Wigs were around a lot longer than hair extensions.  Wigs have been found to have been worn in ancient times, in cultures as old as the ancient Phoenicians, ancient Egyptians, ancient Romans and ancient Greeks.  Wigs were worn by men to protect their shaved heads from the damage of sunlight.  Ancient and present day Chinese and Japanese used wigs in women as a part of theatre work.  Human hair wigs were sometimes used but many wigs were made from animal hair, as human hair wigs were not popular and animals abounded. 

Wigs were out of favour until the 1500s when they were used to compensate for hair loss.  It was easier to shave the head to keep lice away and to use an animal hair wig instead.  Wigs were worn by royalty and were worn by both men and women in order to make them look better. In some cases, human hair wigs were used.  Wigs were longer than shoulder length, even in men.  Wigs were sometimes worn using human hair wigs that were cut off the dead.   People worried because they were cut off of victims of the plague.  Human hair wigs had a risk of lice as well.  Men’s wigs were powdered in the 1700s and women did not wear wigs at that time.  All this changed in the 20th century, when human hair wigs were used by women, especially after the 1960s. 

The history of human hair extensions is much shorter.  Hair extensions were developed in the 1990s as they exist today.  They are tied or sewn onto regular human hair to make it look longer or to create a new look.  You can make hair extensions look like a wig but they are more natural and make use of your own hair.  In the 1990s, celebrities such as Victoria Beckham made hair extensions popular and even more celebrities made use of them. Human hair extensions were very expensive in the beginning so only the rich or celebrities used them.  Human hair extensions were too expensive for lay people until the 2000s, when human hair extensions became more affordable and almost anyone could afford them.