wigs

Wigs 

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2013/08/a-hairy-subject-secrecy-shame-and-victorian-wigs.html, viewed 03.02.16, (digital image) From Frances Burney, Evelina (1822)

After the Georgian era, wigs became out of fashion, especially for men, women might still wear postiches but were hidden and were considered something of the past. While the Georgian era was known for its high piled feathered wigs, worn by both men and women, as time past they became less of a fashion statement and more shameful. After the french revolution, wigs for both men and women were an indicator of deception and an outnumbered trend, although some women would wear hairpieces for a more lavish hair style though much of the 19th century, they were hidden at all costs. 

Although wigs were hidden, some would deb noticeable due t the material they were made from, people of royalty and of money would be able to own wigs and hair pieces made form human hair, but those made more affordable would be made from horse, yak or goat hair. A letter sent to Queen Victoria from her aunt Adelaide in 1843, declaring it to be a great shame that the eldest daughter was forced to wear a powdered wig and how strange she must have looked. Royalty where the fashion inspirations of this time and it was important to always look their best and to set examples for the people looking up to them. 

Wigs in the 19th century came with more social dangers; for men a wig was considered a preposterous vanity, whilst women who wore wigs were accused of shameful deception, in pursuit of husbands. Wigs in the 19th century were advertised in a guilty kind of way, often as 'gentlemen's invisible perukes' or 'ladies imperceptible hair coverings,' it was common that only the hairdresser would be aware if one was fitted for a wig. 

A book called 'The strange story of false hair' by John Woodforde, talks about the development of using wigs and false hair pieces, he tells a story about a mother who shaved her daughters head so she could be fitted for wigs. This was to make her more appealing to suiters, but once she was married she could never remove her wig, and she even ordered her hand lady to (if she died before her husband) to go to her coffin and prepare her wig before anyone could see. This type of deception was all too common with the women of the victorian era, and reflects the shame and deception also associated with dentures; they would never be removed and this could sometimes result in the dentures moulding to the teeth due to a build up of tartar. This level of shame and deception often comes from the women who have shaved their heads to be able to wear wigs, but in the 19th century this type of hair was unfashionable now; often the women wearing wigs wore them for different reasons. 

By the end of the nineteenth century, men’s wigs where becoming more acceptable, with various fashion publications, including the Hairdresser’s Weekly Journal, saying that hairpieces made to cover masculine baldness should perhaps be recognised as a necessity, rather than a vanity. In the case of female baldness, however, the shame was carried though well into he end of the century, with the need for a wig was still kept  secret.