Marie Antoinette'S Hair Care Routine! ‍♀️Making 1700S Hair Pomade & Powder From Original Recipe

He'S gon na park at me, so what does marie antoinette's, hair and cake have in common? They use the same ingredients. Let them eat cake, okay, but seriously. 18Th century hair care was founded in the use of pomade or pomade, which is an animal fat based deep conditioning product and hair powder dry shampoo made out of wheat starch. I began researching 18th century hair care and hair dressing back in 2014, and while i will eventually deep dive into myth, busting and super nerdy academic stuff about pomade and powder in the future, today i wanted to focus on making some palming and powder for a thing. I'M doing next week that i literally leave tomorrow for and i'm not stressed or anything, it's fine. However, i fully understand that, in order for you all to get what i'm doing and also care about what this video is about, we do need to do a quick rundown over what pomade and powder are, how they're made, how to use them and all that, because Not only did 18th century western society use pomade and powder as a part of their hair hygienic routine, but these products were also fundamental in dressing 18th century hair in the various elaborate hairstyles that were popular during the century. Now in this video i will not be demonstrating an 18th century hairstyle, that's actually probably going to come early next year and maybe not actually on my channel been someone else's channel that you guys will be aware of anyways, but i will be showing you how to Make the pomade and powder and how to do a basic application today with that being sad, shameless plug time, if you actually want to learn how to do some 18th century hairstyles, though you can buy my book on 18th century beauty link in the description below now Before we get into making pomade powder, i do want to give a quick thank you to the sponsor of this week's video acorn tv. I'Ve been doing a a lot of traveling for work this autumn and being able to relax in my hotel or airbnb. After a long day of filming networking and just doing all the things, it leaves me desperate for some cozy tv to watch. 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Today now i know a lot of people get a bit freaked out by it being animal fat, but it really does make an excellent, deep conditioner for your hair and skin. Like it's nice, if not sometimes a little gamey, but it's usually really nice. Now, while there are many different recipes for pomades that are out there, my favorite is actually, from an 1826 book, called a new supplement to pharmacopias of london, edinburgh, dublin and paris by james rennie. It is a great basic pomade, i mean like they literally just call. It common pomodom, like common pomodom, delightfully average, not exciting at all your mama's pomodom, everybody loves pomado, and when it's done correctly, it has like this amazing consistency takes on numerous scents easily and is used as the base pomade for other types of pomade like hard pomade. Wow, that is really hard. That'S what she said. This common pomade recipe is the recipe that we're going to be making today, starting with rinsing that lamb, tallow in fresh water for 12 days, so it doesn't stink. So it's actually really easy to make. It'S just. You know making sure you get your ratios correct. I'Ve already added water to the bottom of the double boiler, so that is ready to go and what i need to do now is drain and dry the mutton tallow and then weigh it out in the double boiler and we'll be set to go. So, let's drain this for the final time my recipe, i wrote it down chrissy um, so you should be proud of me, so the recipe says just with any sort of like to dry it off with linen um we're just using basic kitchen towels in this house And these are festive cat, halloween, themed ones, which is perfect. I assume that these were actually my mom's and somehow they ended up in our kitchen and then we just kind of like roll it. You want to get the water off to cut as much as you can and honestly, if i had thought about it, i would have rolled it out and dried it oops we'll make it work. I think we'll be okay. It'S really dry here in reno, the water. Usually just like kind of burns off anyway, so i'm not too stressed about it. But if i had thought about it i would have actually done this part before i had gone out and grabbed the double boiler from bed bath and beyond. But i didn't so here. We are okay, let's drain this thing. For the last time, i'm ready to get this stuff made. Okay, there we go so i've actually made this recipe a lot over the years. This was not my first pomade recipe that i experimented with, but it was definitely my favorite that i've ever worked with, especially when the ratio is good and i don't pick it up, yeah we're good. So i'm not really looking at the instructions, because at this point i don't really need to just just fyi so funny story when i first like started making this recipe, because