{{Short description|Historical treatment for hair loss}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} thumb|right|275px|Trade mark of Atkinsons of London, c. 1830 [[File:Hildegard von Bingen.jpg|thumbnail|right|Hildegard of Bingen recommended the use of bear's grease for hair loss]] [[File:Cruikshank - Old Bumblehead.png|thumb|''Old Bumblehead the 18th trying on the Napoleon Boots'', George Cruikshank, 1823]]

'''Bear's grease''' was a popular treatment for men with hair loss from at least as early as 70 CE until about the First World War. The myth of its effectiveness is based on the belief that as bears are very hairy, their fat would assist hair growth in others.<ref name="MRPS">{{cite web |title=Developing Treatments |url=http://www.rpharms.com/museum-pdfs/h-treatmentsformen.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009022656/https://www.rpharms.com/museum-pdfs/h-treatmentsformen.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2014 |accessdate=27 June 2014 |website=Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society}}</ref> Nicholas Culpeper, the English botanist and herbalist wrote in 1653, in his ''The Physician's Library'', "Bears Grease staies [stops] the falling off of the hair."<ref name=MRPS/> Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), Benedictine mystic, composer and woman of letters, also recommended the use of the substance in her ''Physica'' (repeated in her ''Causae et Curae'').<ref>{{cite book|author=von Bingen, Hildegard.|title=Physica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wl6w2cfCKTgC&pg=PA209|date=1998|place=Translated by Priscilla Throop. Rochester|publisher=Healing Arts Press|isbn=978-1-59477-775-2|pages=209}}</ref> A number of cosmetics companies sold bear's grease, and it was a trademark of Atkinsons of London, who sold "Bears Grease Pomade". In the early 1880s in Arkansas, an ell of bear grease, formed from the hide from the head and neck of a deer, was a standard medium of exchange.<ref>{{Cite conference|vauthors=Smith, KG, Clark, JD, Gipson, PS|title=History of black bears in Arkansas: over-exploitation, near elimination, and successful reintroduction|url=https://www.bearbiology.org/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/EBBW/10th_EBBW/03_introduction_smith_history_of_bb_in_arkansas.pdf|conference=Proceedings of the Tenth Eastern Workshop on Black Bear Restoration and Management|year=1990|id=10:5–14|access-date=5 January 2022|archive-date=5 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205224153/https://www.bearbiology.org/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/EBBW/10th_EBBW/03_introduction_smith_history_of_bb_in_arkansas.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Preparation== In the Roman Empire, according to Dioscorides, bear fat was removed from the around the kidneys of the bear then manually rubbed in cold rain water. The rinsed bear fat was then set in a ceramic jar with water and heated and stirred over a coal fire. It was then strained, placed in a second jar, melted for a second time, and then had the "filth" removed from the bottom. After being melted for a third time and placed in a mortar, it was stored in sealed or corked jars.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Dioscorides |first=Pedanius |title=Dioscorides: De Materia Medica |date= |publisher=Ibidis Press |isbn=0-620-23435-0 |publication-date=March 2003 |pages=214–215 |translator-last=T.A. |translator-first=Osbaldeston |translator-last2=Wood |translator-first2=R.P.A.}}</ref>

Bear's grease was made from the fat of the brown bear mixed with beef marrow and a perfume to disguise the smell. Before the start of the twentieth century, manufacturers were substituting pig,<ref name="Wood1855" /> veal, suet, lard and beef marrow fat for bear's fat as the demand exceeded the available supply of genuine bear's fat. To these substitutes they added lavender, thyme, rose essence, or oil of bitter almonds for perfume. A green dye was added for the sake of appearances.<ref name="MRPS" /><ref name="Crellin">{{cite book |author= Crellin, John K. |title= Home Medicine: The Newfoundland Experience |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9H2KwOMNefwC&pg=PA88 |year=1994 |publisher= McGill-Queen's University Press |place= Montreal |isbn= 978-0-7735-1197-2 |page=88}}</ref>

