All About Wigs

Hair has always been a sign of nobility and beauty, and wigs have been covering heads for centuries; from the ancient Egiptians, to Queen Elizabeth I, to Lady Gaga. The word wig came from the word periwig, which is connected to the pilus (lat. hair), in 1675. Wigs are used for many different reasons; medical, religious, to hide baldness and hairloss, as a fashion detail or simply as a costume. They can be made out of real human hair, wool, horse, buffalo or yak hair, feathers or synthetic hair. 

First wigs appeared in anticent Egypt. Due to the hot weather and pests, most Egyptians shaved they hair off. However, they didn't like the way they looked without hair so they started making wigs (apart from priests and laborers). The wigs tipically consisted of braids which were set with beeswax and were quite stiff. Everyone wore wigs, but they served as class barriers and materials depended on the social status. The most expensive wigs were made out of human hair, palm leafs, wool or even pure silver. Noble women had several large decorative wigs, and only they could wear the long "Goddess" wigs - the kind that Cleopatra wore. Dark brown hair was mostly worn, but they used different dyes to colour the wigs red, green or blue. All wigs were well ventilated and, but, as a remedy, they would put perfumed wax on wigs and the melting wax provided a cooling effects. Vegetable and animal oils were used to maintain the wigs and they washed them regularly with cinnamon or flowers. Beads were used as decoration.
Egyptians believed in afterlife  and they were often buried with their wigs. 

Egyptian wig
British Museum, London
1185 BC (19th dynasty)
(Source: http://marchofthetitans.com/appendix1.htm)
Image found on: Oct 8 2015

Ancient Greeks concidered natural hair sacred. Werid fact: they woud hang the hair of their loved ones after they passed away and hang it on the door before the burial. The mourners would then cut their own hair and place it on the corpse.
Wigs were worn mostly by the wealthy and actors. The wealthy  decorated their wigs with flowers crowns and gold or silver diadems, while actors would style and colour their wigs depending on their characters.

Just like the Greeks, Romans though hair was sacred and they had cutting and washing ceremonies. Later, hairstyles became more elaborate and people started wearing wigs. Julious Caesar wore a wig with laurel wreath to hide his baldness. Empress Messalina was a big fan of yellow wigs and wore them on her visits to a borthel. Roman prostitutes had to wear yellow wigs or dye their hair yellow as a sign of their profession. Later the Romans decided that yellow hair is fashionable and they started bleaching their hair or making blog wigs from the hair of ther German slaves. 

In the Middle Ages married women were required to cover ther hair and wigs lost their popularity as the Church named them the "badges of the devil".
In the 15th century men started wearing wigs to hide ther hair loss. The wigs they wore were called merkins and  made out of pubic hair. 

By the 16th century and begining of Queen Elizabeth's reign wigs were back and a part of every day fashion for women and men. Most wigs were dyed red as a compliment to Queen Elizabeth whose hair was naturally red. She was not only the queen of England, but the queen of wigs too; she owned about 80. 

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I

Oil on canvas

c.1592

Author: Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger

(source: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marcus_Gheeraerts_(II)_-_Portrait_of_Queen_Elisabeth_I_-_WGA08657.jpg )
Image found on: Oct 10th 2015

Wigs were very popular in Europe, expecially France. Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV wore large wigs to conceal ther baldness. Wigs were perfumed and covered with white powder (mostly flour). As wigs got longer, combs became popular. It was not unusual for men to spend equally as much time arranging and powdering they wigs as much as women.  It was said that King Louis XIV had 40 wig makers. Wig making became a popular profession and a guild was created providing emoployment tor 'decayed gentlewomen'. However, this caused the rise of wig thiefs who would steal wigs from people's heads and vanish.

When the French revolution started in 1715., and King Louis XIV died, people stopped wearing wigs as they were associated with aristocracy. 

Older men wore wigs up until the 19th century; hair got shorter, unpowdered and natural, and they started focusing more on facial hair. In England, women also stopped wearing wigs, as Queen Victoria did not approve of them.

Wigs had a comeback in 1915 when Carita, a hairstylist, started making wigs for Givenchy's fashion show in Paris. Wig makers started making wigs out of cheaper and synthetic materials, so they were more affordable and became popular again. However,  it was not until the 60's that the wig industry was established. Wigs were easy to wear, mostly by movie starts, but a lot of women wore them for medical reasons. False hairpieces, wigbands, were worn a lot - hair mounted on a band.

Reference:

Cooper, Wendy. 1971. Hair: Sex, Society, and Symbolism. New York, NY: Stein and Day Publishers
Corson, Richard. 1965. Fashions in Hair: The First Five Thousand Years. London, England: Peter Owen LimitedLove, Toni. 2001. World of Wigs, Weaves, and Extensions. Florence, KY: Cengage Learning
http://www.historyofhats.net/wigs-history/history-of-wigs/
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/64775.html
http://www.thewigemporium.com/fibers-wigs