From Monday, millions will seek to take back control of their appearance after a torrid year
What would William Prynne, one of England’s most fearsome Puritans, have made of the state of the nation’s hair, out of control as it is and running wild? Appalled by the flowing tresses fashionable among the cavaliers of the 1630s, Prynne couldn’t find enough words to condemn such excess: “Unlawful, effeminate, vainglorious, evil,” he fulminated, as recorded by the historian Lucy Worsley. “Odious, immodest, indecent … ungodly, horrid, strange, outlandish … pernicious, offensive, ridiculous, foolish, childish and unchristian.”
Horrid, strange and outlandish certainly fits the bill for the chaos up top that has been on display over the past year. Not unlawful though. During a year of lockdown, it was the law that did this to us. Only the most resourceful and capable survived with a modicum of dignity. The rest gradually fell by the wayside as the months wore on, roots grew out, and hair began to satirise faces rather than flatteringly frame them. Like doctors or priests, hairdressers have sometimes found themselves ministering telephone or online advice to clients at their wits’ end. Box dye and cutter sales have skyrocketed. For many, to go grey or not to go grey became the inescapable question.
