Hair Today, Gone... Never?

December 13, 2018 7:34 AM

For almost fifty years, the increasing emphasis on dramatic mourning in the English-speaking world spurred an unlikely medium for art: severed human hair. Hair could be prepared for art, jewelry, or keepsakes in four different ways depending on texture. Hairwork isn't dead, however. There are still artists who work with human hair--and some of them even teach classes in the Victorian style.

Of course, if you're not a joiner, there's always Mark Campbell's original Art of Hair Work: Dressing Hair, Making Curls, Switches, Braids, and Hair Jewelry of Every Description. For those who want to see more of the Victorian stuff, Leila's Hair Museum offers tours to the public, and of course you can always join the Hairwork Society. They haven't thrown a Hairball since 2000, alas!

Previously.

posted by sciatrix (3 comments total)

Interesting since my sister and I actually inherited some hair jewelry.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 9:37 AM on December 13, 2018

This is a fascinating post!

The whole disgust/attraction thing that the Hairpin article discusses is really interesting re: hair art. For me, the Victorian pieces are kind of unsettling yet compelling because they doesn't really look like hair once they've been made into wreaths and bows and things? Like "oh, that's an interesting straw sculpture thing...OH."
posted by LadyNibbler at 11:09 AM on December 13, 2018 [3 favorites]

(Idk why "severed human hair" is such an ominous phrase.)
posted by XtinaS at 12:34 PM on December 13, 2018 [2 favorites]