High on Wigs

Here is an image to wet your appetite for a history lesson on wigs and its historic and cultural contributions.  The image is from a hilarious post on wig illustrations in a blog called Bili Odyssey (link to post here)

That is one amazing wig

I first started my research not particularly focused on the periwigs that where in height of fashion during the late 1700s.  But those white elaborate curls with the ridiculous frills of lace, ribbons, and ruffles that were popular for both women and men were an unavoidable period of wig history.  What was said to of started as a simple remedy for aging man to conceal their baldness and a way to avoid lice and grease- as wigs don't produce oil- became a status symbol.  The more elaborate wig-dos, the more time you (or your servants) have to groom yourself, the higher your status symbol.

Wigs became such a craze that for a period of time it was thought as a moral sin to wear a wig.  It became a topic of controversy, as it was argued by certain religious individuals, as an act of rebellion towards "God" and what "He" naturally given you.  The use of wigs as a way to cross-dress also contributed to the disdain.  Women can try on short hair without having to chop of their feminine locks (though that was not done as often as it is done now) but more often, men are trying out longer and longer wigs.  That was what made the religious group uneasy.

Of course wigs were not limited only to that period of history.  Hair is often used as a maker of race, class, gender, and therefore identity.  For example in Ancient Egyptian drawings, the wig style and length can be used to differentiate the presented figures.  The pattern repeats throughout history; the longer and more elaborate the wig, the higher the social status.  The lower class where shown clean shaven or sometimes wore wigs of animal or vegetable fiber. I guess those who can not afford the real thing gets knockoffs.

Things haven't really changed from thousands nor hundreds of years, we may not have wigs that is at the same level as birds but we still do pretty crazy things to gain access to certain social identity, don't we?