Don't that today is the last day for 10 % off on all orders (Both physical book and E-book and all hair products) at Nightblooming's Etsy store. Either follow this direct link or apply the code BELLTOWER when you check out.
I spotted this ad for a recruitment agency at a bus stop. Even though the guy's beard-braid looks very much photoshopped on, I still thought it was mildly interesting.
Also, is the guy supposed to look like Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane) or is it just a coincidence? Especially since he seems to be doing that "staring in awe" thing at the woman.
Don't forget that you can get 10 % off on all orders (Both physical and E-book and all products) until august 15th at Nightblooming's Etsy store.
Either follow this direct link or apply the code BELLTOWER when you check out.
Nope, the seven stranded braid did not hold up well after sleeping on it.
I guess the amount of surface to hair volume, plus a restless night of sleep (Hot and humid) just really destroyed it. Or maybe it was the leave in-conditioner? Some of them provide noticeably less hold than other.
Also, and this is my laziness speaking: I really don't think you can tell the difference between a five stranded and a seven stranded braid? So the extra time it takes to braid the seven stranded braid seems like a bad time investment.
Don't forget that you can get 10 % off on all orders (Both physical and E-book and all products) until august 15th at Nightblooming's Etsy store.
Either follow this direct link or apply the code BELLTOWER when you check out.
Felt like playing around with making a seven-stranded braid. I did five strands first, then added another two from the hair at below top-of-ears level.
The braid structure unfortunately feel very lose and not firm as usual. I think it simply has too much surface to the volume of hair it contains?
Nightblooming aka Melissa wrote a book and since I'm a fan of how she can express herself, I had to have it. Seriously, the way she can describe her products is just amazing to me. This was part of the reason I wanted to interview her some years back.
So naturally I had to have her book and read her work on a full story. Can't wait!
I have asked Melissa to do another interview for her upcoming book, and she agreed to it!
Since we need to find a time where we can put our heads together, this is my readers chance to ask Nightblooming anything you would like to know about her book and products.
She also offered to do a special FAQ for us for those questions she receives the most!
And... *drumroll*
I have a special code for my readers to Nightblooming's Etsy store for 10 % off on all orders until august 15th. Either follow this direct link or apply the code BELLTOWER when you check out.
I have ordered her book in hard copy: Heaven's Silhouette
Preorder and other cool stuff here as well.
It can even be preordered through Melissa's Patreon where it also comes with an upgrade package.
She has also done something so cool, and so, so very Nightblooming: She made a line of essential oil blends for the books universe.
For those who don't already know, the Nightblooming products are very well known in the longhair circuit and Melissa wrote some of the classic haircare literature:
I was curious and made two little buns out of the "looped" braids. Of course this completely ruins the little loop-detail. But I was surprised to find that it didn't seem to add any extra hold. On the contrary it got pretty uncomfortable quick.
Tonight's hairstyle is two horizontally split braids with a single "loop" before being braided. I'm going to turn this into a single, big bun tomorrow and hopefully the details will show.
Continuing the history nerding: I went to Trelleborg (The Danish one, not the Swedishone) with author-friend, engineer-friend and Mr Igor and came home with some nice souvenirs.
The weird poles and striped markings are from the museum setting up for a viking festival that we would miss by two days. A shame, because it looked like it would be huge when it were set up.
Trelleborg was a fortress set up by the first commonly accepted king of Denmark, Harald Bluetooth around the year 980. He united the various warring tribes into a country (Which is why the technology is named after him), and the borders of mainland Denmark has overall been remarkably unchanged since.
My new throne room.
Following Mr. Igor out to the ring fortress.
Because of the festival approaching, there were quite a few cars and workers around to cut grass and do maintenance. It really ruined the view and impression!
Here is one of the few good pictures I got, where I stand on top of the fortification and look back towards where I took the previous picture. You can see the bridge over the ramparts, the stones marking the placement of longhouses and the reconstructed longhouse in the back.
Amazingly it looks like both rivers have barely moved their position for the last 1039 or so years! Today they still line up with the fortification really well.
Anyways. I bought myself a new coffee cup. It says "My drinking horn" on it and I had to have it.
I also bought two little bronze sword dangles based on the Glastonbury sword.
With a little bit of force, I turned them into sword dangles for two hairsticks I removed the original dangles from long ago (Cheap wooden "beads" that kept getting stuck in my hair) Much better!
The Elling woman is a danish bog body and quite famous in the longhair circuit for her long, well preserved hair and complicated braided updo.
I have tried recreating her style several times, but it doesn't really work so well for me. A modified, simplified version works pretty well, but not a close-to-original-recreation, no. It's not a style designed for thick or heavy hair.
I visited the museum she is exhibited in, along with author-friend, engineer-friend and Mr Igor.
The museum is Museum Silkeborg, located in (You guessed it) the town of Silkeborg in north western Denmark.
The first building hosts exhibits from the stone age and almost up to modern times along with the gift shop.
The second building is reached by going through the first building and hosts exhibits about the danish iron age, and a nice little cafe that makes a pretty good apple cake.
