When we returned to camp we found it deserted of people, but with the officers' table completely stocked. After verifying that no one was around, we raided the officers' food, much to the amusement of the few spectators who saw it. After that we got some rope, and headed back like nothing had happened. That right there is living history.

This also marked Allie's first true event, and I think she's hooked now. Perhaps it was the throwing of vegetables at soldiers, the good company of the woman in the hobby, or just the camping in funny clothes that got to her, but she's in it now. I got her a knife as her recruitment bounty and put her initials on it so that it doesn't let lost. The tiny human also had a blast and naturally all of the picture were taken of her, so I think she's hooked as well. Then again she's a toddler, and her communication skills are not the greatest.

All in all, it was one hell of a time. In the weeks leading up I nearly ran myself ragged completing: one set of stays, one regimental coat, one gown, two petticoats, one bedgown, and one child's cap all for this thing, but it was worth it. Now that these shenanigans are over, it's time to get back to some civilian life... and by that I mean sewing civilian clothing. You really didn't think that I was going to rest did you?

Pre-Event Cramming

No matter how much you plan, you will inevitably end up cram sewing the week or two before an event. The bigger the event the more the cramming. Sewing is Stewpid. Enter Stony Point.

As this year is the 240th anniversary, it's a capstone event. The 17th Regiment is going to be all hands on deck and showing out in impressive force. We will stepping out with numbers equal to that of an actual weakened company at 40 plus men at arms. Pretty impressive considering most units are lucky to field the strength of a single platoon. With that comes more sewing.

On the list for completion is a new kit for the wife that fits properly, and oh yeah, lets throw in a regimental coat because doing a gown and bedgown in less than 3 weeks is not enough insanity for one guy with a full-time day job.

Luckily, this regimental was being made from a partially completed loaner coat so the most (32 of 43) lace loops were already finished. It was merely a simple task (he says with retrospective gusto that was in fact profuse profanity at the time) of pulling apart the coat, recutting the pieces to fit the wearer, and then re-assembling and finishing it.

I have to say that it was an enlightening task. I did a lot of the work at Fort Frederick during a POW event. I told Fort visitors that the original wearer had died in captivity so I was remaking it to fit another soldier; that got a lot of looks. It was a bit surreal pulling apart the garment as regimental tailors would do in the 18th century to remake it to fit a specific soldier. I even cut the thing using an original pair of shears from the 18th century. It was one of those moments that you can really reach out an touch history because you are a part of it.

Around and in between doing that, I was working on the wife's stuff. I once said that I would never make lady's clothing. Since saying that, I have subsisted on a diet consisting primarily of crow. Women's clothing is not as hard as I thought it was going to be and the results have been fantastic.

I wanted her to have a cool relaxed garment and an nice garment for the summer, so she got a striped linen bedgown and a Virginia cloth gown. The bedgown was simple, but I have made one before. Since the bedgown is unlined linen, I cheated on the interior seams and machined them where I could since they will all be felled and unseen. That was an afternoon project, but the begown looks great.

Side note: Virginia Cloth is amazing if you can find it. It is a 50/50 mixture of worsted wool and cotton. The stuff looks like any worsted, but is super light and breathable. It is absolutely perfect for summer wear. I'm jealous that she will be wearing this while I am dressed in heavy drilling and broadcloth. In flash photos, it looks like a sheer that you can see though, but it's not that way in person.

The gown has been an adventure. It's not as difficult as I thought it was going to be, just different in the construction. Unlike men's clothing, where a lot of things are sewn from the inside of the garment, the outside of the garment is the working side for a gown. The process otherwise is very similar: fit the garment with a mock-up, then put it together. Ok, maybe that's a bit of an over simplification of garment construction.

Anyway, it's not that bad. I thought the pleats on the back of the gown would be very difficult to do, but with a little patience and the assistance of of a folding cheat sheet penciled on to a piece of fabric, they turned out perfectly. I was surprised to find that pleating is done flat on the exterior fabric only cut in a large rectangle. Once the pleats are stitched down, the lining is attached and cut to match the shape of the lining. It's an ingenious process that still amazes me. All in all, the gown is coming together nicely and is almost finished.

I have two more days until Stony Point, and only need to finish the sleeves and hem the skirts. Oh yeah, and make some petticoats. The struggle is real.

Sewing Boning Channels with My Heretical Sewing Machine

I bought a sewing machine. Gasp! I bought an old sewing machine; a Singer 99K from the 1950s to be exact. Short history of the Singer 99 series machines: they were first produced in the 1930s as a portable machine (at 30 lbs), made of cast iron and the electric ones used a belt driven exterior motor. The first series controlled the stitch length using a tunable dial, the second series controlled the stitch length using a settable toggle, and the third series allowed for a reverse stitch function. I have the third series. 

