Lately I saw some people sharing photos with false informations about matted hair. Actually this is an extremely interesting topic so I collected some informations about it. Matted hair was part of European folklore especially in East Europe. In the 16th century people believed that elves and imps were responsible for matted hair. German people named it "Weichselzopf" (from the word "Wichtel" which means imp) or "Drudenzopf". In polish language it was called "Wieszczyce" derived from a word which describes "ghost". A popular explanation for woman with matted hair was that women with unfulfilled desires grow Weichselzöpfe. They also believed that horses could get them too. The superstition warned that people who cut their matted hair have a high risk to bleed to death. Instead of cutting their hair by themselves people should make a replica of their Weichselzopf and hide it together with bread and a silver coin in a church. When the replica disappeared they were allowed to cut it off on the next Karfreitag ("Good Friday") with a sharp stone. During this procedure magical spells were spoken. At this time people believed that matted hair can channel bad humours and it could help to fight diseases. Some people tried to acquire an artificial one. Witchcraft, dark forces but also good spirits were an essential part of this superstitious. Weichselzöpfe were also a statement. People who wore it saw it as a demonstration of superiority. Especially older people had them but there were no gender inequalities. [This should n o t start a discussion about cultural appropriation / black hair styles. This is a factual information about almost forgotten European folklore. I hope you liked it 🙂] Sources: • A.W. Bauer¹ (2004): Der ,,Weichselzopf" in medizinhistorischer Perspektive, Aktuelle Dermatologie ¹Institute for history of medicine, Ruprecht-Karls-University • Dr. F. Beschorner (1843): Der Weichselzopf nach statischen und physiologischen Beziehungen • R. Möhn (2008): Der Weichselzopf - Krankheit, Aberglaube, Charakterprofil und Erinnerungskultur, Aktuelle Dermatologie
