Victorian Men Wore Women’s Pubic Hair As An Accessory

You can’t make this up.

Human affection is one of the basic desires and needs for growth as intelligent beings; it is at the crux every relationship. It builds trust and establishes the importance of those connections, whether they be friends, family or lovers. Even though there are numerous ways to express your love and feelings for another ~ when it comes to something quite curious, one would not necessarily think of Victorian men. After all, for the most part these chaps are seen as disciplined, pompous and priggish. However, did you know that during the Victorian era, these rather moralistic men were unusually fond of pubic hair as a token of conquest? Yup. 

Under the rule of Queen Victoria, upper class men of 19th century England, pubic hair was collected as a ‘token of remembrance.’ Aristocratic men would wear these locks on their hat as a memento. Yup ~ men of the Victorian age used their ‘ladies locks’ as cockades [no pun intended] on their hat.

Reciprocity of pubic hair was usual in the Victorian age and it was seen as a token of devotion.  That’s right. However, this wasn’t a sign of true love; it was a bit more vulgar than that. In the Victorian period, men would clip a bit of treasure from their conquests and display them on accessories such as hats in order to brag about their sexual endeavors through the art of fashion, to boost their ego. Others who were not so tawdry would carry their lovers trophy in a locket or hidden in a pocket watch.

Imagine being intimate with someone and then having them ask you if they can cut off some of the hair-down-there …. The mind does begin to wander, at this point you should know that this author is giggling uncontrollably. I wonder ~ would a woman be offended because he asked for a lock of love to show off or would they feel neglected – nay rejected – if it wasn’t requested? The Victorian life was confusing for certain. 

Maybe it’s hard [again ~ no pun intended] to accept the fact that such a thing ever existed. But at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, in their museum, there is a testament to this most curious custom, there is a silver snuff box from 1822, tightly packed with the ginger fluff of King George IV’s lover. The snuff box relates to an 18th century gentleman’s society called ‘The Beggar’s Benison’, which was centered on men’s personal self gratification. The secret mascot of the society was a wig woven from the tender tresses of King Charles II mistresses, although only the empty wig box remains today.

There is a lovely inscribed memento that reads: “Hair from the Mons Veneris of a Royal Courtesan of George IV. His Majesty was introduced to the Sovereign and Knights of the B.B when he visited Scotland and arrived at the harbour of Leith for the first and last time.” The hair locks are said to belong to Elizabeth Conyngham which the king donated to the club. 

We know there are countless ways of expressing your affection to your lovers, history seems to hold the most unique…. Curious indeed!