The thing is heavy, loud, and the peddle is like that of a car. I love it. There are YouTube videos of people sewing through multiple layers of leather with it. I don't need that level of intense, but multiple layers of the heaviest linen buckram will do. I used this baby to sew boning channels, which it did like a champ. Added bonus, the stitches are not as nice a modern sewing machines, so they look like the stitches of an experience hand sewer. 

Unfortunately, you can't use linen thread on a sewing machine, but you can get 12 wt. cotton thread, which is very similar to 50/3 linen thread in weight and durability. That is what I used. You will need about 3/4 of a spool of 12 wt. cotton thread to do a set of fully boned stays.

The thing that I like about this machine is that unlike modern sewing machines, the lock stitch that is formed is completely symmetrical on the top and bottom of your fabric, which means I can sew with the linen canvas upwards and still create a perfect stitch on the exterior fabric. That is exactly what I did. 

After looking at the boning patterns on original garments, I simply drew the boning channel lines on the linen canvas using a quilting ruler and a pencil. After that, I sewed all the channels at 10 stitches per inch on the linen side, and turned the stays over to reveal perfectly sewn boning channels on the exterior fabric side. 

After that it was a matter of stuffing the channels, cutting off the excess canvas, and folding over and whipping the edges to finish each piece. I could have done the whole thing in a long afternoon, but it took a few evenings to do. 

Stays and How to Make Them (Without Harming Yourself or Others)

Stays suck! Ask any reenactor about stays and they probably have some sort of horror story or humorous digression about them. My reluctant journey into stays started helping my wife with hers. She made a pair using a well documented commercial pattern and they never quite seemed to do the job. First, the reed cane bones would escape the channels, so I bound them. Then a few of the reeds snapped, but there was nothing we could do about that. Then they kept moving weird, or digging into her legs and torso when she sat or bent, they felt to long, or maybe too loose--all we knew was that something wasn't right.

The Functional Product

So what do you do when the altered purchased pattern doesn't fit right? You guessed it, something stupid. "I'll just learn to draft stays, and I'll make you a new pair," is what I said. What I should have said though is: "I'm a big stupid head, but I'll make you some stays because I love you and I don't want you to be uncomfortable. But seriously, we may want to get me institutionalized."

Fortunately, this really sweet book just came out that I would consider THE book on stays and all sorts of other ladies' under things. It's called Patterns of Fashion 5 and it is an amazing book. It can only be purchased through the School of Historic Dress in the UK here: http://theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk. The reason that I say that it is THE book on stays is due to the primary source information on the entire process creating stays, including methodology to draft stays from the wearers measurements.

No trade secret giveaways here, just buy the book and we'll discuss. My distilled notes just on making 18th century stays fill six full pages. It is comprehensive to say the least. Long story short, I did a ton of research and applied the methodology in this book to draft my wife a pair of stays.

What I learned from the study of stay makers is that I believe that most modern stay makers are going about it the wrong way. From the information gleaned from the primary sources the cutters and stay makers main concerns is the proper fit of the bust and waist. They need to be properly measured and at the right places on the body so that the stays fit properly, do not move, and do not cause discomfort. Everything else for the most part is superfluous (within reason) and at the behest of the maker or wearer.

We get so caught up in trying to create an exact replica of an original garment that we miss the mark on certain things. Yes, those beautiful silk stays may have a low back and low swallow tail, but why were they made that way? Those features may look good and feel fine when standing at a ball, but a working woman may find that she can't bend over to cook with the low swallow tail, and that the low back provides no support.

Drawing the drafted pattern on to the fabric

Like the 18th century cutter, you should make your pattern conducive to how the garment will be worn. For this reason, you will notice that the back on these stays comes up high to offer support during work, but not too high. The swallow tail and tabs are not huge. The still provide the proper silhouette, but allow the wearer to bend and sit without causing discomfort.

Measuring and drafting was not as bad as you would think. I suggest using the paper tape method because you are less likely to try to rationalize the body with units of measure and will just do it. It's weird at first but trust me, it works.

Your measurements need to be tight and accurate. I cannot stress this enough. Adding even 1/8 inch error to each edge of every panel can compound across eight panels into an error of 2 inches. Be tight, accurate, and consistent, and you won't have to do it again.

I drafted her stays, and then cut the mock up from some shipping boxes that we hadn't recycled yet. If you ever to this method, I've noticed that a duck tape butt stitch doesn't actually work and you will get gapping in the seams. Make sure that you account for any of these seam gaps when making your adjustments. I had 1.5 inches total seam gap caused by the duck tape.

