ABSTRACT
powdered heads... looking out at the untaxed powder] A tax was levied on hair powder by Pitt, who introduced it in order to help finance the war with France. Hundreds of hairdressers went out ofbusiness, and many people chose to abandon the fashion of wearing powder rather than to pay the tax (Mayhew 2.300). By the mid-nineteenth century, of course, the fashion was virtually confined to servants in livery.
