Figure 1.--Social class connotations are difficult to pursue as such a large number of old photgraphs exist with out any provinance or background material. This little American boy wears an elaborate ringlet curl hair style complete with a colored hair bow. His kilt suit has been done in the Fauntleroy style. We would date the image about 1890. Note that very young children like this boy's younger brother or sister did not normally have their hair done in ringlets.

There does appear to be an element of social class concerned with styling a boys hair in ringlets. We do not, however, fully understand the class connotations. Most, but not all, of the boys appaer to have been from affluent families, although we have not noted it as commonly with the truely wealthy. It required a family where the mother stayed at home and had either time to devote herself to such aestic pursuits as curling a boy's hair. The affluent had servants who would be assigned this responsibility. Clealy this was not a style for a mother who had to work or take in jobs like laundry or sewing. Likewise it was not practical for boys who had to work and quite young boys from poor families were still being employed in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

Social Classes

There does appear to be an element of social class concerned with styling a boys hair in ringlets. We do not, however, fully understand the class connotations.

Wealthy Upper Class

When we began working on ringlet curls, we assumed that it was a style most prevalent in wealthy families. We have now begun to revise that assessment. We can in fact think of very few wealthy families in which boys wore ringlet curls, at least beyond the infant stage. These families in the public eye and thus how the children were dressed and their hair styled is also well known. We also were surprised when assessing our art archive how few boys wore ringlets in painted portraits. A portrait by a known artist wasquite an expensive undertaking and thus these portraits present a good cross section as to how wealthy children were dressed and their hair styled over time. Our English assessment turned up very few boys wearing ringlet curls who had portraits painted.

Affluent Upper Middle Class

We are leaning to the opinion that most, but not all, of the boys appaer to have been from affluent families, but not necessarily wealthy families. It required a family where the mother stayed at home and had either time to devote herself to such aestic pursuits as curling a boy's hair. The affluent had servants who would be assigned this responsibility. One of the reasons that ringle curls were popular during the late 19th century was the same reason that fancy oitfits like Fauntleroy suits were popular--it was a way of demonstrating the families social position and affluence. The truly wealthy had not need for such ostentaious demonstrations. The meerly affluent were much mlre interested in establishing as well as improving their position. This may explain why ringlets may have been more common in affluent rather than wealthy families.

Middle Class

Some middle class mothers also did their son's hair in ringlet curls. Here it may have been more diffiucult because a certain level of affluenmce was needed. Thus middle class mothers with out hired help, woukd have had much less free time on her hands. Here an exception may be middle class families that had fallen in influene and economic circusances. Some mothers may have been determined to fix ringlets on their sons to keep up appearances. A good example here may be the author Thomas Wolfe, whose mother, much to his disgust, did his hair in ringlets until he was 8 years old. Also consider the fasinating television studies done in recent years assessing homes and households in a realistiv way. The middle class mothers involved had a great deal of trouble just with basic household chores--let along spending time doing their son's hair in ringle curls. In the "1900 House" the mother even had some hired help.

Working Class

Clealy this was not a style for a mother who had to work or take in jobs like laundry or sewing. Likewise it was not practical for boys who had to work and quite young boys from poor families were still being employed in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

Prevalaence

We know of no study indicating how prevalent ringlet curls for boys were. There are substantial differences between countries and over time. The age of the boy was another fgactor. Ringlets appear to have been more prevalent in America than other countries, but even in America it was not common. The fact that it was a style most common among the affluent, in itself means that only a small fraction of boys wore ringlets. We note that even among younger boys, one is far more likely to find a boy in a dress with short hair then in short pants with ringlet curls. Also the popularity of the fashion was for a realatively short period. Most of the photographs of boys weating ringlets come from a relatively narrow time range, about 1880-1905. We note images outside this range, but the great bulk of such images fall within it.

Created: May 30, 2002
Last edited: May 30, 2002