For centuries there’s always some kind of beauty standard that everyone wants to reach and everyone else admires. People chase this their whole lives, living in fear of the natural process of aging beyond a so-called prime. People put on makeup to hide blemishes, fast to fit within their perfect weight range, use hair spray to hide bald spots, and put on wigs to hide their real hair as if it’s “not good enough.”
There are all kinds of wigs nowadays, tons with specific hairstyles that seem almost impossible to get in real life. People often use wacky hairstyles with a variety of colors in cosplay to look like their favorite character or celebrity. Thankfully, there’s no stigma around doing such a thing since fictional characters can have some wacky hairstyles. However, people often use wigs on an everyday basis trying to hide their real hairstyle, and this has a stigma to it. Some people view it as inauthentic because they’re not using their real hair; others view it as hiding their undesirable aspects. Both viewpoints have issues. Sometimes people just want a different hairstyle they can’t achieve on their own, whether it’s due to their genetics or the amount of time it would take to get to that point; other times people get scared of looking ugly to others, so they put on a wig to look conventionally attractive in the same way people put on make-up.
In my opinion it’s wrong that people feel this fear of looking undesirable towards others but an inevitability because of the way our preferences have been structured over decades. Sometimes outing people wearing wigs gets played for laughs, like The Wig Game on The Graham Norton Show, which, at first glance, comes off as a comedy bit, but it showcases a fear people have over getting ousted for having a wig.
No stigma around wigs should exist in the first place; it stems from beauty standards and the fear that comes with looking different from societal expectations. People should be able to wear wigs in peace; fortunately, cosplay communities already have the right idea when it comes to a positive wig stigma, showing how someone will go through the effort of wearing a wig to fit a character. People should adopt this positive mindset towards those who strive to better themselves with a wig and remain understanding if they do not.
