SAN MARCOS PUBLIC LIBRARY
625 E. Hopkins St. 512-393-8200
Q. I colored my hair for 2022 and it made me wonder about the history of hair dye. Also – what resources does the library have on this topic?
A. The history of hair dye is “colorful” (pun intended). It dates to ancient times but really developed in the 20th century. Whether to camouflage themselves while hunting, alter themselves to appear fierce for battle or to attract a mate, humans have tried to alter their appearance since they stood up and walked.
Ancient Egyptians 1500 years ago dyed their hair, but rarely did so while it was on their heads. They shaved it off, curled and braided it to fashion wigs to protect their bald heads from the sun. Black was the most popular color until around the 12th century BCE, when plant material was used to color the wigs red, blue, or green, and gold powder was used to create yellow. (Guenard) Henna was a favorite of the Egyptians for covering gray hair (yes, the obsession with covering gray is that old).
In its earliest forms, hair color was used on women and men to either hide gray hair or change their appearance. Ancient civilizations used rudimentary hair colorants based on recipes that included cassia bark, leeks, leeches, charred eggs, henna — still commonly used across the Middle East and India — and even gold dust. (Cerini)
The early Romans decreed that “women of the night” must dye their hair blonde to identify them. Most wore wigs, but some used a mixture made from the ashes of burned plants or nuts to achieve the hue. However, there has also been evidence to show that at the time that hairstyling was introduced in Roman society (300 B.C.). Noble women tinted their hair red, middle-class women colored their hair blonde, while poor women dyed their hair black. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages in Europe that hair dyeing began shifting into a predominantly female habit. Bleaches, often made with blended flowers, saffron and calf kidneys, were particularly in vogue, although Roman Catholics associated blond hair with lasciviousness. (Cerini)
During the Renaissance, women favored golden and blonde hair because it carried an angelic connotation. Venetian women were known to wear crownless hats with wide brims and to pull their hair through the top to be splayed evenly around the brim. The hair was then plied with a mixture of alum, honey and black sulfur to encourage sun bleaching. (History of Haircolor) In England, during the Dark Ages, red hair was not in vogue and was sometimes seen as a sign of witchcraft. This changed when Queen Elizabeth, with her flaming red hair, took the throne.
The first “modern” hair color was…mauve. In 1863, a professor named William Henry Perkins was trying to formulate a cure for Malaria but instead, he inadvertently created the first permanent hair dye. The only hiccup? The hue: It was a purply pink. His discovery was eventually improved upon by a chemistry professor named August Wilhelm von Hofmann, who turned the mauve dye into a colorchanging molecule called para-phenylenediamine, or PPD. PPD is still the basis for most of the hair color formulas used today, more than 150 years later. (Prose)
The library has a nice selection of books on hair and hair coloring. Here are a few:
“Natural Hair Coloring” by Christine Shahin
“Going Gray, Looking Great” by Diana Lewis Jewell
“The Hair Color Mix Book” by Lorri Goddard-Clark
• Cerini, M. (2020, March 25). From rainbow to gray: The evolution of Hair Dye. CNN. Retrieved Jan. 19, from cnn.com/style/article/ hair-dye-evolution/index. html
• Corbett, John. The Century of Hair Color. Global Cosmetic Industry: Sep 2001; 169, 3, SciTech Premium Collection pg. 22
• Guenard, R. (2015, Jan. 2). Hair dye: A history. The Atlantic. Retrieved Jan.19, from theatlantic.com/ health/archive/2015/01/ hair-dye-a-history/383934/
• History of haircolor. History of haircolor, hair coloring used by Egyptians and in Roman society. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan. 18, from hairfinder.com/info/ haircolor-history.htm
• Hopp, D. (2020, Dec. 30). From 1500 BC to 2015 AD: The extraordinary history of hair color. Byrdie. Retrieved Jan. 19, from byrdie.com/hair-colorhistory
• Prose. (2021, Oct. 6). The history of hair color and how it's changed over time. At Length by Prose Hair. Retrieved Jan. 19, from prose.com/blog/ history-of-hair-color.php
Suzanne Sanders is the new columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.
