The Most Unusual Baldness Treatments Over the Years
The Most Unusual Baldness Treatments Over the Years
Alopecia, also known as baldness, has been with the human race as far back as history can record. While modern man has a few options when it comes to finding a baldness treatment, his ancestors tried some bizarre and downright dangerous cures for hairloss.
Baldness Cures in Ancient Times
Egyptians had perhaps the best baldness remedy available: they shaved their heads and wore elaborate braided wigs. Both men and women cropped their natural hair close to the scalp; in Egypt's hot climate, going bald or nearly bald just made sense. Despite the Egyptian fondness for wigs, though, hair loss was still a concern. One common treatment was a salve made from goose fat and crocodile dung.
Cleopatra and her physicians famously recommended a baldness cure containing the ashes of burnt mice, ground horse teeth, and deer marrow for Julius Caesar. The emperor of Rome was presumably too grand a figure to receive the standard goose-and-crocodile blend that the Egyptian man on the street used. As Caesar's distinctive forward-brushed hairstyle may have been history's first "combover," it's doubtful that Cleopatra's remedy worked.
Medieval Baldness Remedies
Medieval farmers swore by cow saliva as a baldness treatment. The licking action was also thought to stimulate hair growth. The term "cowlick" describes a swirl of unruly hair today, but the word's origin may have been this medieval baldness cure.
It wouldn't do for a king to stoop in a field and let a cow lick his head, though, so there were more upscale remedies for royalty. Medieval medicine relied on using ingredients from sources that were furry, shiny, or showy in hopes that those properties would transfer to a bald head. One thirteenth-century French recipe involves an oil made of bear fat, the ashes of peacock feathers, and crushed pearls.
The Age of Wigs
Baldness cures almost disappeared in the 1600s thanks to King Louis XIV of France who hid his bald pate under a towering wig. Wigs made of human hair for the wealthy and horse hair or cotton for the less well-to-do were the fashion for both men and women. The practice of wearing these elaborate headpieces didn't end until the early part of the nineteenth century.
Snake Oil Baldness Cures
When wigs disappeared, baldness remedies flourished in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of the most popular came from China originally. Snake oil--fat rendered from actual snakes--was an ancient Chinese remedy for arthritis pain, but unscrupulous salesmen repackaged it as a baldness treatment. Many left out the snakes altogether and just added color and fragrance to common cooking oil. The term "snake oil" has come to mean a quack remedy sold by a peddler who cares more about a quick dollar than about curing a buyer's ills.
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