A Lock of Hair Kept in a Locket Brings Good Luck

A personal talisman for emotional connection and protection.

Details

According to Western European tradition—particularly Victorian-era beliefs—securing a small cutting of a loved one’s hair within a specially designed locket or pendant creates a protective talisman that ensures the bearer’s safety, emotional stability, and continued connection to the hair donor. This personal talisman supposedly works through sympathetic magic principles, creating a tangible physical link between two individuals that transcends physical separation and even death. The protection supposedly intensifies when the hair comes from particularly close relationships (spouses, parents, children) or from individuals possessing admirable qualities the wearer hopes to manifest.

Historical Context

This personal keepsake tradition has specific developmental origins:

Victorian mourning culture particularly emphasized hair preservation as memorial practice
Similar keepsake traditions appear throughout European romantic and commemorative customs
Hair’s remarkable preservation properties made it particularly suitable for long-term mementos
The practice expanded during colonial periods when family separations became more common
Hair lockets served dual purposes of sentimental attachment and supposed protective properties
This personal protection exemplifies how readily preserved bodily materials gained significant cultural and protective associations, with hair’s durability and personal uniqueness creating powerful symbolic connections to absent loved ones.

Modern Relevance

While literal hair preservation has declined in contemporary jewelry, the underlying concept of keeping symbolic personal connections persists in modified forms. Memorial jewelry incorporating cremation ashes represents a modern parallel tradition. Digital technology has largely replaced physical keepsakes for maintaining connections with living distant relations. This personal talisman exemplifies how physical reminders of significant relationships developed protective associations that evolved with changing cultural contexts, maintaining the core concept of carrying tangible connections to loved ones while adapting specific materials and practices to contemporary sensibilities regarding bodily materials.

Sources

Lutz, D. (2015). Relics of Death in Victorian Literature and Culture. Cambridge University Press.
Holm, C. (2004). “Sentimental Cuts: Eighteenth-Century Mourning Jewelry with Hair.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, 38(1), 139-143.