Vintage Hygiene Practices That Are the Very Opposite of Clean

 
Wigs Gained Popularity Because Syphilis Was so Common

In the 1500s, syphilis, the sexually transmitted disease, had surged throughout England, and the side effects were cruel. People experienced sores, blindness, dementia, and even extreme hair loss. Many people were embarrassed to be bald, so wearing wigs became popular. Louis XIV went as far as hiring 48 different wigmakers to make him wigs, and it became the newest fad. The wigs would consist of human hair, and sometimes, hair from horses and goats.

Now the wigs could serve multiple purposes: hide the effects of syphilis and baldness and serve as a marker for being a part of the higher class.