even back in the day i used to have like my own etsy shop, and i would Sell pomade and powder on it i wasn't 100 sure, like i understood, like the concept theory of rinsing it like i kind of, was like okay. Obviously it's for a reason like they don't well, i take that back. I learned the hard way that they actually tell you to rinse it for a good reason, because one time i didn't rinse it properly and it stunk like the pomade did not smell good. It was not nice. No, i was not a fan. It was really bad, and so i was talking to like my oldest friend kelly, because we've been friends since we were seven and she's a very outdoorsy girl - and i was like talking to her about this, and i was talking about rinsing it. And how like you know when we rinsed it, it didn't smell and she was like oh yeah, that's normal, and then she like proceeded to tell me that her family, because they hunt and fish that you know they would always rinse their venison. They would rinse the catfish, which that makes total sense catfish but like they would rinse all the meat to kind of get the gamey flavor out and to kind of help rinse that that flavor out, and so they would do like rinses of the meat like over Periods of time to get to get the taste out, and so that's when i was like. Oh, that's why we rinse the mutton tallow, because the mutton tallow is gamey - and this is even lamps hollow so it'd be less gamey than than mutton tallow, because mutton is older. Actually, this this is good. There'S some soupy hair in it, but you know that is to be expected in this household. So that's why it's really important to rinse your mutton, tallow um. It just really yeah, like the smell of it, is very, very faint now compared to what it was when i was like scooping it out of the jar like yeah. This is super gamey. This doesn't really smell like much of anything and the 12 days i think, are important too, because before i'd also rinsed it once where i was only like seven days or i only changed the water like a couple of times and that did not work like it Really has to be at least 12 days. Obviously, if you can go longer, it's not going to hurt it. It'S just going to make it smell better, but the 12 days really helps ensure that it's not gamey at all. Okay, so this is actually dried pretty fast, because they're, nice large chunks, there's not a lot to deal with. So i'm happy with that, so we're going to weigh out the mutton to 14 ounces. Okay, i don't know if this is anyone else too, but like i sat there and i was just like it's a double boiler or double broiler and i think that's like an accent thing where it's kind of like you want to say broiler, even though it's not The broiler because the boiler is in the oven, but i was like wait. This double boiler right, how many people actually say double broiler anyways, random things i think about. I think this recipe this batch is going to come out really good. This mutton feels kind of softer than normal, which is not a bad thing thing is that griffy here, that's a griffy here, 14 ounces whoo there we go 14.4 that that works for me. Okay, so we have the montello in now it's time to do the lard. The reason why the fats we use matter in pomade is that different animal fats and vegetable fats and nut fats have different fatty, acid chains and ratios, and so it's not because i got this a lot where people like well, i want to make it vegan or I want to make it vegetarian, and so the kind of knee jerk is like oh i'll, just exchange it for coconut oil, but coconut oil has a very low melt point where pigs, pig, lard and montalo have different melting points. They also have different fatty acid points. Um, i need to look that up, but let's insert that here so this ratio of mutton tillard is really important for this particular type of pomade. Now, with that being said, i see a lot of pomades that have different types of animal fats. I'Ve seen one with hens, fat, i've seen them. Obviously, a lot of them are pig's lard, but you see references to different types of like bear, grease or or something like that. I'Ve actually never seen beef tallow used for hair pomade, um, which i find interesting, because we use beef tallow a lot today in like natural beauty and like you, can find it on etsy for like skin care, because the fatty acid profile is very similar to the Human fatty acid profile and like how our skin and our chemistry works, but this stuff is really meant to interact well with our human body, composition. Okay, so we have 14 ounces. Let'S tear this, oh good! You can do it. That was like very underwhelming rude. Oh, this is actually semi-liquefied on top interesting. You know this really is not the best lard. Okay, i'm actually. I was gon na use. My fat works, but i'm not usually i've used leaf lard, but this pork lard i'm not liking the way it's looking. So i actually have i've been cooking with this, but i have plenty in here: uh regenerative, pork, fat from thrive market, okay. So this pork lard, you