Hair cushions in the 18th century were used to give height and width to the hair to give it the fashionable shape. They could range from a small banana shape to help with a curl to the large donut shaped cushions to give that iconic Marie Antoinette look. Not all hair styles in the 18th century used hair cushions and for the first half of it hair that laid close to the head was most popular.
Beginning in the 1760s a small amount of volume in the front was desired as you can see in the portrait above. This could be given by a small banana shaped cushion at the front of the head. You could roll the hair around the cushion for the appearance of a curl or styled in a number of different ways.
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By the 1770s the large bouffant hairstyles we most commonly associate with the 18th century was in style. This well known style of the 18th century was really only in fashion for about three years While mythical stories of three feet high hair are out there these donut shaped cushions were really only four to six inches high. It does not take a lot of height to make the hair seem considerably taller and the addition of hats and caps added height more as well.
By 1780 the height at the front of the head started to come down and the volume started to go out towards the sides. The cushion shape gave equal volume at the top and sides of the head and curls or chignons could be made at the bottom of the hair. Hats at this time also got bigger and wider to match the hair.
In the mid and late 1780s the hair became incredibly curly and fashionable ladies would have their hair papiotte curled, which involves the hair being twisted and sandwiched into wax paper triangles. The an iron would be press the wax paper and set the curl. The first cushion is mid 1780s and the second smaller one is late 1780s.
The 1790s continued the popularity of curly hair but the use of hair cushions died away as the fashionable hair did not need the volume that a hair cushion provided. The hair cushions were made by hand with wool. All the hair cushion patterns are from, “The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Hair and Beauty.”