Today I Learned …

Women’s wigs and hairpieces in the 1700s were held together with lard. (Hey, no one had invented hairspray yet.) There is no mention in 18th century writings of how heinous wigs covered in lard smelled when they inevitably went rancid. But we do know that many households in the American colonies had a rodent problem. Rats and mice were attracted to the lard-soaked wigs. Merchants sold wire “rat screens” to place over the hairpieces when not in use, to keep them from being gnawed to bits!