Introduction to Civil War Reenacting for Ladies: Hair Down to There, Part 2

Side view of a girl wearing a hairnet, ca. 1865.

Today we're just going to expand a little on the topic of hair, taking up where we left off yesterday.

First off, a few words about hair nets and snoods. There is a great deal of confusion between the differences between these items, and more still with how and when these accessories were worn.

Let's get a few things straight, and I'm not yelling at anyone or attempting to lecture, much less looking down my nose at those who are confused or just plain misinformed. There's a lot of reinforcement of the mistakes, most popularly with sutlers and other merchants who perpetuate the myth, and the cycle continues. I'll cop to being mistaken for several years myself, and even to selling these (gasp!) many moons ago to others as well. I think I still have a bunch of these in one of my drawers somewhere, but I lived, I learned, I adjusted. It happens, it can be remedied. And your impression will look all the better for it!




Hair nets, also occasionally referred to as cauls, did exist during the Civil War. Women and girls both did wear them. They are considerably less common in representation in terms of photographs and other mentions of them, but they did certainly exist. Generally worn by the younger set, they were used to gather and confine the hair to the back of the neck, secured with ribbons and hair pins. Hair nets used for everyday wear were made of natural fiber thread netting with a fairly wide weave, and with all extant accounts, photographs, artifacts etc, they are to match the hair color as closely as possible. In all photographs that I have ever seen with women wearing these nets, they are placed at the middle of the crown and no further on the head, in a line that will go around the skull behind the ears.




There were more elaborate hair nets made for evening wear and more formal occasions, made from ribbons and similar material, often festooned with real and millinery flowers, beads, feathers, and fabric. Some fashion magazines referred to them as cache-peigne' (literally, hair hider). These tended to go with the color combination of the gown rather than hair color.

What a hairnet was not, however...was a snood. The word "snood" was not even in common use during the 1860s (though the word is Old English), the similar but very different fashion phenomena that came around in the 1940s and then made a comeback in the late 80s/early 90s. Today the terms have become interchangeable, but they really are different things. A snood is made similarly with netting, a piece of lace, or even round pieces of crochet work fashioned into a hairnet, often with large bows added, frequently fixed into the hair with not just hair pins, but also elastic and French style barrettes. These come in all sorts of colors, both bright and plain, many of which were not in existence during the 1860s. There IS a difference. And it DOES show, and it DOES matter.

I realize that many women and girls use these snoods not just because they're reasonably priced (I sold mine for about $5 when I carried them), but because it's much easier to just throw your hair into them and be done with it, and some use them to hide less than period hair, be it short hair, layered and difficult to contain hair, dyed hair, what have you. For a quick fix until you find something better, if you have a snood that is white or cream, you can attempt to dye these (if you have brown or fairly light colored hair) with tea or coffee (more below). Snip the elastic out and thread in some ribbon, and it will work for you for the time being. A warning however...the polyester that these tend to be made of tends to not want to take dyes well, so proceed with caution.


To tea or coffee dye (I'm going to go with tea from here on out, but the same principle applies for coffee), prepare a small pot of tea at regular strength and place it in a non-reactive bowl (glass, ceramic, what have you). If you want a lighter dye, dilute this by about half with hot water. If a darker dye is desired, go double strength. Place your item into the tea and let it soak for a minute or two, then take it out and inspect the color. If it's where you want it, go ahead and take it out, rinse thoroughly, and let it air dry. If not, put it back in and let it go a few more minutes until the shade you want is achieved. In natural fabrics this color is permanent, though synthetic fibers tend to be more resistant. Experiment if you like, but remember to go light at first, if it's too dark you're stuck with it!

Tomorrow, we discuss rats. I'll just let you go with that image for now...

Headshot of an English woman, ca. 1862. She is wearing a hair net, but this photo was colorized by a third party and does not reflect what color anything shown actually was.