can kind of see it has this sort of like yellowish brownish tone. It'S actually not too dissimilar to how, like bacon grease, looks where, like this is whiter and more opaque, and so when the fat is lighter. Colored like this, it's more purified and it's better cleaned, and this one also doesn't smell as much as this one does. So. We'Re going to use this one when i was born, my grandpa made this stool and it says grandpa's girl on it. So and i still use it because i'm short - and i want to do a little bit more than three ounces. Just because i do like the creaminess that lard gives there, we go a little bit more than four okay. Now i made a conscious decision to do that, just because i want it to be a little bit softer recipe technically divided. Equally, it should be only three ounces, but i made the conscious decision to do that, so we're going with it, it's gon na be very exciting right right. Okay, now we can put this thing actually on the double boiler, and now we wait. [ Applause, ], [ Applause, ], [ Applause, ], my [ Applause ], i'm going to take this off because that is a little over full and it's having a bit of a moment. I need a scoopy just to kind of take the edge off, don't get it on my camera, don't get it on my camera, don't pour it on my foot that doesn't feel good either. So this is melting really quickly. I'M not surprised. So. Every time i've ever made this before, it's usually been like huge amounts, and it takes like forever for it to melt so making like the smaller batch is going much more quickly than i'm used to. So i'm like oh wow novel, but i'm getting ready to kind of be ready to start mixing it. We still have some larger chunks at the bottom, but it's gone pretty liquidy. Let'S get me a wooden spatula! Oh yeah. Almost there just a few bits of the lamb, which is normal because it has a higher melting point and it doesn't smell gamey. So that's a very good sign all right. I think i think we're good, i'm not other than like the rogue suba hair. I'M not seeing anything, so i think we're good. So, let's turn you off god. This thing is gross. Do not judge me, i don't use it very often and frankly, they're kind of hard to clean. I can put this just like in a pyrex bowl and it'll. Be good: this is gon na make a mess, so this should go pretty quickly too, because it's already starting to turn opaque and we want this to kind of start, turning opaque and then we're going to add scent. Usually it's lemon and clove. But i wanted to try something different and i found this rose bergamot blend, which is like so 18th century smelly. So that's what we're going to add today. Okay, i need to move. This is not we don't have time to like chit chat with this like this. Is you move now or it's gon na get and i'm making a mess? This is still too aggressive. Oh well, this is to help mix it all in make sure all the flat make sure all the fats are blended get some air in it. So it's a little bit more of a whipped texture. Usually this kind of comes out more like a modern pomade does kind of creamy, but adding a little bit of air into it, isn't a bad thing and i'm totally getting fat everywhere. So i want it opaque and not super hot. So that way the scent doesn't like burn off, essentially because if it's too warm, this thing kind of doesn't do what it's supposed to do. So it's still kind of hot to the touch. It'S getting a little bit more viscous-y. Okay, it's warm, but it's not super hot, so i think we're getting really close. Oh my god, this is going so fast cannot see the bottom. You need a lot of scent to really bring the scent forward so, but i think that's pretty decent that smells pretty good. Oh god, there's just more hair geez lace: oh she's she's, looking mighty fine, my friends mighty fine, okay, yeah, let's okay, so i have cleaned out my rouge jars and they've been washed, and you know sanitizing all that. So i'm gon na pour the fat into these and then we're gon na. Let them sit with the tops off, let them just kind of cool to room temperature and just we're clear if, like you, were wanting to use this for a long time, fat is a preservative, but you need to make sure everything's kind of not contaminated in any Way since i'm not super concerned about longevity with these pomades, i'm not being overly careful, obviously too, i'm not consuming these like we're, not eating. This like this is for hair. I'M gon na pour you back into the double boiler. You there you're good okay now for the rest of you get in here and wow. This actually still made more than what i anticipated. Okay, okay, so that's poured in that's ready to go. Let'S move these behind me, so they can start finishing their cooling they're, very full. I'M very excited about these guys. I think these are gon na. I think this is gon na be a really good batch. The fact that i should be able to also have hard pomade out of this is like just a bonus. Let'S get this back up. Okay, wax wax wax wax sucks water; okay, two ounces: okay! Now, let's do it