Toupée

A toupée (/tuːˈpeɪ/ too-PAY) is a hairpiece or partial wig of natural or synthetic hair worn to cover partial baldness or for theatrical purposes. While toupées and hairpieces are typically associated with male wearers, some women also use hairpieces to lengthen existing hair, or cover a partially exposed scalp. The desire to wear hairpieces is a response to a long-standing bias against balding that crosses cultures, dating to at least 3100 BC. Toupée manufacturers' financial results indicate that toupée use is in overall decline, due in part to alternative methods for dealing with baldness, and to greater cultural acceptance of the condition.

While most toupées are small and designed to cover bald spots at the top and back of the head, large toupées are not unknown.

Toupées are often referred to as "hairpieces", "units", or "hair systems" by those seeking to avoid the negative connotations that the word "toupée" conjures up. Many women now wear hairpieces rather than full wigs if their hair loss is confined to the top and crown of their heads.

According to various sources referenced by Dictionary.com, toupée is related to the French words "top," or "tuft;" tuft as the curl or lock of hair at the top of the head, not necessarily relating to covering baldness. Toupée is related to the diminutive toupe more recently (as of the 17th century).

While wigs have a very long and somewhat traceable history, the origin of the "toupée" is more difficult to define, but one can reasonably infer that the first toupée was a piece of hair, worn on the head, with the intention of deceiving the viewer into believing the hair was natural, rather than a wig worn for decorative or ceremonial purposes.

The desire for men to wear hairpieces is a response to a long-standing cultural bias against balding men that crosses cultures. Between 1 BC and AD 1, the Roman poet Ovid wrote Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") in which he expressed "Ugly are hornless bulls, a field without grass is an eyesore, So is a tree without leaves, so is a head without hair." Another example of this bias, in a later and different culture, can be found in The Arabian Nights (c. AD 800-900), in which the female character Scheherazade asks "Is there anything more ugly in the world than a man beardless and bald as an artichoke?"

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Wikipedia