When the Opium War broke out in 1840, the British invaders forced the Qing court to open the door of China with a cannon. When the foreigners entered China, they stared at the conspicuous braid of the adult Chinese man dragging behind his head with a strange look, and they could not understand why Chinese had such a braid.
At that time, a British missionary experienced the precious moment when a Qing Dynasty man wore loose braids, but he smelled an unprecedented odor and a breathtaking dirty scalp.
According to the diary left by the British missionary, at that time he happened to encounter a Qing Dynasty man washing his hair, with a strong curiosity he wanted to go close to watch the Qing Dynasty people untie their braids, to see how the Qing Dynasty people's steps to clean their hair were different, a strong sour smell came to his face, this moment could smoke him, this stink attack made him have nowhere to escape, the smell was extremely disgusting, and the smell emitted was lingering in the air for a long time.
The preacher, already overwhelmed by the sour smell, quickly covered his nose with his hand and made up his mind to summon up the courage to observe the man's braids. Looking closely, the person's braid reflects the rough matte visible to the naked eye, the hair is rough and yellowish, and there are many lice living creatures mixed in, and the accumulated grease forms a shiny picture of the braid hair.
This situation that he witnessed with his own eyes really surprised the missionaries, who was deeply uncomfortable and surprised by this, he recorded in his diary the scene of the Qing Dynasty people washing their hair and unbraiding their braids, and a few lines of handwriting also exhausted the difficulties and dilemmas of the Qing Dynasty people washing their hair, and even broke the world's good impression of the Qing Dynasty's braids.
In fact, the braids of the Qing Dynasty were not this hairstyle at the beginning, and the braids of the Qing Dynasty also had their own development history, not a stereotype.
Walk into the people's livelihood of the Qing Dynasty and learn about the evolution of the large braided hairstyles of Qing Dynasty men
The braids of the original Qing Dynasty people were not what we looked like in film and television dramas, polished brain doors, thick and long braids. In fact, the original braid is called "money rat tail", the entire head is almost completely shaved, leaving only a small piece of hair the size of money at the top of the head, and then braiding the hair into a small braid. This hairstyle is indeed too ugly, and everyone's head is like a big apple, with the apple stalk on the top of the head, and the key is that this stalk is thin and long, like the tail of a mouse.
Perhaps it was really ugly, in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the position of the braid moved downwards to the position of the back of the head, and the braid was no longer erect, but down.
But by the end of the Qing Dynasty, this situation changed. The braids of the late Qing Dynasty have evolved to the way we look in film and television dramas, and only shave the hair in front of the brain door. At this time, the rule of the Qing Dynasty was quite stable, and the requirements for hair were not as strict as before, since it felt cold, it was a little more hair, and the braids were also braided a little thicker. Although the braids are thick and long, they can play a good warming effect, but it is difficult to clean.
Washing hair in the Qing Dynasty was a very luxurious thing, even if it was rich, they would not wash their hair often, and generally only once every half a month. However, rich people will use a care oil after washing to ensure that the hair can be long-lasting fragrance.
But the poor are miserable, especially those who can't eat, where they have the time and energy to pay attention to their own appearance, it is good to be able to eat. This caused the Qing Dynasty hair to stink.