Why powdered hair

Powder helped to reduce the greasiness of the hair which was useful at a time when hair washing was certainly not a daily pursuit! To hide his baldness, he started to wear a long haired wig and, unsurprisingly, his courtiers soon followed suit.

The fashion spread to England and was adopted by Charles II and his court. The rarest and most expensive wigs were white. As a result, people put white powder on their wigs in order to make them look as white as possible.

People also used white powder on their hair. It intensified the blondeness of very fair hair but made darker hair look grey, the shade depending on the natural hair colour. John handed Mr Merry his hat and cane and grinned. For once, he had managed to persuade his young master to stand still for long enough to powder his hair thoroughly, heightening the blondeness of its colour. John secretly thought that there were few gentlemen who could wear powder to such good effect.

Powder was not just a fashion adopted by the few; its use was widespread throughout most of the 18th century and not to use it was seen as a breach of social etiquette. Monsieur bowed and shrugged, just like an overgrown monkey. In a moment I was overwhelmed with a cloud of powder. At that time everybody wore powder and pomatum. I was dressed as a grown-up person for the first time, and wore powder, then the mark of distinction of womanhood.

Hair powder was made from flour or starch and varied considerably in quality, with the best powders being made from highly refined starch. Although white was the most popular colour, other shades were also used, including brown, grey, orange, pink, red, blue and violet. Horn and ivory powder bottles on display at the Science Museum, London.

Putting on hair powder was a messy and time consuming business. First the hair was covered with hair lotion known as pomade or pomatum which helped the powder to stick. Then the person being powdered was covered with a powdering gown or protective apron whilst the powder was applied using a set of bellows.

A cone shaped device could be used to cover their face to prevent the powder going into their eyes. The ladies wore the hair flowing down their backs and high in front, with much pomatum and powder put on with different kinds of puffs. This powder was applied at a distance, that every hair might be frosted with it.

One pound, and even two pounds, of powder were sometimes put into the hair or wasted in the room in one dressing. Ideally, this operation would take place in a special room — a powdering room or closet — in order to contain the mess.

This was where he stored his wigs and sat to have powder applied without spreading it all over the house. You can read about the wonders of Olympian Dew in an earlier blogpost here.

Long hair was a trendy status symbol, and a bald dome could stain any reputation. And so, the syphilis outbreak sparked a surge in wigmaking. Victims hid their baldness, as well as the bloody sores that scoured their faces, with wigs made of horse, goat, or human hair. Perukes were also coated with powder—scented with lavender or orange—to hide any funky aromas.

Although common, wigs were not exactly stylish. They were just a shameful necessity. That changed in , when the King of France started losing his hair. Louis XIV was only 17 when his mop started thinning. Worried that baldness would hurt his reputation, Louis hired 48 wigmakers to save his image.

Military officers, particularly in the British Army, had an ever-changing relationship with the wig. Some officers wore wigs — but only very specific military plait wigs, not the wigs that were bought and worn by the gentry. Campaign wigs, particularly the Ramillies wig, named after a British victory during the War of Spanish Succession in , were used by officers. However, just as wigs were reserved for the gentry versus commoners, enlisted soldiers did not wear wigs in the way officers did.

They simply plaited, or braided, their hair if it was long enough, or wore fake plaits attached by ribbons, kept together by grease or tallow, and, in the case of the British Army , covered in powdering flour, which came out of their own pay and was a part of the weekly ration. Almost as quickly as wigs rose in popularity and physical height, they swiftly fell, weighted down by their cost and philosophy.

The Age of Enlightenment brought a new mentality, where educated men became more concerned with the plight of the common man. As a bourgeoise class arose, extravagant expenditure on fashion and hair was perceived as ignorant.

Wigs, particularly in Revolutionary France, were considered a sign of aristocracy — the newly wealthy bourgeoise did not want to be associated with nobility, particularly given that those same nobles were quite frequently losing their wigged heads to the guillotine.

More and more, wigs began to be associated with deception. While wigs were originally worn to hide effects of syphilis, donning a wig could be taken as a sign that the wearer was hiding not only visual effects of a disease, but perhaps deeper secrets as well.

During the tenure of William Pitt the Younger, Parliament passed the Hair Powder Act of , effectively signing the death warrant for wigs. Unless one met certain qualifications, such as being a member of the British Royal Family or the Clergy, citizens had to purchase a certificate to purchase hair powder. Wigs have made such an impact in historical remembrance that they seem to be represent the symbol of late 17th century history.

Hollywood seems to be particularly attached to misrepresenting the proliferation of wigs. Although Pirates of the Caribbean largely depicted British sailors without wigs, those pesky powdered perukes still made their appearance. However, relatively few remain, as they were not particularly easy to preserve.