Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

Wigs for both men and women in the 17th and 18th century were very in style.

Queen Elizabeth I, in her later years even wore a wig to her court.

Although, she chose to stick to her natural color of auburn red.

Sometimes they were brown, black and even occasionally blonde.

but the men tended to favor the white wigs/hair pieces.

He also had wooden dentures...did ya know that?

lol

What a nut.

But a noble one at that.

:p

Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

He's wearing a wig which was the fashion amongst gentlemen at the time.

Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

Powered wigs were the fashion of the times.

Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

The powdered wigs were worn by all of the upper class folk back in the day. Look at all of the paintings/portrayals of Ben Franklin, he's always rocking the wig. I think I read somewhere that they just retired the wigs from the British court system this year.

Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

It's called a "powdered wig".

Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

George wasn't wearing an "Afro' it was a wig fashioned after large curls.

He had short thin reddish hair, nothing to write home about. He wore the wig to business functions as a Representative of the government, nothing more. It was a fashion of the times, like an attorney wearing a three piece suite to an court appearance, or a doctor wearing a suit to a meeting.

Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

He just always said he preferred a fro. He learned the hairstyle from the Africans he held as slaves to wait on him %26amp; his hand and foot.

Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

Yes powered wigs were the fashion back then but they didn't become really popular until electricity was invented.

How about powdered wigs.

Why is George Washington portrayed as having a white afro, but in reality, he had long, red hair???

Not an afro... a wig. Worn by rich men at the time.