Toupée

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. Many women now wear hairpieces rather than full wigs if their hair loss is confined to the top and crown of their heads.

Toupée comes from the French toupet, meaning tuft of hair, as in a curl or lock of hair at the top of the head, not necessarily relating to covering baldness.[2][3]

Toupées are often custom made to the needs of the wearer, and can be manufactured using either synthetic or human hair. Toupées are usually held to one's head using an adhesive, but the cheaper versions often merely use an elastic band.

Toupée manufacture is often done at the local level by a craftsman, but large wig manufacturers also produce toupées. Both individuals and large firms have constantly innovated to produce better quality toupées and toupée material, with over 60 patents for toupées.[10] and over 260 for hairpieces [11] filed at the U.S. Patent Office since 1790.

The first patent for a toupée was filed in 1921, and the first patent for a "hairpiece" was filed in 1956.[11]

While toupée dealers attempt to match the toupée's color to the natural hair color of the wearer, sometimes the colors are not identical. This color mismatch is often exacerbated when a toupée is poorly cared for and fades, or the wearer's hair color turns gray while the toupée retains its original color. However a good salon will take this into account and will have the expertise to handle any problems. New technology has allowed hair manufacturers to mimic human hair, overcoming many of the weaknesses of human hair.

While toupée dealers and manufacturers usually advertise their products showing men swimming, water-skiing and enjoying watersports, these activities can often cause irreversible wear to the toupée. Saltwater and chlorine can cause a toupée to "wear out" quickly. Many shampoos and soaps will damage toupée fibers, which unlike natural hair, cannot grow back or replace themselves.

While dealers of toupées can in fact help many customers to care for their toupées and make their presence virtually undetectable, the hairpieces must be of very high quality to begin with, carefully fitted, and maintained regularly and carefully. Even the best-cared-for toupée will need to be replaced on a regular basis, due to wear and, over time, to the growing areas of baldness on the wearer's head and changes in the shade of remaining hair. Some recommend that if one chooses to use a toupée, three should be owned at any one time - one to wear while its counterpart is being cleaned, and a spare.[12]

Men typically wear toupées after resorting to less extreme methods of coverage. The first tactic is to make remaining hair appear thick and widespread through a combover. Other alternatives include non-surgical hair replacement, which consists of a very thin hairpiece which is put on with a medical adhesive and worn for weeks at a time.[13]

Toupées have a long and often humorous history in Western culture. The toupée is a regular butt of jokes in many media, with a typical toupée joke focusing on the wearer's inability to recognize how ineffective the toupée is in concealing his baldness. An early instance of "toupée humor" was an illustration by George Cruikshank in "The Comic Almanack" in 1837, in which he drew the effect of a strong wind, with a man's toupée whipped from his head.[14]

In the 20th century, toupées were a source of humor in virtually all forms of media, including cartoons, films, radio and television. In the 21st century, toupées continue to be a source for humor, with a variety of internet sites devoted to toupées, with a special emphasis on suspected celebrity hairpiece wearers.

Thaddeus Stevens, famed 19th century U.S. Congressman and abolitionist, was known for his humor and wit. On one occasion while in the Capitol, a woman requested a lock of his hair (collecting locks of hair was common at this time). Since he was bald and wearing a toupée, he ripped it off and gave it to her.[15]

There was a long-running gag in Morecambe and Wise Show about Ernie Wise's wig, in reality he had a full head of hair.

Film and television stars of both past and present often wear toupées for professional reasons, particularly as they begin to age and need to maintain the image their fans have become accustomed to. However, many of these same celebrities go "uncovered" when not working or making public appearances.

• Bud Abbott (wore a front toupée in early films)[16]
• Marv Albert
• Steve Allen[17]
• Neil Aspinall
• Fred Astaire (he appeared sans toupée while entertaining the troops overseas)
• Raymond Bailey
• Edgar Bergen[18]
• Humphrey Bogart[19]
• George Burns[20]
• Archie Campbell - this Hee Haw comedian was said to be so sensitive about his balding head that he would not let visitors see him in the hospital because he could not put on his toupée.
• Sean Connery - Bond actor, used toupée only in movies
• Gary Cooper[21][22] (he was not totally bald but used a "thickening" toupée in later years, which was on display at the Max Factor Museum in Hollywood)
• Howard Cosell[23]
• Bing Crosby (chose not to wear a toupée during WWII USO Tours) [24][25]
• Peter Cushing often wore a toupée in films in later years, but equally often appeared without it, letting the character he was playing dictate the hair style.
• Bobby Darin[26]
• Charles O. Finley, former owner of the Oakland Athletics
• Bruce Forsyth[27]
• Paul Harvey[28]
• Ted Healy (Original owner of the Three Stooges)
• Charlton Heston
• Frankie Howerd (toupée later for sale at auction) [29]
• Gene Kelly (when not on camera, he wore caps or trilby hats)
• Jack Klugman - he wore one during his time on The Odd Couple and Quincy, M.E., but his appearances on Match Game during the same time, he did not wear one.
• Frankie Laine
• Bela Lugosi (he was not bald, but in Dracula he wore a front toupée to give him a widow's peak)
• Fred MacMurray[30]
• Miles Malleson
• Groucho Marx - he wore one for his television quiz show You Bet Your Life, but during the same period would sometimes appear on talk shows without it.
• John L. Mica - US Congressman from Florida [31]
• Ray Milland
• Ricardo Montalbán
• James C. Morton
• Charles Nelson Reilly - it was a long-standing joke on Match Game in the 1970s. During the airing of one broadcast, he actually took off his toupée and loaned it to a bald guest.
• Carl Reiner - the comic actor would regularly appear with or without the toupée, depending on the requirements of the role.
• Rob Reiner - Reiner started wearing a hairpiece during the second season of All in the Family to hide his premature hair loss, as he was playing a character who was in his early 20s.
• Burt Reynolds
• John D. Rockefeller[32]
• William Roth - Senator from Delaware[33][34]
• William Shatner[35]
• Frank Sinatra[36]
• James Stewart[25]
• Rip Taylor[37]
• James Traficant[38]
• Billy Vaughn[39]
• John Wayne[36][40]
• Hank Williams