"Traditional Japanese hairstyles: Tales of hardship"

The Troubles of a Maiko

　A maiko's nihongami (traditional Japanese hairstyle) is made with her own hair. And most of the time, once a hairstyle is set, it lasts for a week without being undone, so as you can imagine, various troubles arise around it. For example, when sleeping, when taking a bath, or when an unexpected situation requires her to run. Most of these situations become a bit inconvenient due to the nihongami.

Nihongami and Necessities

　When sleeping, they use a pillow called a "takurama (omaku)," which looks like something straight out of a period drama. It's placed behind the ears. It looks like a small buckwheat hull pillow tied to a wooden stand, and once you get used to it, it's very comfortable, but getting used to it is the hard part. I think I managed because I was 15 or 16, an age where I could sleep anywhere. This "omaku" is always in the travel bag of a maiko who frequently travels for banquets and events in the countryside; if she forgets it, she has no choice but to sleep sitting up. You could almost call them athletes for carrying their pillows around.

Public Bath Visits

　And then there's the bath. In fact, many maiko frequent public baths. I also went to the neighborhood public bath every day instead of using the bath at the okiya. Apparently, this is because they don't want the oshiroi (white makeup) and bintsuke abura (hair wax) to clog the family bath. Public baths frequented by many maiko might be having their own headaches...
　Returning from the ozashiki late at night, they first remove their oshiroi, and in summer, they wear a yukata with a light haori, and in winter, a quilted nagahaori called "dongorosu" over their pajamas, and head to the bathhouse (I recently learned that "dongorosu" refers to a hemp sack for agricultural products, which makes me very curious about its origin).
　Even if they go to the public bath every day, they can only soak in the hot water on the days they undo their hair; normally, they cannot immerse themselves. This is because the steam would cause the bintsuke abura to melt and make their hair sticky immediately. So, their stay is only about 5 or 10 minutes. In the strictly hierarchical world of the kagai, even in the bath, one must kneel and greet each senior, so the first year is tough. I fondly recall complaints like, "I spend more time greeting than washing myself."

Scalp Conditions with Nihongami

　Putting that aside, the biggest fear when living with such constant attention to one's hair for 24 hours is the condition of the scalp. If you don't undo your hair for a week, of course, it's itchy and painful, and the amount of hair loss on the day you undo it is horrifying. The scalp at the back of the head, which bears the most burden, weakens, and after five years of continuously tying it up, hair follicles can even disappear... I strongly longed to be a maiko and came to Kyoto, but this was quite a struggle. I want to write more details about this "baldness prevention" in another place, but the number one thing you shouldn't do is "run." If you run, the tied roots shift and you lose hair. It might be that graceful movements are truly for protecting the scalp. Girls with dreams are strong!