Clonycavan man and the miserable fate of Dublin hair stylists in general

Lisa Spangenberg posted a while back on the recently publicised find of two 2,300-year-old bog bodies at Clonycavan and Croghan near Dublin. The BBC says of Clonycavan man that

Lisa points out that Diordorus Siculus noted the use of advanced haircare products by Gauls some three centuries later:

Now, we all know (although some choose to disagree) that in the 6th century BC Labraid Lorc was exiled to Gaul, at which point he became Labraid Loingsech, and that he later came back over the water and made himself High King. As we also know (same link), Labraid had horse’s ears and was so concerned to keep this secret that he had each hairdresser killed before the coffee got cold–he probably brought with him from France, disguised as spearmen, the first French hairdressers to darken Ireland’s shores and put highlights in its collective mullet. Although Labraid later changed his ways, his crime became customary and several centuries later Clonycavan man fell victim to this practice.

Questions should also be asked about the profession of Old Croghan man, whose

and who seems to have gone in for a rather clumsy (amputative) form of nipple piercing.

The Dublin University Magazine of January 1843 records traces of this disgraceful pursuit in a piece called Ireland Sixty Years Ago which deals in part with the criminal exploits of gangs of wealthy young men:

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