To Dye For: Hair Dye in the 18th Century by Jenna Jaxon

Hair dye seems to be one of the most common place attempts at beauty and has been so for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians tinkered with ways to color their hair, as have most cultures ever since. So it is not surprising to learn that women in the 18th century also used hair dye as part of their cosmetic arsenal.

Some civilizations used plant based dyes: henna, indigo, senna, black walnut hulls, red ochre, and leeks. These dyes did not last very long, but were relatively safe to use. The Romans were quite fond of dying their hair. Women would dye their hair red, imitating the Gallic traders they had seen. For a time Roman prostitutes were required to dye their hair blond (however the color became so popular, eventually they stopped because too many women who weren’t prostitutes had blond hair as well).

Unfortunately, in the 18th century, the means used to color hair could be the death of you. Re-discovered ancient Roman formulas for hair dye in the 18th century in Europe meant people began using lead to dye hair to cover the gray. They used a lead oxide to color hair black and chestnut colors, which was of course rather toxic. High levels of lead, absorbed through the scalp, would put a person in a coma and lead could lead to death.

Another toxic compound used to color black hair chestnut brown was Oyle of Virtiol, what we could call sulfuric acid. In the 1700s in Italy, women would bleach their hair by sitting in the sun and having their hair drenched in lye to lighten it.

Women would also lighten their hair by using a mixture of honey, wood ash, and lye soap mixed together and applied to the hair.

None of these methods, save for the non-permanent vegetable dyes, were safe in any way. All of them could cause skin irritation, burning of the skin, and in the case of lead, could lead to death.

In my upcoming release, Only Pleasure Will Do, we discover the heroine has been disguising her appearance for years using a

mixture of crushed black walnut hulls to color her hair, which led me to researching all the ways an 18th century woman could color her hair. Only Pleasure Will Do, which will release on August 31, is on pre-order on Amazon, and if you want a preview of the book, I’ve also released the prologue to the book, titled A Matter of Pleasure. A Matter of Pleasure is available on Amazon for .99 and is Free on Smashwords.