When Did the Fake Hair Cutlure Begin?

[Aspire]

Ancient Japan.

Fake hair and wigs have been around forever.

I heard the Egyptians
wore
wigs... so I'm guessing since the dawn of time

There's no real way of saying, IMO. Hair pieces and artificial hair have been used for centuries. In the victorian era many men and women wore powdered wigs and that was considered en vogue back then. Even during the time when Egypt was a dominant world power it was common for people to weave fabrics and the like into their hair. And it's very common in African tribal regions to add things like clay, feathers, twine, etc...to beautify the hair. Perhaps it's gaining a resurgence in popularity today.

People have been wearing fake hair for thousands of years. Just probably don't look as bad as today

Took the words right out of my mouth

i think it really became popular in the black community when extensions became cheap and accessible to us. beauty supply stores started popping up all over the place in the late 80's and early 90's. we started getting really create with the pro-style gel and the weft hair.

OK. I too am dating myself, but they have ALWAYS been around - particularly in the black community (or maybe I say that since that was the main community I knew? erplexed) Anyway, my grandmother used to "do hair". She was a licensed cosmetologist with her own shop full blown shop in the bottom of her home. About 1/3 of her business was reconditioning hair pieces and wigs. Growing up, my mother and all her friends had special "pieces" for those special occasions. The difference was that no one could tell they were fake. The looked beautiful. My family has a collection of Ebony magazines that start from the late 40's and the majority of the models wore wigs and pieces. After the Civil Rights Movement, many of the models wore their natural hair or wigs/pieces that portrayed natural hair.

I believe the main difference is this - historically, pieces/extensions were used to enhance beauty and add sophistication - not to hide or replace. Wigs were used to hide hair, for church, special occasion, to give the look of straighter hair, and - get this - to give the appearance of shorter hair when cuts were the fad and hubbys or beliefs prevented the cutting of a woman's hair. Most hair pieces and wigs were hand made or hand finished and made of good material. They were made to last and people kept them for years.

With the influx of the Asian hair trade the market is flooded with "really fake disposable" hair. Additionally, now any chica can go into any store and make wigs and sell them which is a whole other story.

Sooo . . . yes, they have been around since at least Egypt (oldest hair pieces/wigs found), but it seems they have been in used in the black community since at least the mid-40s.

Sorry for the LONG post. This is really a great topic.
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[Avaya]

When I was growing up it was okay to wear braid extensions. Weaves on the other hand, was a . I remember this girl was teased all the time because she wore weaves. It was okay for the celebrities to wear weaves but us non-celebs, we paid the price

I don't remember weaves (tracks/crochet) until like the 90's but I remember this African girl had her hair braided in extensions (this was like 1989) and the boys did that girl so wrong. They called her Medusa and Spaghetti Head. Extensions didn't start being popular, it seems, until "Moesha" put them on the map.

I remember (this thread got me taking a stroll down memory lane) when this girl I knew who had like chin length hair one day had a ponytail that looked like a tree was growing out of hair head the next day. My simple self was trying to figure out how she got her hair to grow so fast!

Weaves definitely entered popular culture in the 90's.

 

[Aspire]

I don't remember weaves (tracks/crochet) until like the 90's but I remember this African girl had her hair braided in extensions (this was like 1989) and the boys did that girl so wrong. They called her Medusa and Spaghetti Head. Extensions didn't start being popular, it seems, until "Moesha" put them on the map.

I remember (this thread got me taking a stroll down memory lane) when this girl I knew who had like chin length hair one day had a ponytail that looked like a tree was growing out of hair head the next day. My simple self was trying to figure out how she got her hair to grow so fast!

Weaves definitely entered popular culture in the 90's.

I forgot all about the weaves. Yeah . . . I guess that is fake isn't it? I wonder where/how/when they started?