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16th Century Irish Hipsters

I recently spotted a remarkably modern-looking haircut on an image depicting a group 16th century Irish soldiers. Referred to as a 'glibb' this distinctive hairstyle appears to have been particularly popular in Ireland during the 16th century

Referred to as a ‘glib’ this style involved the hair at the back and side of the head being trimmed short, while at the front and top it was allowed to grow long, resulting in a large fringe, which fell down over the face. In c. 1596 the famous English poet, Edmund Spenser, deplored this ‘thick curled bush of hair, hanging down over their (the Irish) eyes’ and compared it to a thief’s mask[vi]. He also rather fancifully stated that the Irish believed that this heavy fringe of hair could deflect the strike of a sword, ‘ going to battle without armour on their bodies or heads, but trusting to the thickness of their Glybbes, the which (they say) will sometimes bear off a good stroke’[vii].

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