Figure 1.--While short hair was common for boys in the 19th century, some boys in the late 19th century wore ringlet curls. Frances Hogdson Burnett's book "Little Lord Fauntleroy" played an important role in popularizing the style.

We have primarily focused our work on specific hair styles and have not yet pieced the information we have collected together to form an overall chronology of boys' hair styles. This we plan to do as we expand our knowlege on diffeent hair styles and the chronology of those styles. Like clothing styles, specialized hair styles for children seem a relatively recent development. Some key dates in the history of modern hair styling include the following. Some trends developed over long time periods. Other major developments can be traced to a specific event or person. I've just begun to compose this chronology. Please let me know if yoy can think of other important dates which ought to be considered here. It should be noted that until the 20th century, the fashionable hair styles of the day were mostly limited to the affluent upper classes or aspiring middle class. Many of these fashionable styles were very expensive to prepare and maintain. For the upper classes the dictum of contemprary fashion was often quite rigid. The rising incomes of the middle class in America and Europe has brought fashionable hair styling within the range of an ever widening sector of the population. Other factors such as mass communication and advertising, the trend toward casual styles, and the growing acceptance of individualism, more and more people adopt fashionable styles or those suitable to their individual heads and faces.

17th Century

18th Century

We do not fully understand the conventions for boys hair styles during the 18th century. Boys during the 18th century do not appera to have worn specialized or distinctive hair styles from their fathers. Age appropriate hair style do not appear to have been developed for boys. Here there appear to have been some exceptions. Young boys not yet breached appear to have hair styles like their sisters, but here our infomation is limited. Another exception is wigs. Men commonly wore wigs, especially men of means--wigs were not worn by the working class because of the cost. Boys also wore wigs, especially boys from affluent families. Wigs were, however, less common for boys. This is especially true for younger boys and for eveyday occassions.

19th Century

Wigs rapidly went out of style in the 1790s as a result of the fashion tends emenating from the French Revolution resulting in a radical new look at the turn of the 19th century. Boys in the 19th century generlly wore short hair. There were substantial differences as to age. Younger boys might wear their hairs long sometimes like their sisters, especially before they were breached. Mothers here differed somewhat as o when a boy's hair should be cut. Some mothers breached a boy first and other cut his hair first. Ages varied from about 3-6 years. Most boys had their hair cut before beginning school. Boys schooled at home might might wear long hair longer. We note that by the mid-19th century that men and boys were wearing their hair longer, somerimes cobering their ears. Yhis can be seen in many American Civil War images. Ringlet curls for younger boys became fashionable in the 1880s-90s, but only a minority of boys wore them. They were most common for boys from affluent families. Frances Hogdson Burnett's book "Little Lord Fauntleroy" published in 1886 played an important role in popularizing the style. While this style continued into the 20th century, most boys wore short hair and the longer styles popular at mid-century were little in evidence by the 1890s.

20th Century

We have just begun to develop specifically chronolgical pages on haoir styling. There is a page on 1960s hair styles and a HBC reader had provided details on his 1980s experiences. There are a few othervpages which we will list. One HBC reader reports in the late 20th century, "Through my childhood, the chronology of what I was around other boys hair went like this: 1970s: the "pageboy", then phased into the feathered look in the early to mid 80s. Then came the mullet in the mid-80s, then spiked hair, then the 90's undercut. Coincidentally, a year after 1985, in 1986, it seemed most boys were spiking their hair, even going from feathered mullets to spiked mullets. I am from New Jersey, since HBC is interested in where styles take place. Boys by the end of tghe century were in a slum in style and some began to just shave or crop it very close and wear baggy clothes--as HBC has described."

21st Century

Early in the 2000s a very close-cropped hair style becamer popular for boys. An American reader reports in 2002, "I'm curious about the complete shift in the last few years to extremely short hair on boys of all ages, (from toddlers on up). I live in the Chicago area, and have noticed in recent years virtually all boys have taken to wearing the "buzz cut" styles, shorn to where the scalp is readily visible, coupled with greatly oversized shorts (mid-calf) and huge T-shirts. While it seems almost like a repeat of the mid-to-late 1980's, the hair today is shorn all the way around; there are no flat-tops or spike looks, and is very uniform in it's popularity. This is in marked contrast to girl's styles, where hair is of varying lenghts, accompanied by fitting clothes, ie. flared pants, tight tops, etc." An Australian boy reports, "I have a short cut on top, but combed flat with a comb up at the front. This style is very popilar here in Australia and from television and the novies I tghink in the United States and Eurioe as well. I note that Tommy Rettig in the old Lasie series wore a similar comb up style.

Created: September 16, 2002
Last updated: 10:47 PM 11/21/2007