Locks of Hair -- Romantic or Creepy?

[MissQueenie]

The practice of requesting, giving, or bequeathing locks of hair as tokens of affection or memorials of loved ones gone to their rest was extremely common in the late 18th-19th centuries. Often, these locks were fashioned into jewelry.

I personally find this practice touchingly sentimental in the case of mourning jewelry, and deeply Romantic (in both a literary and a modern sense) in the case of lover's tokens.

So, am I the only person who doesn't think this practice is totally creepy? I admit when it comes to the hair of the deceased, it's a little macabre -- but for a living lover?

 

["Doc" Devereux]

I'm a sucker for this as a romance thing, but then I also grok the sympathetic link considered to exist in certain magic-using cultures that to have a part of someone (such as a lock of their hair) is to be literally connected to them. To me, that just adds to the thing further: the idea of giving a part of oneself to ones love so the couple are together always.

This has completely ruined my cold, hard. terriby British facade, hasn't it?

 

[Matthew Dalton]

Less creepy than Billy-Bob and Angelina wearing eachother's blood maybe... Really I'd only think this gets sick if you keep someone's hair after you've broken-up with them.

 

[Feraud]

Is that hair in the ring? Amazing! Those have to be the most perfect rings I have ever seen! :eusa_clap
I think it is a very touching gesture for a gal to cut and braid her hair into something for her guy.
Cutting snippets of the deceased hair was common in the centuries before the 20th.
Forget the Angelina/Billy Bob blood vial fiasco. They appeared to both have mental problems and do not count towards continuing a tradition of sentimental jewelry.

 

[scotrace]

Meaningful Symbolism

Those rings are quite beautiful.
When people are in love and the connection is genuine, tokens that have meaningful symbolism can become important and cherished. Being able to wear something that has been a physical part of a lover would be a great way to get those little secret smile moments every time you look at it through the day. It can also be a comforting thing to have when separated. When couples swing by one of the jewelry store chains on the way back from getting groceries to pick out a couple of rings that look like every other ring in every other store - where's the romance in that?

A relationship that is unique should be marked with very individual tokens. I wonder if hair jewelry can still be had? Or are the very specialized skills required to make it lost?





And a thought: I wonder if you would have to remove those to wash your hands?



.

 

[RetroModelSari]

I would think it very romantic if a loved one would give me a lock of hair to keep… I¬¥d consider it creepy if someone chops off a lock of hair off a dead person to keep…

 

[Feraud]

A relationship that is unique should be marked with very individual tokens. I wonder if hair jewelry can still be had? Or are the very specialized skills required to make it lost?

I think there is a small group of women who still create hair jewelry.

 

[Lauren]

I'm torn on this- I think it's creepy- but in a cool way. I'm not quite sure how I feel about wearing some dead person's hair, but on the other hand- it's very period appropriate. I like the idea of a lock of hair being kept in a locket with either a miniature painting or a picture of someone- that was also very popular throughout history- but those big wreaths of flowers- those creep me out. Here's a picture of one Vanessa and I saw at a Victorian manion in Missouri.

 

[scotrace]

That gives me the heebie jeebies. Live peeking into a Victorian coffin.












*shudder*



.

 

[jake_fink]

Locks of hair is romantic.

Strips of skin... less romantic.


And if the locks of hair are eaten...


(halloween is doing it to me)

 

[MissQueenie]

I'm torn on this- I think it's creepy- but in a cool way. I'm not quite sure how I feel about wearing some dead person's hair, but on the other hand- it's very period appropriate. I like the idea of a lock of hair being kept in a locket with either a miniature painting or a picture of someone- that was also very popular throughout history- but those big wreaths of flowers- those creep me out. Here's a picture of one Vanessa and I saw at a Victorian manion in Missouri.

The wreaths of hair and the elaborate 3-d flower things gross me out. As do the necklaces and earrings made of braided/roped hair.

I think hairwork requires a specific skillset, and as Feraud mentioned, there are still a few ladies (I think largely in the civil war set) who make hair jewelry. The real question is, could you get a jeweler to produce a setting for it? I bet it'd be shockingly expensive to have a piece fashioned between getting a custom setting made and finding someone to work the lock into it...

 

[Lauren]

Before you showed me the ones you posted, I had never seen the ones in settings. Consider me a convert

(the loopy braided ones freak me out too)

 

[Vanessa]

Victorian Hair Artists Guild


Victorian Brooches

Example of Techniques in Hair Jewelry

Symbols Used in Hair Jewelry

 

[Rosie]

I've seen this before. Personally, I don't know how I feel about it. It's interesting but at the same time it's kind of ewwwww. When I chopped off my hair earlier this year, I kept it in a box that I keep on a shelf in my bedroom. Doubt I would ever give it to anybody though. In southern Black culture, one would NEVER give their hair to another person. In fact, after a hair cut, even at the barber's, people would take their hair and burn it. All having to do with Roots (Black American folk magic, mojo, hoodoo, etc.) the belief that someone could use your hair in a spell against you.

 

[RaasAlHayya]

Whether one finds the "hair wreath" to be creepy or not, one must admire the skill that went into making it. Well, I do.

--Leslie

 

[Feraud]

Correct MissQueenie, the Civil War group is what I was thinking too.

I am hoping my wife will one day contribute her beautiful locks (while alive I will add!) to a pocket watch chain I would like to have produced.
Has anyone ever seen the watch chains made from hair? Absolutely beautiful.

Thanks for the links Vanessa.

 

[Braxton36]

I had no idea this work was still being done. I recently was at an antiques seminar and there was a lecture on portrait miniatures by one of the foremost authorities on the American ones. She had some actual examples with her and many slides during her lecture. About half of these had hair behind them and the work is incredibly intricate and detailed - you almost wouldn't know it was hair. Some are even scenes like landscapes and ships.

I once gave my wife a family locket that had the hair of a deceased child of one of my ancestor's in it. I knew she'd find that creepy so I removed the hair but labeled it carefully and put it away.

It's not for everyone but personally I find it fascinating.

 

[Vanessa]

A few hair watch chains:

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I would think it very romantic if a loved one would give me a lock of hair to keep… I´d consider it creepy if someone chops off a lock of hair off a dead person to keep…

I agree.
I've seen historical figures' locks of hair for sale such as George Washington's!
It was this fancy frame with a pic of George and a tiny little single hair!
Came with a "certificate of authenticity" of course.

 

[Matthew Dalton]

I wonder how much hair one's significant other would have to part with to make a Fedora?