Shakespeare, all mighty literature bard, in nearly all his works used hair loss to portray aging persons, fallen kings, fools or even villains, but never a virile yang person. From that point of view it is interesting o know that Shakespeare himself was presented as being bold, which is seen on his numerous portraits.
Since from ancient times abundant hair equals youth, energy, strength, potency, dignity etc. it’s no wonder that man (and some woman as well) are in constant pursue for miraculous heir remedy from the oldest times, but even today some of the lotions and remedies that are offered on the market show no more success then those used in, say, ancient Egypt.
This can be largely contributed to marketing strategies that are used in hair treatment business of today. They present colorful brochures and advertisements which promise gain of instant sex appeal, gorgeous woman by ton, and better car or job position together with recurrence of lost hair. And yes even today’s more educated, modern man fall for those false promises stressed out by suffering hair loss which constantly reminds them of passing of their youth. Some man even become quite artistic with their remaining hair, growing it longer where possible and parting it sideways close to their ears in vain hope of covering up gaps, which is a ridiculous technique that just mirrors their desperation.
Therefore it is no wonder that man of yesterday often tried and sometimes dedicatedly used some really dubious and often funny remedy recipes in hope of recovering what nature itself has so cruelly deprived them of, considered by some one of most coveted possessions, hair on their bold heads.
Here are some examples of those miraculous cures and ointments so you, dear reader, can choose your favorite. One that amuses me most comes at the end of the list.
Read and enjoy
- One of 18-Th and 19-Th century favorites was hair growth treatment that involved every night massaging in to your scalp mixture made mainly of rancid rhino fat, mixed with grounded rosemary by the virgin’s hand.
- In America in the 18-th century tough, hardened but non the less bold cowboys lined up to spend their hard earned cash on worthless “Snake Oil”, which actually was any bizarre concoction sold by so called trawling Doctors’. Here is one such original recipe, which actually was imported from the old world:
Mix carefully
”Peach Tree if the kernels be bruised and boiled in vinegar until they become thick and applied to the head until hair starts growing upon bold places or where it is too tin.”
- Or, if you had really strong stomach you could try this medieval English recipe, it was said that it worked wonders:
”Combine boar’s grease, ashes of burnt bees, ashes of southern-wood, juice of white lily root, oil of sweet almonds and musk into an ointment. Rub in to the scalp on daily bases.”
- In Roman times popular method for concealing boldness was to actually pain curls, and as for ‘curing’ boldness they concocted a lotion made from boiled snakes, which was probably very origin of the term ‘’snake oil”.
- Old Greece’s most famous physician, Hippocrates, who was himself suffering from a hair loss, devised specific remedy mixing together opium, flower essences, wine and pigeon droppings.
- Physicians in ancient Egypt had their own ways for treating baldness using potions mixtures created from hedgehog bristles and human fingernails steeped in crocodile, hippo or lion fat.
- But from the ancient times throughout Middle Ages there was one omnipotent miraculous cure for everything from bad luck or plague to boldness. This one is most certainly my favorite. It was small amount of powder obtained from grounded unicorn’s horn. Oh, yes they had unicorns horn at their disposal at those times, if they had enough money to pay for such a rare wonder that is, since it cost sometimes equaled that of entire County. Now that was a present suited for kings, and guess what, some of them had a whole horn, usually mounted in gold and jewels safely stored in their treasury. Since some of those treasuries survived at to this day and age horns where finally given for examination and then the most well kept trading secret of probably all times was discovered. Those long twisted horns really belonged to an animal but, alas, not to the mythological and magical unicorn. Those were narwhal horns, and narwhals are species of see mammals still living in cold waters of Arctic circle. And they weren’t actually horns either, but prolonged teeth. For ages native fisherman from polar areas were hunting narwhals and selling their hornlike tooth to skillful Asian merchants who trawled with them back home reselling them in Asia and Europe as unicorn’s horn gaining tremendous profit. They actually worked magic, not in curing boldness or anything else for that matter, but for bringing riches to cunning salesmen.
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