Wigs reveal a hairy past

Wigs have contributed to the language and to courtroom decorum as well as to reforesting cranial deserts.

- Herbert R. Mayes

To wear or not to wear a wig is left to individual taste. Women who lose their hair use wigs to bolster their looks. Men with thinning hair on their pates cover them with wigs. Old men wear wigs to hide their age. Young men wear wigs to enhance their looks. So, wigs play many roles in our life.

In Britain, judges and barristers wear wigs in court. With their white wigs, they look imposing figures to the litigants. Not many moons ago, the Old Bailey, England’s major criminal court where Oscar Wilde was convicted of homosexuality, had to be evacuated. While the litigants and others were rushing out of the court complex, judges and barristers were seen walking out nonchalantly. All of them were wearing wigs and adjusting them!

England is so steeped in tradition that judges and barristers still wear wigs. However, certain age-old customs appear to be ignored. For instance, the national anthem is hardly played in certain British theatres. But the Lord Chancellor never appears in the House of Lords without his robes and wig. Hogarth wrote, “The full-bottom wig hath something noble in it and adds not only dignity but sagacity to the countenance.” Whether the judges and barristers are still sagacious is another matter.

Fact of life

In England and elsewhere, women still wear wigs to enhance their beauty. Some women do so to look different from others. For them wigs have become a fact of life. Today men and women wear dentures and spectacles. Some women wear artificial eyelashes.

The situation in Sri Lanka is quite different. When women wear wigs, dentures and artificial eyelashes, people take them for granted. However, if a man were to wear a wig, they give quizzical looks.

Once there was a corporate head who used to wear a wig. He soon realised that his subordinates and even visitors were in the habit of looking at his wig quizzically. After leaving the organisation, he promptly removed his wig and started going about bald headed!

Origin

The origin of the word ‘wig’ is quite interesting. It is a contraction of periwig derived from the French perruke and the Italian perruca. In the distant past, you could judge a man’s wealth or rank by looking at his wig. If the wig was large, he was an important person. For instance, North American Indians used to wear feathers on their headdress. The tribal chief wore a headdress with many feathers to show his importance. So, even today when we see an important person, we call him a ‘bigwig.’

The practice of wearing wigs is as old as the hills. Wigs had been found in Egyptian mummies. Even in Greek theatre in the fifth century BC, different characters wore coloured wigs. For instance, the villain used to wear a black wig. The hero usually wore a blond wig. The clown, of course, wore a red wig. Even the popular detective Sherlock Holmes used to wear wigs to hide his identity.

Apart from fictional characters, certain authors such as Samuel Johnson and Voltaire wore wigs. Scientist Isaac Newton and the United States President George Washington also wore wigs.

More wigs, less hair

It is said that Queen Elizabeth I had more wigs in her wardrobe than hair on her head! Things took a different turn in France, especially in the era of Marie Antoinette. Instead of wearing wigs, French women began to wear pads, puffs and wire for their hairstyles. They did not change their hairstyles for a number of days.

Originally, wigs were costly because they were made of human hair. Later on, wigs came to be made of nylon and other material. Today, wigs are cheap. Even though very few men wear wigs, the wig-making industry is not without patrons. Almost all brides need wigs to decorate their hair on their wedding day. On the other hand, wigs are necessary for actors to play different roles in films and theatre.

Fashion keeps on changing from time to time. Today, even young men shave their heads to go bald. Most elderly people are fighting shy of using wigs. However, in time to come, wigs might be in vogue again and men and women would hanker after them.