Wig
Wigs ( in the 17th century borrowed v. French: peruque " head of hair " ) naturally imitate grown hair and are mostly artificial headgear.
They serve as a second hairstyle, meant to replace or supplement the actual natural hair. In the theater and in the film industry are wigs, human hair wigs usually, to costuming.
History
Wigs have been worn by men and women alike in ancient Egypt. Even in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire women wore wigs or hairpieces extensive.
In the early baroque the wig came back into fashion. It served mainly to mask the disease-related hair loss in syphilis, syphilitic alopecia and the effects of treatment with mercury. The wig has a warming effect, which was an additional advantage in the difficult to be heated palaces in the Baroque. 1656 was the first Guild for Wigs in Paris. When Louis XIV for his thinning hair on the wig at hand - previously they were only wearing courtiers and bald man - the full-bottomed wig become an important status symbol and attribute of courtly clothing of men in Europe.
After 1700 ( with flour ) white powdered wigs came up with mostly horizontally arranged curls. They were made mainly of horse or goat hair as well as hemp and flax. In Prussia a wig tax was levied from 1698 to 1717. Soldiers and travelers wore shorter models, so-called Stutz wigs, farmers and artisans, no. The powdering of wigs was the lower layers are illegal and subject to a tax.
Even before the French Revolution came the end of the wig fashion. Since then, wigs and toupees for men be worn only as a part of Amtstrachten in the administration of justice or for medical reasons. For the artful woman hairstyles in Biedermeier only hairpieces were often used.
Except for brief fads in parts of the society (eg 1960s) Wigs are never really become modern.
Jewish law requires that married, divorced or widowed women hide their hair. Therefore, Orthodox Jewish women wear fashion reasons rather than some other headgear also a wig (also called vertices or Schaitel ).
Production
Wigs can be made from artificial or real hair. Real hair often came from people from poorer countries and areas that earned with the sale of your own hair some money. Today, most people hair from India and China come. Basically, that Indian hair is particularly well suited due to the genetic structure for wigs with "European" hairstyles. However, often Chinese hair is mixed, as it can be processed easier to lighter shades of color ( blonde tones). Chinese hair is structurally the African hair, which is manifested particularly by the thickness of the fiber. Thus, it takes after decoloration easier on the new color pigments.
The recovery of the real hair is done in India mostly through traditional rituals in which women sacrifice their hair according to ancient Hindu traditions in temples. The temples then sell in the framework of large Auctions hair on, with two-thirds of the proceeds, supervised by the state, flows to charities. Due to the high demand for the commodity " real hair " today is one of the most expensive commodities in the world with up to $ 600 per kilo.
The hair is washed, sorted by length, curled and dyed. For this purpose the fiber is initially in the decolored osmosis baths in order to fill the cavities thus formed thereafter with new color pigments. Often the outer cuticle layer is removed to prevent felting.
One can also distinguish between different hair types. Important for further processing is always possible untreated hair. This is also one of the reasons why hair from Central Europe are used for the wig processing almost never, since the hair structures are attacked by various shampoos, toiletries and colorants. Another quality criterion is the same growth direction and thus the same orientation of the cuticle. Therefore, cut-off braids and strands are very good to use for further processing - as opposed to " aufgefegtem " hair.
In the further course eventually strands of hair of different color shades are combined into a wig to get a natural-looking appearance. This is all done mostly by hand, which ultimately reflects the price of a wig their production costs.
A 60 cm long ladies wig weighs about 150 g
Wig heads
Wig heads, which in Austria and hood sticks, one used already in the Baroque and Rococo to custom made the wig and placing them. Hood sticks were almost always - sometimes painted - wood and had the shape of a head with bust approach. Some native of France and Venice copies are tasteful artworks by sculptors. French wig maker used hood sticks with wigs to promote their products. Some Wig Stands consisted of porcelain, in this case, they were spherical with stand and were only used to store the wig.
Presence
Wigs are now mostly manufactured and worn that they act like grown. In everyday wigs are usually worn for medical reasons, for example lack of hair due to chemotherapy. Women use wigs today to have in a short time a perfect hairstyle and / or to give their own hair a few a larger volume. Another use find wigs in the theater, in addition also often at carnivals rather outlandish wigs (such as African- look or mullet ) are used.
Wigs are made from synthetic hair. A common material is, for example, Kanekalon. Theater wigs are partly subject to monofilament fine tulle which is no longer seen from a short distance, when passing look at the " scalp " it creates a very natural look.
Human hair or synthetic hair is a matter of the claims. While wigs are made from real hair often worn with a claim to have an authentic as possible wearing comfort, a synthetic hair wig fulfilled rather the need of an easy-care "second hairstyle ". Real hair wigs are characterized by a long shelf life and natural features. They may be colored, smooth or curly and cut individually. A wig made from synthetic hair are available in different grades. Thus, under favorable synthetic hair wigs are the hairstyles quasi fixed and can hardly be changed. A higher grade, for example, the Futura synthetic hair that can be changed with some effort and the real hair comes closest. Ultimately hanging style and hair quality on the price.