One of my odder hobbies is reading about ancient history. Recently, I've been listening to a lecture series on Europe in the Late Antiquity/Early Middle Ages, specifically the Goths. Not the mopey black-clad teenagers but the fur-clad German tribe that ravaged the Balkans in the third century. Now I already knew that Roman writers complained incessantly about how bad the Goths smelled but I always chalked it up to the standard Roman contempt for the non-urbanized who don't have access to baths. I might owe those Roman writers an apology (not that they'll care, being dead and all), because the Goths liked intricate hairstyles. And their preferred hairstyling product? Butter. Rancid butter. No bathing and rancid butter for hair gel? Yeah, I think the Romans might have been justified in their complaints.
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