Investigating The History Of Hair Extensions

You might think that hair extensions are a modern invention

, but you would be wrong. Women have been using hair extensions and adornments to improve their follicular appearance since the Ancient Egyptians; a time associated with many other seemingly modern inventions. Cleopatra was known to wear wigs and to have human hair added to her own as a symbol of her status as queen, to which jewels and other adornments could be attached. Their popularity was not limited to women however; it was commonplace for men of high status to shave their heads and use wigs or hair pieces to replace their natural hair. As well as being an act of cosmetic enhancement, this was also useful for hygiene reasons at the time.

This trend continued steadily up until 1800 when fake hair and extensions were frowned upon; at this time it became fashionable to wear your hair as natural and unadorned as possible. This did not mean that the practice was completely eradicated, however. During the early 1880's, more than 150,000kgs of artificial human hair were sold in France.

Popularity for hair extensions was minimal during the early 20th century, but once Asian countries learned how to create extensions and wigs, the history of hair extensions changed forever. Made out of human hair, the adornments were coated in beeswax or plant resin in order to adhere to the scalp. Asia remains one of the largest suppliers of human extensions in the world today.

Traditionally, extensions were only worn by the very wealthy who could not only afford the cost but also the time required for the procedure sitting in a salon chair: possibly up to fifteen hours. The legacy of Cleopatra seemed to have endured. It was during the 1970s that the appeal of extensions began to grow again, thanks to a roster of celebrities who began to set the trend as well as the cosmetic excesses of the glam-rock era which brought with it a renewed with fascination with wigs, fake hair and extensions, not to mention extreme make up.

Cult icons like Debbie Harry and Bonnie Tyler followed suit in the 1980s and hair extensions became more popular than ever. During the 1990s, pop phenomenon the Spice Girls were avid fans of wigs, extensions and other hair adornments; this led to a younger market purchasing extensions and this younger market is one of the reasons why hair products are so popular today.

by: Helen Turley

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