It was speculated that 99% of “bear grease” in 1850s England actually contained pig fat, and unscrupulous manufacturers would sometimes keep a bear skin, which they would attach to a dead pig carcass. The purpose of this display was to convince customers that they were selling genuine bear grease.<ref name="Wood1855">{{cite book |author=Wood, J.G. |title= Animal Traits & Characteristics; or, Sketches and Anecdotes of Animal Life |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MScOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA203 |place=Second series, new edition. London |year=1855 |publisher=Routhedge |page="Swine". 203 }}</ref>

==Europe== During the Roman Empire, various parts of the bear were recommended for both cosmetic and medicinal purposes. Greco-Roman physician and writer Dioscorides describes uses of bear grease and gives specific instructions on obtaining and storing the substance in his 1st century pharmacopoeia De Materia Medica. Dioscorides writes that bears' fat is "thought to make hair destroyed by alopecia grow again, and is good for chilblains."<ref name=":0" />

The general public believed that grease from Russian bears was the best available.<ref name="MRPS" /> In the 1823 cartoon by George Cruikshank on the right, reference is made to "heels well rub'd with bears grease" (by which Russian support is meant). The French King Louis XVIII is unable to put on Napoleon II's boots, and Napoleon's son stands ready to catch the Bourbon crown should it fall.<ref name="BritishMuseum">{{cite web |title= Old Bumblehead the 18th trying on the Napoleon Boots |url= https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3018312&partId=1 |website= BritishMuseum.org |accessdate= 31 July 2014}}</ref>

Professor John Strachan in his book, ''Advertising and Satirical Culture in the Romantic Period'' notes that Atkinsons of London were best known for their bear's grease product, which remained in production until after the First World War.<ref name=Strachan>{{cite book |last1= Strachan |first1=John |title= Advertising and Satirical Culture in the Romantic Period |date=2007 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-0521293068 |page=213 |edition=1st |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BVIE-kRvcFwC&pg=PA213}}</ref> Atkinsons' logo was a chained bear, and this was heavily featured in their advertising. The claim that bear's grease could facilitate the regrowth of hair for bald men, was made by Atkinsons and others.<ref name=Strachan/><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BVIE-kRvcFwC&pg=PA107 |first=John |last=Strachan |title=Advertising and Satirical Culture in the Romantic Period |year=2007 |page=107|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139468848 }}</ref>

Among the members of the Ursari community, a group of nomadic Romani bear trainers, who manufactured objects of bone, it became widespread to treat the material with bear fat, a luxury good which, they believed, helped make the products in question more durable.<ref name="grigoreantrop">{{in lang|ro}} Delia Grigore, [http://www.romanothan.ro/romana/studii/minoritati/curs_antropologie.htm ''Curs de antropologie şi folclor rrom''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423232321/http://www.romanothan.ro/romana/studii/minoritati/curs_antropologie.htm|date=23 April 2008}}, hosted by Romanothan, retrieved 24 June 2007</ref> The fat was also being sold to Romanians as medicine to combat rheumatism and skeletal disorders, together with bear hairs that were a popular amulet.<ref name="sendreazbacau">{{in lang|ro}} Eugen Şendrea, [http://www.ziaruldebacau.ro/index.php?articol=20889 "Distracţii de tîrgoveţi"], in ''Ziarul de Bacău'', 26 May 2007; retrieved 24 June 2007</ref>

==Native American use== The use of bear's grease among the Native Americans on their hair to make it shinier was widespread. Other popular substances included deer marrow and raccoon fat. In the Northeast tribes of the Sauk, Huron, and Delaware, the daily use of bear grease on their hair was popular among both men and women. Men in the Dakota Sioux and Crow tribes also regularly used bear's grease.<ref name=FE>{{cite web|title=Bear Grease|url=http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/Early-Cultures-Native-American/Bear-Grease.html|website=Fashion Encyclopedia|accessdate=27 June 2014}}</ref> Benjamin West, who was one of the early American fine artists, said he was first taught how to make paint as a child by a Native American friend who showed him how paint could be made by mixing clay with bear grease.<ref name=fuller>[http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Music-and-Art--West-and-Antes-1679 ''Music and Art: West and Antes''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810095201/http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Music-and-Art--West-and-Antes-1679 |date=10 August 2014 }}, Cathy Fuller, WGBH, 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

Category:Animal fats Category:Cosmetics Category:Bears Category:Human hair Category:Traditional medicine