Elizabethan hair quote...

"If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head."

This is quote is taken from William Shakespeare's famous poetry: Sonnet 130

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; 
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
   As any she belied with false compare."

Found on: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/130.html

Viewed on: Sunday 6th October 2013

This quote for me really sums up the condition of hair back in the 1600's and how there would be any sacrifice to be seen as the ideal beauty. By describing the hair as wire, you can only imagine how mistreated it was. And all to meet the expectation of the times, However in comparison to the present day for some this still hasn't changed and we haven't really come that far in terms of what we will modify ourselves into, to enable us to fit into a certain ideal.

Found on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droeshout_portrait

Viewed on: Monday 7th October 2013