Victorian hairstyles

In our first hair lesson of the term with Helen she showed us the typical hairstyles of the Victorian era (1837-1901) and how they changed from the beginning of the period (1830-1860) to towards the end of Queen Victoria's reign (1860-1890). 
Most women never cut their hair during this time so their hair was very long, usually they would only cut it if their were ill or caught an infestation such as head lice and had no choice. Throughout the period women wore their hair in a bun at the back with a center parting and hair worn loose at the sides of their face, either curled or plaited for detail with a sleek, smooth finish. 
At the beginning of Queen Victorias reign the buns were worn either quite high or in the center of the back of the head to accomodate for the wearing of bonnets and the ringlets at the sides of their face were very tight like little sausages which made them appear shorter. Alternatively the hair at the sides of the face would be plaited neatly and incorporated into the bun, either way the style was very sleek and polished in finish.

During the 1850's the curls became looser and more relaxed so they sat lower than before and had a more romantic look. As time went on the bun got lower and the curls became longer and looser and they used padding to create higher hairstyles. These hair styles became very elaborate and detailed with a lot of curls and waves and included decorations such as flowers and ornaments and beautiful hats. The Victorian womans hair would typically be in quite bad condition as they used to curl their hair using metal tongs that they heated up on a fire or on a metal stone without the use of the heat protection we have today. When our hair gets damaged from heat or colouring we regularly trim our hairs these days however the Victorians didn't cut their hair at all and rarely washed it.

Image references:
https://threadbythread.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/queen_victoriawedding.jpg
http://thegraphicsfairy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Queen-Victoria-GraphicsFairy1.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Stieler_Archduchess_1832.jpg
http://individual.utoronto.ca/beaujot/web2/images/bwhair7.jpg
https://ladiesof2318.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/victorian-hairstyles.jpg
http://ancientpoint.com/imgs/a/a/o/m/y/19thc_antique_john_l_harding_oc_portrait_oil_painting_young_victorian_woman_3_lgw.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/56/9b/93/569b935b8aa14f7f011fb8949caffb25.jpg