again, so this pomade um can either be in the little pots like what we made or it can actually be rolled or in um. I have silicone like soap molds, because it makes it easier to handle hard. Pomade is really good for really hot climates, but it's also used for 18th century hairstyles when it comes to like wanting to have a lot of structure or teasing involved. So you see it a lot in the buckles um, so i'm gon na prep, some of these molds and it's gon na be the same thing as last time. We'Re gon na melt this down, incorporate it, put it back into the glass bowl blend it. So until it kind of becomes semi-congealed opaque, a little cooler to the touch, we'll have to add some more scent because the scent is going to burn off and then we'll pour it into the molds and then we'll have hard pomade too, and i'm very excited. I don't know if you guys can tell so the waxes takes a little bit of time, but this is such a little bit of there. We go. That was easy, yep, oh just a little bit left! Oh, that was hot! That'S hot! That'S very hot! Put you! There there's so little in it that i don't, i think, honestly it'll just end up disappearing. So let's just get you there, so we'll just kind of do it. The way it tells us to which is just to use a wooden spatula and mix it until it cools. You don't want this airy. This is going to be dense. It'S going to be waxy, it should be mold like moldable. The scent still smells pretty strong too. I will add just a little bit just to be on the safe side. I'Ve never had pomade have too much scent before um. We went from like liquid to goo, oh god, you guys still cannot see like that. Went from like zero to sixty really quickly. All right so now it's time to let these cool and come to room temperature, solidify, harden and we'll see how well they turned out and then, after that, it's time to put them to the test. The second product that was used in keeping your hair, fresh, clean and styleable is that a word anyways. It'S a word, though i i've decided it's hair powder now, like i said, hair powder is basically another way to say dry, shampoo, with starch being its main ingredient. Traditionally, wheat starch was used for hair powder, so just to do a real, quick bust of a myth. Here, flower was not normally used as hair powder. Unless and i quote, the use of flour for hair powder that has been confined to only the low barber shops who had a number of working people to dress on sundays, whose wish was to appear decent once a week and could not afford to pay for starch Powder so really really low working class folks who were like going to church on sunday and they wanted to look nice and presentable, and so they went to the cheap, cheapest barber they could and they kind of just got slapped with some flour. Okay, no, maybe not! Well, normal hair powder was usually white. Colored hair powder was also trendy. I'Ve seen recipes for pink blue, yellow brown and black hair powder with various degrees of toxicity. Depending on what painters pigment is used to create that color, we'll probably never make those here just by the way, i don't know maybe well, someone feels brave, i tried it once it was really messy, and then i learned how toxic those pigments can be, and i Was like probably shouldn't do that anymore? I should have said that i should not have said that it's not a good idea, but you know what, if you're feeling brave i'll put a link to the pocket most book down in the description below which has recipes. So you can at least look at them and see what's in them, they're really cool uh, the pink recipe and the rose recipe are different. Colors. The pink recipe is actually blue, but it's scented with pink flap pinks like the flower and then the rose recipe is actually the pink colored hair powder not to be confusing anyways. In order to achieve the colorful look, the colored hair powder would actually be applied over white hair powder as like a final touch, and also apparently rumor. Has it that charles fox one of the prime ministers of england was actually a fan of blue hair powder and he wore it a lot. So, just like imagine like oh my god, i've blanked on the god awful prime minister, boris, boris johnson. Could you imagine, boris johnson with blue hair? Oh that'd, be funny you look kind of like a muppet anyways moving on. Finally, cheap hair powders could and would actually be adulterated with pretty dangerous substances like french chalk, plaster clay, lime, etc. So um yeah, if you find yourself like stuck in the 18th century, just cause like you know, you touch some stones and all of a sudden you're getting weird with jamie fraser. Don'T buy cheap hair powder, buy the good stuff trust me on this one now. Luckily, for us today, most hair powder ingredients are easy to come by, and hair powder is also extremely easy to make some of the recipes have bone in them. In my experience, i don't really see the point. It'S also really really hard to find mammal bones that can be ground up into a fine