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Unlucky to wash hair?


Flavia Gemina

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I have just watched a video clip interview with the costume designer and make-up lady on my TV series. The make-up lady, Leslie, says Roman men 'only washed their hair twice a year, because it was considered unlucky'!!! Before I shoot this comment down in flames on my website, is there any evidence for this?

 

Thanks!

 

Flavia

 

P.S. You can watch the clip HERE (The Costumes)

Edited by Flavia Gemina
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I have just watched a video clip interview with the costume designer and make-up lady on my TV series.

 

So, I'm going to sound stupid, yet again. :lol:

 

I'm still sorting out forum personalities and occupations and who-does-what here, but if this really is "your" TV series, why aren't you able to ask her directly for her source of information?

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...if this really is "your" TV series, why aren't you able to ask her directly for her source of information?

 

It's the TV series based on my books. As I'm sure you know, for a film or TV series based on novels, the author is not always consulted on every detail of a production!

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It's the TV series based on my books. As I'm sure you know, for a film or TV series based on novels, the author is not always consulted on every detail of a production!

 

Ah. My sympathies.

 

How does that go? Something like, "Watching your novel being turned into a movie is like watching a cow being turned into bouillon."

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Almost: 'Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.' John leCarre

Edited by Flavia Gemina
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The problem is the costume lady who lets Pliny the Elder dress in full Admiral's regalia to go investigate the volcano and the screewriter who thinks it's cute to have the bride throw a bouquet at a Roman wedding! :lol:

Edited by Flavia Gemina
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I have just watched a video clip interview with the costume designer and make-up lady on my TV series. The make-up lady, Leslie, says Roman men 'only washed their hair twice a year, because it was considered unlucky'!!! Before I shoot this comment down in flames on my website, is there any evidence for this?

Salve, FG! I don't think you have any problem at all, it's simply nonsense. For example, HERE IS A GOOD LINK. Some extracts;

"The universal acceptance of bathing as a central event in daily life belongs to the Roman world and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that at the height of the empire, the baths embodied the ideal Roman way of urban life."

"Republican bathhouses often had separate bathing facilities for women and men, but by the empire the custom was to open the bathhouses to women during the early part of the day"

"Mixed bathing was generally frowned upon, although the fact that various emperors repeatedly forbade it seems to indicate that the prohibitions did not always work."

Congratulations for the success of your books and series! Go on and good luck!

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I have just watched a video clip interview with the costume designer and make-up lady on my TV series. The make-up lady, Leslie, says Roman men 'only washed their hair twice a year, because it was considered unlucky'!!! Before I shoot this comment down in flames on my website, is there any evidence for this?

What Asclepiades says is true of course. I wonder whether your make-up lady's idea is somehow derived from the correct detail that "cosmetic" activities were definitely considered unlucky when on board ship. You may remember the incident in Petronius's Satyricon when Encolpius is spotted by another passenger while he's being shaved (his aim being to change his appearance hastily) with the result that he risks getting flogged or lynched. I discuss this incident in \Empire of Pleasures\ while exploring the pleasures and discomforts of travel in the Empire.

 

When not on board ship, early and traditional Romans shaved every nine days -- i.e. every market day. Market days with us are every seven days, and even now it's noticeable that people tend to look their best, always clean shaven, smart(er) clothes, on market day.

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Given the roman penchant for bathing and personal hygiene, I would think it was highly unlikely they considered that washing hair was unlucky. It just wouldn't make sense.

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Thanks for that, guys!

 

Yes, I said on my site that most Roman men bathed daily and that the make-up lady's misconception probably arose from the fact that it was unlucky to cut your hair on board ship. This was because if you survived a shipwreck you cut your hair and offered it at the Temple of Neptune. So cutting hair on board ship was just tempting fate!

 

Gratias ago!

 

Flavia

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Given the Roman obsession with bathing and depilation (as Caldrail says) , alongside the fashion for purchasing the hair of barbarians (for women) one feels that hair care would hardly be neglected in a society that valued conspicuous consumption.

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