In the nineteenth century ladies grew their hair long and wore it elaborately dressed in twisted braids, coiled plaits and curls according to the particular fashion of each decade. Fashionable women often resorted to false hair pieces when the desired look could not be achieved by their natural hair alone. This ‘ringlet bunch’ or ‘set of side curls’ is made from human hair and is closely sewn on to a braid foundation. The hairdresser or ladies’ maid would have attached it using hairpins.

Hair merchants imported most hair from Europe and sold it to wigmakers for making all manner of hair additions. In the nineteenth century it was not regarded as appropriate or socially acceptable for a lady to cut her hair and wear it short or ‘bobbed’. This style did not come in until the early 1920s. Occasionally a woman in impoverished circumstances would resort to selling her hair to earn a little money, but this was very much a last resort for a woman of good character.