Heirloom Hair

Last Friday, after chopping my hair for the Full Moon, I’ll admit… I felt a bit regretful.

I especially felt it when I opened The Thorn Rose (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty), illustrated by Errol Le Cain, to read to the girls. We’ve had this book for years, but I had never connected to it like this before.

The illustrations are stunning, and the opening page is of the princess standing in the stairwell of a medieval castle, her hair cascading all the way down to her feet.

The moment I saw the page, I felt this strange deep sorrow… but in the very same moment, I also had this overwhelming feeling that they really had it figured out back then when it came to hair. It felt like such a reminder that doing less was often what kept their hair long, strong, and beautiful.

I always feel sad after cutting my hair, and honestly, I have no idea why I continue to think it’s a good idea.. Maybe one day I’ll figure that out…

But what felt especially wild was that same day, while giving some sweet friends Full Moon beach haircuts, I got a message from my dear friend, Lacy Phillips, saying she had suddenly become deeply interested in medieval hair care and wanted to begin adopting practices more aligned with how women cared for their hair during that time.

The synchronicity felt kind of undeniable.

But beneath the curiosity around “medieval hair” was actually something much deeper… A longing for simplicity. A desire to return to slower, more sensual ways of caring for ourselves. Ways that feel rooted in the Earth, in the body, and in beauty as an experience rather than another to-do. Ways that feel incredibly aligned with the Taurus energy we’re in right now.

Taurus, ruled by Venus, understands beauty through the senses. Through touch, scent, texture, devotion, nourishment and slowness. Not beauty as perfection, but beauty as relationship. Beauty as tending - the type of beauty I am so here for…

Lacy, who already has the most stunning hair imaginable, has fully begun her heirloom hair ritual/medieval protocol, and somehow, impossibly, her hair looks even better!!

So we decided to jump on Zoom, record it, and invite all of you into the conversation with us :) If you haven’t tuned in on her Substack for it, I am resharing it here for you all.

In this conversation we talk about the growing pull toward simplicity, ritual, and what she calls “heirloom hair”; a return to slower, more intentional ways of caring for ourselves. Medieval hair care became the doorway into a much bigger conversation around beauty, femininity, sensuality, motherhood, hydration, ritual and reconnecting to the Earth through everyday practices.

She shares her full process, rituals and practices here, and I highly recommend watching the entire conversation if this topic speaks to you at all.

Because somewhere along the way, beauty became disconnected from ritual.

And maybe this is really about remembering our way back…