Sissi Wedding dress

Hair Rats

"Whilst walking up and down the floor, hushing her in my arms, my unslippered feet trod on something soft, which I declared to Sadie to be a snake, and sprang into bed, not even baby’s shrill cries tempting me out again… In the morning I discovered my “snake” to be the roll used for my front hair, fashionably called rats." (Godey's January, 1866)

While humorous as it may seem, use a roll or hair rat was all the rage for a lady of the mid crinoline era. The beautiful hourglass silhouette not only referred to the torso of a woman, but an hourglass formed from head to toe. The hoop skirt or cage and starched petticoats took care of the toe part, and the hair and headwear continued the illusion to the very peak of a lady's body. One of the tricks of the trade of creating the beautiful round and full face was the hair rat, with its lesser known and smaller cousin the hair mouse, although we will focus on the rat due to its more documented status. A rat may also be called a roll as it seems that individuals did not want something they placed upon their head to be referred to with a word with such negative perceptions. 

What exactly was a hair rat? In essence it is a piece used to create a bump or roll, normally placed near the ears or at the back of the head.

Original sources cite that a lady the preference was to achieve the hairstyles au natural. with no aid from faux frizettes, which led to hair rats being constructed by a ladies own hair. The idea was that one could claim that their hairstyles were created without any artificial pieces, and it was completely made from ones own hair. Which to be fair, is true, those styles of hair rat that were technically only made from a ladies tresses. However, it seems that some were made from animal hair and only covered in a human hair.

I have tried forever to get enough hair for a rat and just decided to cheat a little. My hair brush and comb just weren't providing enough to make one in less than two years. A friend had told me a trick that involves buyung one of the bun makers from claire's and cutting it into a  long tube instead of a donut. Once I had the tube, I took the hair I did have, covered it with it and put the whole thing inside a hair net and stitched it shut. The end result actually looked very real. The only problem I had is shaping, but with some tweaking I was able to work that out.