Wig Out Day

Wig Out Day

These days wigs come in all sorts of styles and colors. It adds mystery and some sort of razzle-dazzle to a rather ordinary day.

History About Wigs

During the Egyptian, Edwardian, and Victorian era, most who wore wigs were upper class. Wearing wigs was a denotation of rank, social class, and religion. Most were made out of human hair, but other alternatives were made from palm leaf fibers or wool.

Egyptian Era - Wigs were used as protection specifically from the sun and vermin. They were also used as a foundation for headdresses.

Edwardian and Victorian Era - Men and women both wore wigs, and tended to shave their heads and wear different wigs when they were inside and outside of the home. Elaborate hairstyles were created with curls and tall structured wigs - using starch and paris of plaster. Most wigs were harvested from hair of the rural working class. Later they were imported from Asia Manor, India, China, and Japan.

Present Day - Wigs didn’t make a comeback until the 50s, especially when it came to wanting fantasy style hair. However, in communities of color, wig use was extremely important in order to have different hairstyles to avoid time consuming and possibly painful straightening processes. The invention of the machine-made, washable, nylon, and acrylic wigs were created in Hong Kong, leading to mass-produced wigs flooding the market.

Weird Facts About Wigs

• The word “wig” was adapted from the original 14th century English word “periwig”, which was a wig worn by judges and aristocrats. It is estimated that the word “wig” was used starting around the year 1675.
• “The Virgin Queen”, Queen Elizabeth I, was known for owning at least 150 wigs.
• Mozart had to wear wigs because of a deformity to his left ear.
• The term “bigwig” originated during colonial times when it was mandatory that officials and aristocrats had to wear wigs. The bigger your wig, the higher your reputation.
• During 1765, a petition was created and signed by wig makers. The petition was to ask George the Third to make it a law that specific professions must wear wigs.
• The Lord of the Rings the Two Towers is the winner for most wigs ever made for a single movie.
• The most expensive wig ever auctioned off was one that belonged to Andy Warhol, which sold at $10,800.
• U.S. synthetic wig sales have gone up 5.6 percent since 2011.
• In present day, more females than males wear wigs, in a 9 to 1 ratio.

Ways to Celebrate Wig Out Day

Go buy a bunch of wigs and take different styled pictures of each one. You can be someone else for a day - your alter ego.

Go ahead. Put that wig on.