No Wig Phase

How do we get Europeans through the Early Modern Era without going through that centuries long fashion phase where everyone important wore wigs, even if their own hair would have been perfectly serviceable? Was the threat of lice that serious? If so, why did the wig start to get abandoned before the lice problem was really tackled?
 
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I believe the word you are looking for is "phase".

I once read (maybe here) that a French king went bald early, took up wearing a wig, and everyone else followed. Forget who it was, possibly the Sun King. This is probably not 100% true, but if you want a cheap easy POD give said king some more hair.

Short hair is likely to come into fashion during industrialization anyways, so maybe we could skip the wig phase and go right from luscious locks to a closely cropped look. Roundhead victory perhaps?
 
I believe the word you are looking for is "phase".

Damn it, you're right.

I once read (maybe here) that a French king went bald early, took up wearing a wig, and everyone else followed. Forget who it was, possibly the Sun King. This is probably not 100% true, but if you want a cheap easy POD give said king some more hair.

I think it may have started a bit before the Sun King.

Short hair is likely to come into fashion during industrialization anyways, so maybe we could skip the wig phase and go right from luscious locks to a closely cropped look. Roundhead victory perhaps?

Roundhead victory would work for England, at least.
 
It's notable that during the period where wigs were in vogue most noblewomen did not shave their heads and wear wigs, so I think the culprit is mainly male-pattern baldness. I'd guess that some kings took to wearing extravagant wigs to cover their baldness, and others copied with even more extravagant wigs. I think wigs fell out of favor fast after the French Revolution, being associated with decadent nobility.
 
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