|
Back to Trades index |
|
Back to Social Studies Department |
|
Back to FOMS home |
Kyle P.
11/15/02
Back in the 1600's, long and thick hair was very fashionable. You would be able to find wig makers in barbershops and you would even find people working out of their homes. The workers would mostly be in a town though.
The person only needed to know a few skills. All they would need to do is obtain the grease from and animal and sheer the wool or cut the hair off of a horse's tail or from a person who's was willing to cut their hair off and go with short hair
Then they would weave the hair with the grease through a hairnet. The barbers would also shave off people's hair. He did this for them to ensure that their head would fit into the wig and so that the wig would fit right. This person really didn't need too many skills at all. All they would need to know is how to sheer sheep, and/or cut off horsehair. They would also just need to care for the hair, weave new styles, cut hair, shape hair, clean wigs, and how to maintain and run a business. This craft affected the community because people were embarrassed to go out side with out their wig. Their normal hair was probably quite grungy because they only took baths once a year. This craft produced a luxury item and was not needed to live. Most of the society wore wigs, Even If you were very poor and had no money, you would not go wig-less.
I don't believe that this craft would be very satisfying, except for the money. Wigs were very expensive to buy and very decorated and elaborate ones were only bought by kings and nobility and they were harder to make of course. The person most likely didn't like the labor part of this practice but I'm sure that they liked the money that they were getting from it. Today lots of industries work on this today. They use it for people who have had cancer and have lost their hair form therapy. It is still useful today but we don't use horsehair and animal grease. Instead we use various substances like chemicals and dye to make the colors.
Wigs became popular in England and were invented there. The new people coming from England just brought it with them. All that was needed for this craft was white powder, horse or sheep hair, and animal grease. As time went on it got very popular but like any other fashion trend it died down in the late 1700's. No, men did most of the crafts, but not all. People today still need their hair to be perfect though, you always hear or see girls asking about their hair and some times boys too.
If a person was good with their hands I believe that they
would like their work. I also believe that today people like being hairdressers
and barbers.
Niels L.
11/13/02
Wigs were a very important part of the colonial days. Both
men and women used them. They were mostly used for the wealthy and royal. The
wigs were made out of horse or goat hair and sometimes-human hair. They used
animal grease to hold the piece to its shape. It was powdered to make it white.
The most popular wigs were long, thick and usually had ponytails; it was called
a LoveLock. The barber started to make wigs when they got popular. The barber
would still cut hair because they needed to cut the person's mustache. You would
probably find wigs in the town more than the countryside because barbers were
mostly in the town. Only men did the craft because barbers were men.
The tools for making the wigs were very common. All you needed was a needle,
hair net, and some goat/horse hair. First, you need to take the hair net and
put some animal hair in the needle and start to stitch but make the stitching
loose, so it looks like real hair. Some wig names were Bigwig, Periwig, and
Lovelock. The Lovelock was the most popular in the mid-1700; it had a side curl
with a ponytail.
The wig was made popular in the late 1600's. It was made popular by Louis XIII.
The first people to make it popular were the French and English in the late
1600's. People started to wear wigs because they were embarrassed to be bald
or have nasty hair.
The society depended on the craft because it showed which persons were higher
class and which was lower class. The more important you were to the community
the bigger the wig you had. The wigs weren't necessary but it did make some
the bald people feel better because they go their hair back. It produced a luxury.
Today people still use wigs. They use them if they had kemo-therapy and had
to go bald. They use them also if they are embarrassed to be bald. Wigs were
a very important part of colonial times, even though it served no purpose.
Bibliography: I checked the school's web site. The Colonial Times book and
www. Google .com and searched for wigs+1700's.hi
This site is created and maintained by Holly
Geddes.
Last updated on
March 12, 2003