Know Them by Their Hair
Janet Stephens
By day, Janet Stephens works as an experimental amateur archaeologist, meticulously recreating hairstyles dating back to the times of Roman antiquity. Her coiffure queries began at the Walter Art Museum in 2001. A bust of the Roman empress Julia Domina with a braided bun chiseled in stone caught her eye and she wondered how it had been built. Following that fateful day at the museum, Stephens began studying in earnest, but could find nothing in the literature about how Romans achieved technical marvels like the multi-braided Vestal Virgin style. Many scholars felt that Roman women wore wigs, but Stephens had a different opinion. She believed that the hairstyles were real, but she could not reproduce them. She haunted museums and spent long hours in libraries.
In 2005, she had a breakthrough. Studying translations of Roman literature, Ms.Stephens realized that the Latin word acus was probably misunderstood in the context of hairdressing. Acus has several meanings, including “single-prong hairpin” or “needle and thread.” She realized that single-prong pins couldn’t have held the intricate styles in place. But a needle and thread could. It backed up her hypothesis. In 2007, the Journal of Roman Archaeology published her findings, making her one of the few non-academics to have written an article for the scholarly periodical.
Since then, she has gone on to more historic hairstyling adventures with a study of Elizabethan and Renaissance hair styles, as she continues to expand her repertoire of historic periods Her work has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, NPR, and the BBC.
For more information on the work of Ms. Stephens, access these links:
Publications:
“Becoming a Blond in Renaissance Italy” Journal of the Walters Art Museum 74 [2019]. https://journal.thewalters.org/volume/74/note/becoming-a-blond-in-late-fifteenth-century-venice-a-new-look-at-w-748/
“Recreating the Fonseca Hairstyle” EXARC (the online Journal of Experimental Archaeology) January, 2013. Print version, Exarc Journal Annual digest, 2013. https://exarc.net/issue-2013-1/at/recreating-fonseca-hairstyle
“Ancient Roman Hairdressing: on (hair)pins and needles” Journal of Roman Archaeology vol. 21 (2008) 111-133. https://www.academia.edu/searchutf8=✓&q=ancient+roman+hairdressing
Interviews:
BBC online Magazine, “first person” series” “Hairdo archaeologist solves ancient fashion mystery”. Home interview and at riversdale museum demo. May 27 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22630813
Bethea, C. “When in Rome Department: by a Hair.” New Yorker Magazine, Talk of the Town featurette (Sept. 14, 2015). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/by-a-hair
Videos:
3rd C. AD Roman hairstyle of Herrennia Etruscilla, Tutorial. https://youtu.be/FlfoilzkHwQ
Authentic Valkyrie Hairstyle, Tutorial. https://youtu.be/dHpDtSO9gtQ
The Juno hairstyle of Empress Sabina. Tutorial. (Uploaded Jan. 30 2017) https://youtu.be/74AT70NC9xQ
Hairstyle of Empress Faustina the Elder. Tutorial. (uploaded Aug 6, 2016) https://youtu.be/1Ev5QIYOJyQ
The “Tower” hairstyle: 2nd Century AD. Tutorial. (Uploaded March 12, 2016) https://youtu.be/iZFY9Acxq7M
Nuremburg Chronicles Hairstyle (1493). Tutorial (Uploaded September 15, 2015) https://youtu.be/zEP8WHQ1CRE