THE WIG TEST!

During the start of Ike and Tina's career, having a polished look was very important, so whatever city they stopped in during their long and exhausting tour days they would send Tina and the Ikettes to the local black beauty parlor. One day in 1959 Tina wanted to change her look, because they where getting a lot of gigs and with that, you have to look the part! Ike always said, that if you stayed ready, you don't have to get ready! with that in mind, the girls were always up on the latest hair trends, and Wigs were not that popular at the time, now this is prior to the Motown/ Supremes era, when wearing a wig was a sign of significances, wealth, style and class. Women where ashamed to admit that they where sporting fake hair.  So one day Tina decided to try chemicals for the first time ever, and it was the start of her life-long love affair and obsession with wigs, weaves, hair pieces and the start of her hair loss.

 Tina went to have her hair bleached, for the first time, she never had her hair professionally styled before, so this was a exciting trip for her, being her first time, and trying hair color as well unknown to her, a 13yr old girl, who was helping her mother in the shop, applied pure devil's lye to Tina's hair, lye was  Red Devil's lye, a white potato, and Ivory Snowflakes, blended and applied to a greased scalp, for protection. is a term that was used to describe relaxer/ perm and as the hair dresser took the bleaching cap off, all of Tina's hair fell completely out of her scalp, prompting her and the girls to come up with a fast, and quick solution this is when she started wearing wings! 


Ike Turner liked it and said it would be part of the show from then on, it became part of her persona.! Wigs became so important to Tina, that one of the only times she left Ike for a couple of days after he beat her for buying a wig he told her she couldn’t have. Ike believed that the wigs where extremely important to the girls image, and that he would pay upwards $250-4500.00 for custom made hair pieces from Japan. After years of wearing wigs, Tina had barley any edges left, but her natural hair grew back after the bleaching incident she and the other Ikettes, would wash their hair once a week ,or so with Glover's Mane Shampoo and condition the scalp with Sulfur 8 hair grease.

  

They would corn roll the hair either to the scalp, or around in a circle, and then sew, or safety pin a pair of old nylons To the entire head, now this is before hair weaves, hair extensions, then they would either use one or two technique's, bobby pens, or needle and thread to secure the wig onto the head. Ike made sure the girls received new wigs every other month, and if you left the group, or got fired you had to either sell your wigs to another Ikette, or pay Ike  the retail price of the hair piece. Tina started to wear wigs and liked having instantly long hair and could have whatever style she wanted, so she continued to wear wigs/weaves even after her hair grew back. She still wears wigs to this day.
  

Ike was obsessed about the appearance of the group, especially Tina and the girls, he would give out nightly lectures on how he wanted everyone to appear on stage, and that means you had to look fantastic! He believed that the way you looked represented him as a bandleader and front man, he way would say, he didn't want anyone messing up his name, he would often say that the way his band looked and perform is a reflection of him. So right before a show Ike would walk behind a unexpected Ikette and snatch her wig from her head! And if the wig came off, you were handed a $50.00-$100.00 fine, it was deducted from your weekly paycheck, one Ikette was fined so many times, until the end of the tour she owed Ike!

Tina's wig only came off once, and that was during a concert, her and the Revue had in Oakland California for the Black Panthers, one of the Panthers love the view from the stage and decided to risk his life by touching Tina inappropriately on her legs, while she was performing on stage, once Ike saw the dude touching his star Turner and  the entire band got into a all out fight, prompting a riot at the club, Tina fought off twelve Panthers single handed, and that was the only time in Rock and Roll History the Queen lost her Crown!

Tina who lives in Europe, is still serious about her hair. According to the her hair stylist, Tina described her wigs as being a part of her. She said that she purchases her hair from Spain and has it cut, colored and shaped to her specifications, there's report that she had wigs made of Sable Mink, blended with Italian hair during the 1980's and she has custom made hair pieces that cost upwards of $20,000-$60,000 depending on the occasion!