Not enough female reenactors pay attention to their hair, so it is my goal to find ways to teach women to do their hair in a suitable manner. I have found a video on YouTube that teaches women how to do their hair in a Regency period updo. The Regency period was just prior to the early Victorian period. Some of you are getting into reenacting the War of 1812 and even Jane Austen-style living histories, so I thought I would change up my usual Civil War reenacting lessons and jump to the previous generation.

If you do not have long hair, consider using clip on extensions like the clip on extensions in this blog. Read that blog to understand why hair is very important in portraying nineteenth century women and why it should not be ignored in reenacting today.

Please do not use this style at a reenactment later than about 1825 because it won't be correct.

In the nineteenth century, it was considered entirely too familiar and improper for a single man to address a single woman by her first name. If he addressed her by her first name, it implied that they were engaged.

Let's use the Emma Thompson version of the film Sense and Sensibility as an example since more people are likely to have seen that than read the Jane Austen novel. At the end of the film, Hugh Grant playing Mr. Farras addresses Miss Dashwood (Emma Thompson) by her first name of Elinor. She begins to weep. The subtle nuance often lost on the audience is that Elinor suddenly knows by the use of her first name that he intends to propose. He doesn't get to finish because it's already there and implied by the simple use of her first name.

Additionally, the use of a person's first name was considered so personal that many in the nineteenth century continued to address each other by their last names around other people even after they were married. An example of this (to use another film that most people have likely seen) was evident in Gone with the Wind in the scene where Scarlett's mother comes home and tells "Mr. O'Hara" that he must dismiss the overseer and he responds by calling her Mrs. O'Hara. That was common in upper-class families. Only when they were alone or in private letters would they have addressed each other by their first names or private nicknames. Lower classes were less formal about the use of first names after people were married.