Why Did People in the Past Have White Hair?

[Psinter]

Would you look me in the eyes and tell me something isn't going on here ಠ_ಠ. What's with the weird white hair that looks like a wig? Did they have fashion too in those times?

• Anders Celsius
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...sius.jpg/215px-Headshot_of_Anders_Celsius.jpg
• Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...s_de_coulomb.jpg/250px-Charles_de_coulomb.jpg
• Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Fahrenheit_small.jpg
• Johann Bernoulli
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...nn_Bernoulli2.jpg/220px-Johann_Bernoulli2.jpg
• Émilie Du Châtelet
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe.../250px-Emilie_Chatelet_portrait_by_Latour.jpg
• Willem 's Gravesande
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Gravesande.jpg/220px-Gravesande.jpg
• Carl Linnaeus
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Carl_von_Linné.jpg/220px-Carl_von_Linné.jpg
• Leonhard Euler
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Euler-USSR-1957-stamp.jpg/320px-Euler-USSR-1957-stamp.jpg
• Herman Boerhaave
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...n.jpg/230px-Herman_Boerhaave_by_J_Champan.jpg
• Emanuel Swedenborg
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...l_Swedenborg.PNG/220px-Emanuel_Swedenborg.PNG
• Luigi Galvani
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Luigi_Galvani,_oil-painting.jpg/220px-Luigi_Galvani,_oil-painting.jpg

And finally him, who was no scientist whatsoever, but also has the same style:

• George Washington
  • https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...illiamstown_Portrait_of_George_Washington.jpg

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Yes, fashion goes back as long as humans.

For various periods in history, it was very common for wealthier people to cut their natural hair short and wear long wigs instead, which were easier to keep clean and free of nits. Wigs were often powdered to modify the appearance. Later, younger people followed similar styles using their natural hair. See the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wig for more information.

 

[Psinter]

Ah. It makes sense. Nits are nasty creatures that for some reason are found a lot in elementary school crawling the heads of the kids. It's like they are magnets for nits. But I wasn't aware the adults used to get them too in the past. I have yet to see an adult with nits these days. There must be, but it's not common from where I'm from. The common thing is for kids to have them.