Modern Hill Woman

As I have previously mentioned, the Victorians really knew how to mourn.

They even went as far as wearing jewelry made from hair or teeth of their dead loved ones, and creating artwork to hang on walls. Sometimes hair was even embroidered into pieces of art.

This practice may seem creepy and morbid in modern society. Whether kept as memorials to the departed, or as symbols of remembrance and affection, jewelry and artwork made from human hair and even teeth were popular from the colonial era into the beginning of the 20th century.

In the 1700s, hair work was more understated; mourners might preserve small locks of braided hair under glass in black-rimmed lockets, brooches, or rings. The trinkets were generally inscribed with the deceased’s initials, the word obit (Latin for death), and the date of death.

The 1800s Romantic movement encouraged more open and dramatic displays of emotion, and hair work became more elaborate. Women wore entire necklaces or bracelets woven of hair from their dearly departed. Men used watch fobs made from their sweetheart’s hair.

There was a whole industry turning out these mourning pieces. There was, however, a lot of scamming going on. Unsavory hair jewelry producers often substituted hair not belonging to a loved one, since hair cut from a living person was more supple and easier to work with. As a selling point, reputable jewelers guaranteed their pieces to be made from the hair that was brought to them.

Occasionally people would pay for memorial pieces to be made after their death, and locks would be left with solicitors for this purpose, to assure authenticity.

Hair jewelry wasn’t just for rich people. As its popularity increased, books and classes on how to make mourning jewelry and art became available.

The hair jewelry industry evolved out of the wig-making industry, which had been prevalent for centuries. People wore wigs made of other people‘s hair, and thought nothing about wearing jewelry made of someone else’s hair.

Young girls growing their hair as long as possible and then selling it was a common way of acquiring a dowry.

When jewelry was made from teeth, it often featured milk teeth (baby teeth), due to the high infant mortality rates.

Teeth jewelry was made popular by Queen Victoria. Despite the high infant mortality rates, all nine of Queen Victoria’s children lived to adulthood. To commemorate this unusual occurrence, she commissioned two different pieces of jewelry using her children’s milk teeth. Jewelry made from the baby teeth of living children was thought to bring luck to the mother. Teeth were used in rings, earrings, brooches, and bracelets.

There are also examples of adult incisors being held in a simple gold setting. Although this tradition seems macabre today, these pieces are symbols of love and commemoration.

This trend went out of fashion around 1925.

Today, some people carry a piece of their loved one with them in jewelry designed to hold a loved one’s ashes after cremation.