Period hair products and the military

[Progressive88]

Pards,
I'm having a bit of trouble gathering primary sources on this one...

Aside from the normal pomades, oils, and pure petrolatum that we know contemporary civilians used, is there testament to what a soldier may have used during his service away from home to keep his hair in order?

All tangible evidence aside, was the practice to simply abandon vanity during the campaign? What about when not on campaign?

Looking for evidence, not an "if i were there... " explanation. We could always go smearing fatback on our heads but without documentation that would be just downright strange! :)

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: Period hair products and the military

One thing that we KNOW they had was one's own natural hair oils, particularly when it's not being washed regularly. The texture and gloss of one's hair will be affected by that. Older hair pomades/tonics were not meant to be washed-and-reapplied on a daily basis, either, so even those products were working with the help of infrequent hair rinses.