Why Victorians Made Jewellery From Human Hair 👀💀
Why It Matters
The phenomenon reveals how 19th-century consumers transformed grief into a specialized craft industry and personalized memorialization in the absence of widespread photographic remembrance, shedding light on social norms, gendered mourning practices, and the commercialization of death.
Summary
Victorians commonly turned locks of human hair into jewelry as a visible, wearable form of mourning and remembrance, a practice amplified by Queen Victoria’s extended public mourning for Prince Albert and the limited availability of photography. Specialist hair artisans treated hair—often boiled in sugar—and wove or plaited it into brooches, lockets, bracelets and other intricate pieces, sometimes sold from catalogues. These items were worn close to the body as personal memorials and social signals of bereavement. The video presents these practices as both culturally driven and craft-intensive, noting the objects’ detailed construction.
Comments
Want to join the conversation?
Loading comments...