A chance to learn about hair as keepsakes

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Dec. 3, 2016

A chance to learn about hair as keepsakes

County historical society hosts hair event Thursday

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

Before there were cameras, there was hair. That’s how people used to memorialize loved ones.

“Families used to save hair,” said Jessica Sawinski Couch, Washington County Historical Society curator of education. “Sometimes, if somebody was sick or passed away, locks of hair would be cut off and they would share them with other family members.”

Hair was used for other things, too, especially in the mid-19th century. People made jewelry, such as bracelets, wreaths and watch chains out of hair.

“It’s a permanent reminder of somebody,” Couch said.

At 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Old Courthouse Museum, 320 S. Fifth Ave., West Bend, Couch will lead a discussion and demonstration called “Explore the Art of Victorian Hair Work.”

The event will review the history, symbolism and techniques of this style of art. It’s the first time the county’s historical society is hosting such a program.

“I did this program almost 12 years at another a museum I worked at (in Illinois),” Couch said. “I was always fascinated with it.

“It was like how did they do that, why did they do it? So I started reading what I could and started a modest collection. I put it all together for a program.”

Leila Cohoon runs and owns Leila’s Hair Museum in Independence, Missouri, an east suburb of Kansas City. According to the museum’s website, it is the only hair museum in the world.

She is also a founder of Victorian Hairworkers International.

Her fascination with hair art began in 1949 as a hairdresser. And like Couch, Cohoon was intrigued by the how and why behind hair art and the preservation of hair and hair art.

“It intrigued me as it was something that people used to do,” she said.

In 1956, she walked into an antique dealer in Kansas City, Missouri, and her collection began. Her first hair art was a small square piece about 5 inches long with hair made into a family tree.

Today, her museum has more than 600 hair wreaths and 2,000 pieces of jewelry made of human hair. Hair jewelry was worn by men and women of the Victorian period (1800-1900) and earlier.

How far the concept goes back is a mystery.

Cohoon said she can trace hair art preservation to the 15th century. She knows another person who traced it to the 12th century.

Couch said, “Even in ancient Egypt, the hair is still intact.”

“Photography was new in the 1830s and 1840s,” she added. “People couldn’t afford portraits. They were mementos.”

It was also a source of income.

At Cohoon’s museum, she has pieces of hair from Queen Victoria, four presidents and several celebrities, including Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe.

On the museum’s website, it says, “(Cohoon) receives calls, letters and emails from all over the world from people who want to donate or sell their unique antique hair art.”

“(Hair) really meant something to someone,” Cohoon said.

That’s one of the goals of Couch’s discussion, outside of helping people get over the “ick” factor.

The idea of preserving human hair is still around. For example, hair might be saved from a child’s first hair cut. Other than that, Couch said the concept of preserving hair and turning it into art is “foreign to us.” Couch hopes to change that with a concept never displayed before in Washington County.

“My hope is they come away with a better understanding that it’s not just for mourning, but there are a lot of reasons, ‘why people would keep others hair,’ ‘how they did it,’ ‘the techniques,’” Couch said.