# Back When Men Wore Wigs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 10, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772 "2011-12-10T22:24:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/1 "2011-12-10T22:24:02Z")
Back in cultures and times when men wore wigs, did they pay any heed to how they wore their hair when their wig was off (like just hanging out at home, or whatever)? My intuition would tell me that if I were going to wear a wig a large part of the time, a crew cut or straight-up baldness would be the way to go. Is this how they wore their hair under their wigs? ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/2 "2011-12-11T00:19:53Z")
The men shaved their heads because lice were a big problem, and bathing wasn’t much of a priority. It was easier to just de-louse, freshen up and style a wig than try to deal with filthy, greasy hair. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/3 "2011-12-13T20:16:42Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > The men shaved their heads because lice were a big problem, and bathing wasn’t much of a priority. It was easier to just de-louse, freshen up and style a wig than try to deal with filthy, greasy hair. Cite, please? I’m not trying to say that you’re wrong, it’s just that I think that keeping ones head shaved would be a rather tiresome task. Plus, what would keep the wig from sliding around on a smoothly shaved head? I would’ve thought that they used ‘hairpins’ to keep the wig in place. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/4 "2011-12-13T20:22:24Z")
Most historical movies I’ve seen show the men having bald heads or very short hair under their wigs. (I realize that’s not the ultimate in accuracy.) Poor men didn’t bother with wigs. Professionals or noblemen did–& they had servants. In most of that period, the style was to be clean shaven. If your servant was going to shave your face, why not let him do the whole head? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/5 "2011-12-13T21:01:18Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Most historical movies I’ve seen show the men having bald heads or very short hair under their wigs. (I realize that’s not the ultimate in accuracy.) > > Poor men didn’t bother with wigs. Professionals or noblemen did–& they had servants. In most of that period, the style was to be clean shaven. If your servant was going to shave your face, why not let him do the whole head? I’ll grant that yours is a plausible and very possible fact, but I would still like to see a cite of some kind. 🙂 Houston, huh? 🆒 What part of town? I’m just north of downtown, myself. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/6 "2011-12-13T21:08:02Z")
I remember someone discussing an ancient diary on the radio (around Samuel Pepys or thereabouts). The practice was to use grease to form the wig into a decent hairdo. As the wig began to look ragged, it would be reformed along with the addition of extra grease. Apparently at one point, after a few months of this treatment, someone decided to give it a complete tune-up. When they broke it open, they found the interior “was crawling with little animalicules…” Hygiene standards were different back then, baths were optional, and lice were a real problem. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/7 "2011-12-13T21:34:52Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > I’ll grant that yours is a plausible and very possible fact, but I would still like to see a cite of some kind. 🙂 [Wig](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wig) > [@](#): > > Ancient use > The ancient Egyptians wore them to shield their shaved, hairless heads from the sun. The Egyptians also wore the wigs on top of their hair using beeswax and resin to keep the wigs in place. … > > 16th and 17th centuries > After the fall of the Roman Empire, the use of wigs fell into abeyance in the West for a thousand years until revived in the 16th century as a means of compensating for hair loss or improving one’s personal appearance. They also served a practical purpose: the unhygienic conditions of the time meant that hair attracted head lice, a problem that could be much reduced if natural hair were shaved and replaced with a more easily de-loused artificial hairpiece. This isn’t the same thing as saying that all wigs everywhere in every time were worn over shaved heads. The British custom of having barristers and judges wear wigs only in court allowed them to keep their hair without shaving, and hygiene improved after the 18th century. As an assumption, though, any culture in which men wore wigs for all public appearances was probably one in which their heads were shaved. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/8 "2011-12-13T21:56:44Z")
I wear a wig (a formal one, not a toupe). The short one sits on my rather balding head like a hat. Once you are used to it, it is quite comfortable - no pins or clips are necessary, although rogue horsehairs can itch sometimes. The long one is less comfortable. Apart from the face, it covers the whole head, muffling sound, and the front parts that drape to the shoulders tend to hold the thing in a forward orientation so that when you turn your head, it turns around inside the wig, as it were. This forces a rather ponderous practice of turning your whole body to talk to someone. In summary, you don’t need hair to wear one, but in an era where lice are not a problem, a little hair cushions the scalp from a certain itchiness. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/9 "2011-12-13T22:07:37Z")
Back in the days before Mach 3, I suspect “shaved” did not mean “baby smooth evry morning”. Especially a scalp under a wig could probably go days or even weeks before needing to be shorn and scraped. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/10 "2011-12-14T13:41:06Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Wig](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wig) > > This isn’t the same thing as saying that all wigs everywhere in every time were worn over shaved heads. The British custom of having barristers and judges wear wigs only in court allowed them to keep their hair without shaving, and hygiene improved after the 18th century. As an assumption, though, any culture in which men wore wigs for all public appearances was probably one in which their heads were shaved. Works for me! Thanks **Exapno Mapcase**. (And everybody else. :)) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-men-wore-wigs/605772/11 "2011-12-14T15:18:26Z")
Samuel Pepys in his diary talks about having all his hair cut off when wigs went back into fashion, and how all the servant girls were so sad because his hair was so nice. He also has a bit where, when the plague comes 'round for a visit, he wonders what it’s going to do to the wigmaking industry, as people may be hesitant to buy wigs made from hair that may have come from plague victims.