enough powder to make it a viable option for wheat starch. So this is just kind of my variation over a recipe in toilet to flora. It'S super super simple. It is wheat starch and some auras fruit, and that's it you could add scent to this. I'Ve experimented with adding like essential oils to it. You could totally like put the powder in with like lavender buds or other flowers and just kind of let it sit and allow like the natural oils and the flowers to kind of dissipate into the powder. But we don't have time for that. So literally, all we're doing is sifting the oris root in with the powder into the bowl making sure that's all nice and blended any sort of larger chunks get worked out with the sieve, and then i'm going to put it in a plastic bag uh because i'll Be traveling with it and it travels better in a plastic bag, and that is it super super simple. I need a pound of the wheat starch and two ounces of the aorus root powder. It'S actually the root of the igress plant, and you can see it has this kind of like soft, yellow tone to it and the scent of the root is this kind of earthy floral scent? So it helps just kind of soften the hair. Like the powder a little bit, color wise, but mostly it's there to kind of give a little bit of scent and like a dry powder form. Oh my god hit myself in the uterus there that's perfect! So you want to use wheat starch instead of flour, because wheat starch is finer, it's cleaner, it's brighter it. Doesn'T it's just a lot nicer, so if you don't want to have, if you don't want to use wheat starch, you don't have access to wheat starch, even though it's readily available online. I would substitute like either rice starch or potato starch corn starch, but substitute a starch, not flour, because it behaves more like other starches. So, just a little bit, the wheat starch is pretty good when it comes to clumps yeah, it's the oars that really still wants to clump. So you kind of have to be a little conscientious of that when you're using the powder and that's it super easy. The oris root is also heavier than the wheat starch, so you got to kind of be aware of that. It'S part of the reason why i want to put it in a bag and then like pour it into a plate or a bowl when i use it to kind of help, make sure that the oris root and the starch stay incorporated. That is not gon na work, oh dear, oh dear, can i do it now? Will you sit and be open? We'Re good, hair powder is ready to go. So what that means guys is pomade is done. Both common and hard pomodom hair powder is done now. It'S time to see what it actually looks like on hair. So let's get beautified or something i don't know once your pomade and powder are made it's time to treat yourself treat yourself to a haircare ritual, fit for a queen. The public spectacle and nip slips are optional, though. First you comb out and section off your hair into manageable pieces, take a moderate amount of pomade into your hands, warm it up and emulsify it, and then you actually begin to apply it to the hair. You have enough pomade when your hair is thoroughly coated and has that kind of like towel dried look to it. You don't know what i mean. How much pomade you use is also totally dependent on your hair's texture, thickness, dryness level, oiliness and level. All of it there is actually no set amount here. It'S literally just, however, much has to be used to make your hair look a certain way, and everyone has different hair just by the way like it's never the same for anybody else now after the pomade has been applied to your entire head. It'S time to powder the hair, which is where the magic happens. The starch attaches itself to the fat, okay and then like it, absorbs the excess moisture, and then it gives the starch like that additional volume. And then it creates this texture to the hair like hair itself, and you want the hair to be evenly coated in the powder. So it has this: like beautiful, dry, soft, look to it and like there's, no like wet looking spots and like the pomade, the amount of powder you actually use is again dependent on your hair texture length, absorbency thickness, all of it. Sometimes it feels like the hair is just sucking up all the pomade and powder and that you'll never be finished, and sometimes it takes 10 minutes, like literally it has taken me hours to pomade and powder someone's hair before because of just their hair, texture and length, And thickness, where, like i can actually pomade and powder, my hair, like at this length in like 10-20 minutes, like it's like bam, but it's just hair texture for you now, once hair powder is applied, you want to run like a wide tooth comb through the hair. A few more times just to make sure that there's no scalp buildup, which can be a little itchy, are you scratching? No, this is what i do for luck, okay and now you're ready to enjoy your hair. That'S at least like three times thicker, it's moldable! It'S comfortable and it's clean, at least by 18th century standards. Oh my god,