Category: 18th century

Or, the printer has the files! I’m incredibly proud (and relieved) to announce that I’ve finished the 18th Century Hair & Wig Styling: History & Step-by-Step Techniques book manuscript. That’s 25 wigs and hairstyles DONE, piles of research DONE, piles of writing DONE, piles of editing and copyediting DONE, piles of images edited and annotated DONE… and probably more!

People have been asking me over the past year, “So, what are you up to lately?” To which I say, “Wigs. Book. Wigs. Book.” Yeah, it kind of took over my life, as this dead and dormant blog will prove. It doesn’t help that I also had a research presentation to prep and give (yesterday!) for the Costume Society of America conference in Baltimore (where I still am!).

The good news is that I can now have a brain for things other than wigs and books. I’ll be posting previews from the book to whet your appetite, giving you some behind the scenes info, and also updating you on the 18th century court dress project (short version: postponed to 2015 for me and any other slackers! Overachievers, go for it for this year!), blogging about 18th century court dress… and hopefully more!

Right now, though, the important news: the book will be published in early July. I’ll have pre-orders open in the next week or so, and I’ll post here and on the book’s Facebook too.

There are only five days left to pre-order your copy of 18th Century Hair & Wig Styling:  History & Step-by-Step Techniques, and save yourself $5 off the cost of the book!

I’m thrilled to announce that my Indiegogo campaign is fully funded!  This means I’m going to be able to print tons of copies, using high quality paper & binding, and include all of the tutorials that I planned.

So why should you still pre-order?  Because any additional sales gives me more money to use to license images from museums, meaning more fabulous and helpful 18th century images of hair (especially those elusive back views)!  And because if you pre-order before January 31, you save yourself $5!

Pre-orders close this Friday, January 31 at 11:59pm Pacific  Time.

Pre-Order the book here!

More information about the 18th C. Hair & Wig Styling Book, currently open for pre-orders (until Jan. 31):

Some people have asked what’s going on in terms of men’s hair (and wigs) in the book.

First, I’ve considered men’s hair/wigs equally with women’s in terms of the history portion of the book.  So if you’re interested in why men wore wigs and powder, how they styled their hair & wigs, and what styles are appropriate to which era, all of that will be included.

For the step-by-step styles, where I show you exactly how to style hair and wigs into 18th c. appropriate styles, I’ve chosen to do only three men’s styles.  This is for a couple of reasons:

1. I think that the primary market for this book will be women.  Modern women tend to be more interested in hairstyles than men.  We all know that it’s often harder to get boys into historical hairstyles and wigs.
2. While there was a wide variation of men’s hairstyles across the century, it’s the queue styles (wigs/styles with a ponytail) that were overall the most popular in the era — from the 1730s through the 1790s — and those are the styles most modern costumers and reenactors want to wear, and the styles most commonly chosen by theater/film designers.

So what I’ve chosen to do is to focus in on the queue hair/wig styles, showing you:

• Which design elements are appropriate to which era — so if you’re doing a 1740s queue hairstyle or wig, there will be some differences from a 1780s hairstyle or wig.  How do you recognize them, and how do you STYLE them?  All that info will be included.
• Which design variations are available to you — how to mix up the queue style so that you’re not always wearing the same style, or that various men within your unit/production are wearing different styles.  What can you do besides the basic ponytail?  What can you do with the hair on top?  Here’s a hint:  there’s tons of options!

An important note is that in the 18th century, even if a man didn’t wear a wig (and most English and French men did), he still styled his hair exactly the same, design-wise.  So all of this information applies, even if you (or the men you dress) aren’t into wearing wigs!

Down the line, IF this book is successful, I’m thinking I could publish a shorter supplement with more/new hair/wig styles.  In that case, I can show you how to make a full-bottom wig, bob wig, and some of the many other men’s styles of the era.  But for now, the book will focus on the queue (ponytail) wig.

Pre-Order Update

Pre-orders are going well, but I still have a long way to go to be able to afford to print this book!  If you’d like this book to exist, please pre-order now — it will save you some money, and ensure that the book happens!

Reminder: you have until January 31 to pre-order!