Bunnets: Where Did They Come From?
How did the hair net come to be? The Collins English Dictionary defines a bun as "a hairstyle in which long hair is gathered into a bun shape at the back of the head." It defines a hairnet as "any of several kinds of light netting worn over the hair to keep it in place." By combining the words bun and hairnet, a useful item with a clever name emerges: bunnet! A bunnet is a type of hairnet used to hold a bun hairstyle securely in place.
As a relative of the hairnet, the bunnet has a history dating back to ancient times. Reading from Wikipedia, a hairnet from about 1400 B.C. was recovered from a bog in the country of Denmark. Hairnets were used in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Byzantine Egypt. As early as the 13th century, hairnets were worn in Germany and England. Women in the United States in the late 1800's used hairnets. Nowadays, hairnets are worn by food service workers to keep their hair out of their work.
Over the centuries, hairnets have been made many ways. Some were beautifully crocheted or knitted from delicate thread. Others were made of fine metal. Others were made using a technique called "sprang," which entailed braiding stretched threads to create an elastic fabric. Most contemporary hairnets are simply nylon mesh.
Sometime in recent history, the hairnet evolved into a small, nylon mesh version that could be used to secure a bun hairstyle. The bunnet was born!
Bunnets are essential to anyone who wears their hair in a bun, but they play a particularly important role for ballet dancers. Because posture and alignment are critical elements of ballet, it is important to keep a dancer's hair out of the way, so her teacher and her audience can see the placement of her shoulders, head, and neck. That is why, for decades, all ballet dancers have been required to wear their hair in a bun during classes, rehearsals, and performances. Considering how often a ballet dancer wears a bun, it is easy to see that she need a lot of bunnets.
Imagine how many bunnets are used by all the ballet dancers in all the ballet studios and ballet companies in cities and towns all over the world. That's a lot of bunnets!
Bunnets are small, lightweight, and come in lots of different colors. They (and their hairnet relatives) have been around for a long time. Most of all, bunnets are very useful to a lot of people.
About the Author
Need a Bun Net! http://www.bunnets.com has a great collection of bunnets and hair nets for the dancer. Why not visit http://www.bunnets.com and take a look
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