Artistic shot of sewing boning channels

In retrospect, the mock up went near perfect, though I didn't feel that way at the time. I had to take off 3.75 inches of material to get them to fit properly. Ok, I know that doesn't sound like it fit perfectly, but check this out: The stay drafting methodology drafts the pattern from the center front of the torso to the center back, which means that if drafted properly, the stays will fit the wearer perfectly, when enclosed. That leaves no spacing for lacing in the front or back. So remove 2 inches for lacing, and my error is reduced to 1.75 inches. We've already discussed that the gapping in the duck tape added 1.5 inches across the total garment, so that makes my true error 1/4 inch! I was impressed then. And even more impressed when the finished product, with 1/4 inch removed, first perfectly with a 2 inch gap for lacing.

I did have to make a few adjustments to the mock up. I moved the front of the arm scythe forward a bit because it was digging and brought the swallowtail on the front up a little bit. I took these adjustments, and then drew a final pattern for her stays. Then the fun part started. Actually making the things, which I will cover later because I think I've rambled enough for one post.

Update: I'm Terrible at Updates

It's been awhile since I've written anything. Like an embarrassingly long time. It's not for lack of productivity. In fact, I've been overly productive, and that's probably been my problem. Since my last post, I've made:

• Two British regimental coats
• One British military waistcoat
• One 1750's worsted waistcoat
• Four pair of breeches
• One 1750's double breasted coat
• One girl's gown
• One pair of (functional) pair of stays that needs binding and lining
• One bedgown
• One man's check shirt
• Two hats

I taught the folks at Fort Frederick how to make hats, and have been mentoring some of the interpreters in sewing. My buddy Jacob is about to start his first garment on his own, a workman's coat based off the one in Henry Cooke's collection that I patterned for him, and that's super exciting. Maybe he's a more reliable writer than I am, and you'll be reading his blog soon :-)

Somewhere in there, I decided to take the venture into making women's clothing to help my wife. There's a lot of reading that was done to start up that venture. Janet Arnold Vols. 1 and 5 are my friends, as are The Cut of Women's Clothes, Costume Up Close, and The American Duchess Guide to Sewing.

Non-sewing, 18th-century-related, I made a reproduction Lyman pouch and stupidly started a custom powder horn that I bought when I was sick. Some people drunkenly Amazon shop for electronics, I feverishly shop for 18th century projects.

I think that's it. Thirteen garments and obtaining a theoretical understanding in the construction of 18th century ladies clothing in less than five months is pretty damn good if you ask me for someone who does this in their spare time. I'll try to write some recaps for some of the individual garments, but like I said, I'm bad at updates.

London Town Immersion Day

There's this cool place down in the Annapolis area called Historic London Town and Gardens. The scenery is beautiful, as is the Brown House, but the coolest thing by far are the two lapped, non-insulated reconstructed 18th century buildings that I called home a few weekends ago.

The busy tavern

For one weekend, the small area in London Town was turned into a functioning 18th century community. One of the buildings served as a tavern, which fed all of the interpreters all day, and the other as the tailor shop. I worked in the tailor shop all weekend, portraying the Alexander Ferguson, Jr., the eldest son of the recently deceased patriarch.

Measuring a client for a new coat.

It was quite interesting playing a real person, especially one that I had almost no information on other than an name and birth date. I had to think about who this guy was, what was he like at this particular moment in time, and then I loaded as much crap as I possibly could into my truck to try to turn a carpenter shop into a tailor's shop and household.

It was a fun weekend. I prefer to travel light to living history events, but I also don't like sites to look like museum pieces. They should look functional and lived in so that people don't think they're in a museum. I spent the day trying to sell prospective customers on new articles of clothing, while trying to settle debts from my recently deceased father's estate. No one commissioned any clothes, and no one paid their debts. I was unsuccessful for the day.

Looking fly and drinking claret

The highlight by far was the duel between myself and a ship's captain to settle an aforementioned debt. We conscripted children to carry messages back and forth all day slowly escalating the debt, until we eventually fought a duel in the center of town. We chose spectators as our seconds, who tried (and failed) to resolve the dispute. As we trash talked each other to the spectators, our seconds were taken through the dueling ceremony and then we loaded our pistols (loaded with blanks), leveled them, and fired.

Unfortunately, it was below freezing, so my steel pistol misfired, and my opponents naval pistol only ignited in the pan. It was a bit of a let down, but the crowd (and fellow interpreters who had no idea that a duel would happen) was excited and on edge. Afterwards, we had a glass of Port in the tavern and all was well.

Will I do it again. Heck yes, there's a ton of good history happening at London Town and the interpretation is stellar. It's a hidden gem, and you should go if you get the chance.