Colonial Wig

The 1700's was a very important time for wigs and different hairstyles. A very famous saying was "the higher the hair, the closer to god". Men favored powerded wigs that were not to long and had few curls on the side and a low ponytail at the end like the one above. Men in the middle and lower classes who could not afford these wigs grew out their hair long and put it in a ponytail at the end. These are called perukes. Lice was a big problem in colonial times so perukes were perfect because in order to fit the perukes you had to shave your head and the perukes still got infested but it's easier to get rid of lice in a wig then in your real hair. You would send perukes to your wigmaker and they would boil the wig and that would reove all the lice. These wigs would cost as much as 800 shillings for the most elabrate ones. Regular perukes were about 25 shillings which is equivalent to 25 cents. With this wig you'll be the coolest George Washington at the costume party!