(Which led to some discussion in the squad, since I was the only one not completely grossed out by sour cream on said cake. Our group consisted of me, my Swedish hubby, a French-German and a French, so... It must be a cultural thing since this is perfectly acceptable in Denmark? What do you guys think?)
But most important of all: This building has two of the most well known bog bodies in the world, resting just a few meter apart just like when they were buried.
All pictures should be clickable for a larger size.
The iron age clothes were quite colourful!
The exhibit of Mr. Igor showing off in "his" chainmail is not permanent.
They had a very nice little exhibit about historical hair and beard, many of them something I recognize from the longhair circuit.
Note the small combs on the black pedestal.
Some of the styles are of course speculative and based on carvings in wood or stone, and not actual styles that have been found.
The top left blonde updo is the Suebian knot, that I also tried recreating.
I thought the complicated braids on the blonde doll to the right was a speculative reconstruction, but apparently that style has been found preserved.
The Elling woman herself almost blends in with the rest of her exhibit. Only her hair sticks out from above her leather "sleeping bag". Of course the most famous part is her updo and not much else of the body is preserved. In fact the body was so damaged on discovery that the sex was unknown until the clothes showed she is a woman.
The Elling woman is of course mostly famous for her hair and updo, but even that was hard to make out. I'm impressed the researchers have managed to make out exactly what was done to her hair. For me, it was hard to tell.
The Elling woman died age 25-30 years old at around 360-210 BC. She was found in 1938.
This is around a time period called the pre-Roman iron age or the Celtic iron age in Denmark. The names almost speak for themselves: The finds have a strong Celtic influence in style and decoration, and it's the time before the Roman iron age started influencing northern Europe.
This is also a time where there have been noticeably less finds than other time periods, which combined with knowledge about climate change to a colder and more hostile climate has led to speculations of a drop in population.
Of course this has also led to many theories on why so many bog bodies are from around this time: Changes in the local plant life, prey animals being affected by this and bad harvests could easily make people desperate to appease their gods. The general lack of findings from this time makes the bog bodies even more remarkable and valuable.
Her hair is surprisingly thin in person. I always assumed it was a lot thicker from seeing the famous drawing of the updo structure.
Of course this explains why this updo is such a "Was fun to try for the historical aspect, but doesn't work well for me" for so many fellow longhairs.
And it really is: It still blows my mind that you can replicate a style someone used 2229-2379 years ago to keep her hair neat and gathered up.
It is not known what her original haircolour was, since the bog dyes hair, skin and clothing over time. However, her hair is darker than the Tollund man who was found in the very same bog, close to each other and having been buried a maximum of 195 years before.
The actual hairstyle is this:
The crown part of her hair is gathered, swept back and braided in a English braid.
At the nape, an additional 4 strands are added. All seven strands are twirled like rope to keep them separated from each other.
But the seven strands are braided from the nape in bundles of two, two and three strands into a English braid.
The braid is secured in a knot, but might have become messed up and damaged during the sacrifice and burial. The exact look of the original knot is not known and maybe it was more complicated than what we see today.
The loose ends are gathered in two strands that are twirled around themselves and each other.
The braid from the nape length on has been pulled up under the top English braid (This is surprisingly comfortable actually) and twirled around the base twice.
The rest of the braid and loose strands hang down the back. But again, this might have come loose during the sacrifice and burial, and it might have been fully secured with the braid completely turned into a bun.
The fact that all the strands are kept twirled separately to form a "rope" while simultaneously being fed into a three-stranded braid in bundles like this, makes me doubt she did this style herself. She must have had someone else who could actually see what they were doing, doing the twirling and braiding at the same time to create this style. Also I would think you need an extra pair of hands to help holding on to the strands or doing the twisting.
Here is my own lazy/comfortable-Elling variation for comparison:
(Or rather, what I could actually do with only two hands and my own braiding abilities)
I haven't been able to find an accurate recreation of this style on youtube, which supports my theory that the Elling woman didn't braid this hairstyle on herself.
There are some very nice variants though. And I guess the end result is close enough.
But it does seem to have some symbolic or cultural value to make such a distinct seven-ish stranded braid, when a normal three stranded would be a lot easier and no one would be able to tell unless they got up close to examination it.
But the most famous bog body in the museum is not the Elling woman.
The museum also hosts a permanent exhibit of the most famous bog body in the world: Tollundmanden.
The Tollund man lived to around 40 years old and was short for his time, at only 161 cm (5 foot 3). He was found just 40-100 meter away from the Elling woman 12 years later (Distance varies from source to source) He was hung between 405 and 384 BC, so somewhere between 24 and 195 years before the Elling woman.The reason the Tollund man is so exceptionally well preserved is that he was placed in a bog on a day where the temperature was below 4 degrees Celsius, so the bog had time to take effect before decay set in.
And he is famous for a good reason. He is simply fascinating and disturbing at the same time.
At least 2400 years old and you can still see his cheek stubble, wrinkles and the peaceful look on his face. Someone obviously took great care to make sure he went into the afterlife looking peaceful. I almost expected him to yawn and blink. You automatically lower your voice near him. It's uncanny.
