Some Victorian ladies used more invasive forms of hair removal, many of which were thought to provide longer lasting results. One such method involved the insertion of a fine needle into the hair follicle. Fletcher credits this technique to American dermatologist Dr. Henry Piffard, explaining: This treatment—sometimes referred to as “mechanical destruction of the hair follicle”—was believed to be even more effective if the needle was first dipped into a solution of “equal parts of carbolic-acid and olive-oil.” Another option,was to use “a fine cambric needle, previously dipped in a solution of nitrate of silver” to stab into the hair root. According to Fletcher: A London heiress rides out to the wilds of the English countryside to honor a marriage of convenience with a mysterious and reclusive stranger. After an eighteen month course of electrolysis, Fox reports that the successful removal of Mrs.—’s unwanted hair “produced a marked indirect effect upon her health and happiness.” A Few Final Words… For Julia, an incurable romantic cursed with a crippling social anxiety, navigating a London ballroom is absolute torture. The only time Julia feels any degree of confidence is when she’s on her horse. Unfortunately, a young lady can’t spend the whole of her life in the saddle, so Julia makes an impetuous decision to take her future by the reins—she proposes to Captain Blunt.

Fox, George Henry. The Use of Electricity on the Removal of Superfluous Hair: And the Treatment of Various Facial Blemishes. Detroit: George S. Davis, 1886. could we but know the secrets of the boudoir we would be surprised to find how large a percentage of our female acquaintances resort occasionally, if not habitually, to the use of the depilatory, the razor, or the tweezers.” Piffard’s treatment is to partially pull the hair and then insert a surgeon’s needle, thrusting it to the base of the follicle and puncturing the papilla, which by a twirl or two it breaks down.”

In exchange for her dowry and her hand, Jasper must promise to grant her freedom to do as she pleases. To ride—and to read—as much as she likes without masculine interference. He readily agrees to her conditions, with one provision of his own: Julia is forbidden from going into the tower rooms of his estate and snooping around his affairs. But the more she learns of the beastly former hero, the more intrigued she becomes…

Fox treated many women during the 1870s and 1880s. Some of his patients had fallen into melancholy as a result of their unwanted facial hair. In his case notes, Fox writes of Mrs.—, a thirty-one-year-old mother of one: The advent of electrolysis did not mean the death of depilatories and other hair removal methods. Ladies continued to use various homemade creams and pastes to remove unwanted hair well into the Victorian era and beyond. It was far more common than one might think. To that end, I leave you with the following astute observation by Dr. Fox:

The law of rhythmic breath

Tall, dark, and dour, the notorious Captain Jasper Blunt was once hailed a military hero, but tales abound of his bastard children and his haunted estate in Yorkshire. What he requires now is a rich wife to ornament his isolated ruin, and he has his sights set on the enchanting Julia Wychwood.