Reconstructing Roman Hair and Deconstructing Myths about Hair

Several scholars have repeated the story that Roman women had slaves (called ornatrices, or ornatrix in the singular) who styled their hair daily. There are scores of paintings and reliefs that show wealthy women sitting in front of mirrors, with attendants working away on their hair, and satirists joke about cruel mistresses who demand perfection from their stylists.

However, many Roman women were able to style their own hair, and it is probable that then, just as now, women in the same household helped each other with their hair. Two scholars, Elizabeth Bartman and Janet Stephens, have made videos in which Roman hairstyles are recreated. In the process they have shown that the styles which looked impossibly complex to previous scholars are actually quite simple, once broken down into steps.

In this video, produced by Bartman, Faustina the Elder's hair is reconstructed:

Janet Stephens shows us how to style Faustina the Younger's hair here:

As a bonus, Stephens also shows men's hairstyles:

Janet Stephens has made several videos on Roman hair and even one on Roman earrings, which are available here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jntvstp