of Empress Elizabeth.

Thank you! Didn't she have lovely hair? I love that painting of her. I hope my hair will grow as long as hers someday.

Thank you! Didn't she have lovely hair? I love that painting of her. I hope my hair will grow as long as hers someday.

I'm a fan of Elisabeth myself and read a few biographies. According to those her hair was down to her ankles and sometimes so heavy that she got a headache from the weight. In this case she had her maids pull it up and fasten it on the ceiling while she was resting!

I'm always amazed that she had such long and beautiful hair, despite her anorexia and poor health.

I'm always amazed that she had such long and beautiful hair, despite her anorexia and poor health.

I didn't know that about her. It does look like heavy hair. Lovely though :rolleyes:

her ill health and anorexia?

I beginning to think the secret of women with beautiful long hair in prior centuries was having maids to help them!

I beginning to think the secret of women with beautiful long hair in prior centuries was having maids to help them!

LOL yes, I thought about that too. I my not so humble opinion every long haired woman today should be entitled to a maid too (or at least a partner who is willing to learn how to brush/braid and create updos without pulling) ;-)

it IS lovely . . . and I wish my hair would look like hers! But alas, mine is nowhere nearly as full! :rolleyes:

And I didn't know a lot about the her life, so I certainly didn't know about her health problems (including anorexia).

Madeleine, can you recommend any books about her life? I was somewhat interested in her life, but am more so, now! :)

Sorry Merryrose, didn't see your question (darn tiny topic font)!

What factors contributed to her ill health and anorexia?

She was fanatic about her outer appearance - she wouldn't eat anything but thin meat broth for days and went for walks for hours in such a fast pace that her maids were hardly able to follow, just to keep her incredible slim figure (she had an 18" waist in a corset).
While she was pregnant and couldn't conceil her belly anymore she would lock herself up and not even her husband was allowed to see her, let alone share her bed.
There are hardly any later photographs of her when she didn't consider herself young and pretty enough anymore. And hardly any of her smiling because the was concerned about the look of her teeth.

Elisabeth was sick a lot - diagnosed with a deadly lung desease that was in fact just her psyche acting up, she travelled to Madeira and Korfu, where she recovered as soon as she was rid of the burden of being an Empress - just to get sick again as soon as she returned to Vienna.

She had grown up in a "normal" family, and the whole etiquette thing was just too much for her. She had depressions and was generally not a happy camper, especially later in her life ... considered to be Europe's most beautiful woman of her time though.

All in all she looks to me like a pretty normal, modern woman who just collapsed under the burden of responsibilities and all the exaggerated attention she was getting.

And (to get back to the topic) she complained about being "a slave to her hair".

Madeleine, can you recommend any books about her life? I was somewhat interested in her life, but am more so, now! :)

This one (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394537173/qid=1046224289/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-0119439-2792609?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) is the best biography I've read about her. The author Brigitte Hamann is considered to be an absolute expert on Sisi's life, and she writes pretty well too (haven't read the English translation though).

Thank you Madeleine!!! I'll have to check out that book! :)

Thank you! Didn't she have lovely hair? I love that painting of her. I hope my hair will grow as long as hers someday.

I'm a fan of Elisabeth myself and read a few biographies. According to those her hair was down to her ankles and sometimes so heavy that she got a headache from the weight. In this case she had her maids pull it up and fasten it on the ceiling while she was resting!

I'm always amazed that she had such long and beautiful hair, despite her anorexia and poor health.

Wow, I didn't know all that about her. I haven't read much about her. I simply admired her beautiful hair in the paintings. I would love to read a book about her. Thank you for mentioning all that about her. I will check out the book you recommended. Thank you for the information. :)

My hair is similar to hers but not as beautiful or full. When I was a child, it was more like hers. Now I am trying to get it to its healthiest so that it can hopefully look like that again.

I agree that her hair is amazing. It's startling really, when you think about it, the number of public figures even long ago who suffered from disorders such as hers. A lot of people blame anorexia and bulimea (sp) on our modern values and fast paced lifestyle, so it's interesting to know that the tragedy reaches that far back in our past.

That portrait is definetly stunning though! :face: