"Did children wear them? i'm sure some did, becos i've seen them in portraits, but it can't have been common. i suspect they were considered adult attire."

### They were considered just as much attire for children as adults. Children in the middle and upper classes as well as the nobility were seen wearing them everywhere. Nonetheless some children did like to sport their own hair, especially if they were considered to have nice hair. In fact, in those times (at least in many regions) there was very little or absolutely NO difference between they way children and adults dressed. The main difference was all about PROFESSION and CLASS etc rather than AGE. Actually the 17th and 18th centuries were said to have considered children as kind of "little adults", and that is an observation that antis in our epoch have sometimes cited and heavily criticized when reflecting back towards those times.


"also, i can't imagine the increased humidity and temperature of the inside of a wig did a lot to restrict the population growth and consequent irritation of headlice and other parasites, even if it limited their transmission to new hosts."


### No. this is because wigs could be washed and also they used to puff powders into the wigs that would keep out lice. Also once a wig was taken off the head, it would become COLD on the wig stand. So any lice etc that might have gotten in during the day would simply LEAVE when the wig was taken off. Remember that these parasites like HEAT.

Some time back I had done a fair amount of reading on Ancien Régime era costume, as I needed some additional research information to hand to my tailor who made me up a copy of an 18th century suit for wearing in my Mozart chamber ensemble. Historically, wigs go to at least as far back as the Romans, Greeks, Assyrians, and Egyptians etc. They were again reintroduced during the feudal times and highly popularised by the Sun King (Louis XIV); the wearing of wigs continued to thrive right up until the French revolution and collapse of the Ancien Régime. From that time on they still continued to be worn but were gradually phased out during the closing years of the 18th and into the early years of the 19th centuries. They were commonly made of either horse or human hair. 18th century male wigs were generally a lot more modest than womans/girls wigs which became sometimes very elaborate and large in size. During the 1780's some females' wigs became so frivolously huge and impractical that they stood several feet above the top of the head and required servants to secure the wig tops with long extened prongs. Sometimes even models of sailing ships and bird's nests were planted on top. LOL