Shampoo: How to wash your hair in Shakespeare's England

In Shakespeare's plays, there are over 150 references to the word "hair" across which Shakespeare talks about a barber fixing someone's hair, about hair being dyed, about losing your hair being a natural product of old age, combing your hair, and even the weight of someone's hair. Clearly, there was a significant cultural focus on the care and maintenance of one's carefully selected coif. But exactly what did it look like for someone to care for their hair? Was there such a thing as soap, or dare we guess—Shampoo—that might have been used to keep your hair clean in the Tudor period? To find out more about what one would use in the 16-17th century if you decided to wash your hair, we are meeting with our guest, Julia Martins.

Julia is here this week to tell us all about products used to cleanse, care, and manage a head full of hair in Shakespeare's lifetime, as well as the manuals and advice that was given in the 16-17th century for the best hair care methods of the Elizabethan era.