On this day, an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which levied a tax on hair powder came into effect. The Act stated that everyone wishing to use hair powder must visit a stamp office to enter their name and pay for an annual certificate costing 1 guinea (equivalent to £100 in 2020). The tax raised £200,000 in its first year and was used to finance government programmes and to fund the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars with France. The wearing of powdered wigs, however, was already on the decline and the tax helped to speed up the move towards more informal styles. According to the author Jenny Uglow, those who chose to pay the guinea hair powder tax were nicknamed ‘guinea-pigs’ by reformist Whigs who chose instead to cut their hair short (the ‘French’ cut) and go without a wig as an expression of solidarity with the French.
