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'Att fästa sig vid staten' has two translations. It can mean 'to attach oneself to the state' or 'to wed the state'. There is a state of marriage and, in the early modern period at least, a marriage also constituted a state in miniature: a husband and wife acting as rulers of their everyday household the same way as the king and queen ruled the nation-state. Karin Hassan Jansson’s new book Att fästa sig vid staten. Äktenskap, arbete och ansvar i svensk samhällsdebatt 1750–1830 (To wed the state. Marriage, work and responsibility in Swedish social debate 1750–1830) examines the way marriage was discussed in the Diet’s debates, political texts, advice literature, laws, pamphlets, plays and the press in the Swedish realm from 1750 to 1830.

This chapter examines changing views on haircare, health, and gender in Sweden from 1740 to 1840. By investigating haircare in recipes, journals, and advertising, the chapter outlines the connections drawn between outer appearances and inner wellness in the early modern period. It also shows how these connections were gendered. In the eighteenth century, hair was commercialised through the use of wigs and a growing market for haircare recipes. These recipes were a mixture of health cures and cosmetic concoctions. By the early nineteenth century, haircare manuals were becoming more gendered than before. Books about haircare for men were focused on hair as a signifier of health, while haircare and advertising for women was concerned with hair as a signifier of beauty.