In the past, people have been known to try to cure all types of ailments with some pretty strange remedies. Whether it was leech treatment or attempting to drain out an illness through bloodletting, medical treatments have come a long way over the last few hundred years. Given that, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that hair treatments have come a long way too. Here are three weird treatments that ancient people used on their hair.
1. Vacuum for Baldness
As recent as the early 1900s, people thought that a cure for baldness could be found by using a contraption that created a vacuum around the head. The idea was that the suction would stimulate the blood vessels in the head, and that would, in turn, stimulate hair growth.
2. Hemoglobin Capsules
In the Victorian era, women and men who felt that their hair grayed too early could pop a capsule that promised gray hairs to stop growing. This capsule, which contained a protein called hemoglobin (found in the blood), was made from bull’s blood. The makers thought that issues with hair were caused by germs around the hair follicle. They claimed that their remedies would fight off the bad germs and allow hair follicles to get the nutrients they needed to continue to grow and maintain their color.
3. Icall Permanent Wave Machine
Before there were hair curlers, there were terrifying looking machines that gave brave women in the early 1900s a permanent wave (similar to a perm). The machine worked by attaching curlers to electrical wires that hung from a central contraption. The wires heated the curlers, and once the curlers were hot enough, the device was unplugged and the curlers were attached to the hair.
