Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Hair (in Christian Antiquity)
|←Karl von Haimhausen||Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Volume 7
Hair (in Christian Antiquity) The subject of this article is so
extensive that there can be no attempt to describe the types of
head-dress successively or simultaneously in use in the Catholic
Church. An idea can be formed only from the texts and monuments
quoted, and here we shall simply indicate the principal
characteristics of head-dress at different times and among
different classes. The paintings in the catacombs permit the
belief that the early Christians simply followed the fashion of
their time. The short hair of the men and the waved tresses of
the women were, towards the end of the second century, curled,
frizzed with irons, and arranged in tiers, while for women the
hair twined about the head forming a high diadem over the brow.
Particular locks were reserved to fall over the forehead and
upon the temples. Religious iconography proceeds even now in
accordance with types created i