Figure 1.--.

Hair is a little explored aspect of "clothing" but the two often went together. My Mum was always big on hair - and when we were to be dressed up, Sunday School, visiting even school first thing in the morning getting our hair right was the first thing before even getting dressed and then combing our hair after we were dressed was a big thing too - but that was Mums! Our trips to the barbers were a real adventure. I never actually saw my primary school uniform regulations in a printed form, but I am sure that my Mum was sent it when we started at the school so I don't know if it mentioned hair. Anyway at that time most boys did have the "short back and sides" that my Mum preferred too and I never saw any boys with anything other. As I have told you it was quite a shock when I went to secondary school and some of the younger posher boys did have long hair - even in the prep school but even then the "no longer than collar length" rule was applied. Anway as I say Mum wouldn't allow me or my older brother to have long hair and when it came to the point where I was allowed to choose my own hairstyle it was a "skinhead" cut which was very short anyway and then the schools objected to that! There was a variation between schools in the 70s and parents then went along with that.My little brother went on to a non-uniform school when we moved and he was allowed to have longer hair (by Mum not due to school regulations) than me and my older brother had ever been allowed.

Our Hair

Hair is a little explored aspect of "clothing" but the two often went together. My Mum was always big on hair - and when we were to be dressed up, Sunday School, visiting even school first thing in the morning getting our hair right was the first thing before even getting dressed and then combing our hair after we were dressed was a big thing too - but that was Mums! The school had a lot to do with our hair. When the schools set rules on hair styles then that affected you outside of school too - you couldn't take your hair style off from out of school like you could any item of uniform! I think that I have summed up the situation on my schools - at primary school most boys did have shortish hair and unlean or unkempt hair would have been commented on.

Our Barber Shop Trips

I keep meaning to write to you about our trips to the barbers because they seemed such an adventure and I shall try to do so.

My Friend Michael

We always went to the barber. Mum never tried to cut our hair. My friend Michael, however, wasn't sent to the barber. Michael's uncle cut his and his brothers' hair in the front garden.

Primary School--Us Boys

I never actually saw my primary school uniform regulations in a printed form, but I am sure that my Mum was sent it when we started at the school so I don't know if it mentioned hair. Anyway at that time most boys did have the "short back and sides" that my Mum preferred too and I never saw any boys with anything other. One thing that may be relevant was that at primary school we used to have visits from the "nit nurse" who would inspect our hair for headlice! This was probably going back to the days when children could not be kept so clean but even so it was quite a performance and any child who had them was given a bottle of solution to take home. My Mum always kept our hair washed on a regular basis but even then headlice could spread no matter what parents did and long hair was discouraged in boys for that reason. Before school trips sopme teachers would fish out a comb from their bags or desk drawer and tidy some off us up before we went out into the street. Also.after swimming lessons some boys had combs for their hair and we borrowed them.

Primary School--The Girls

Girls I know, were not allowed to have loose long hair at my primary school they had to have it tied up in pigtails or plaits and even then for P.E. they had to tie it up in bows so perhaps it was better for us to have short hair anyway without all of the bother! In boarding schools the regulations over hygeine and hair washing were probably stricter fot the reason of them being together more often and therefore hairlength would come into that - but I don't know. After swimming the girls had to be chased out of their changing room because they spemt ages brushing each others hair and keeping our coach waiting--which really irritated him.

Grammar School

As I have told you it was quite a shock when I went to secondary school and some of the younger posher boys did have long hair - even in the prep school but even then the "no longer than collar length" rule was applied as the pictures that I have sent to you show - some boys' parents just seemed to allow them to grow it *upwards* instead! Well I think that I have already metioned to you that hair styles were one of the first things that I remember being specifically mentioned on my grammar school uniform regulations list - "Hair should be no longer than collar length". I think that I told you about this when I first wrote to you regarding the television series "And Mother Makes Three" because in that series both of the boys did have long hair whereas the other uniform requirements did, more or less, refelect the times (the early 1970s).

As I have mentioned in the trendy fashions pages, there were basically three types of hairstyle - 1) the traditional shortish cuts that the school preferred, 2) the (long haired!) "hairies" and 3) the skinhead fashions that came in later. The school had a problem with skinheads as they obeyed the written school rules on hair length, but were not seen as reflecting well on the school (skinheads were really a working class fashion and asssociated with football hooliganism and violence although very few of the boys at my school participated in either!). Hairies were associated with a "drug culture" and generally "dropping out" - again no real problem then at my school but it was an image the school didn't want portrayed.You have to remember that most of the boys at my school paid fees to attend (or the parents did!) and the school hardly wanted prospective new parents to think that the school admitted skinheads and hippy-types. Anyway they juggled it quite well and had occaisional crackdowns - like they did on the clothes associated with these hairstyles like boots and braces(skinheads) or hugely flared trousers (hairies). As I said this battle went on throughout my later time at the school and as well as general crackdowns involving letters home to parents and so on individual teachers would take it upon themsleves to tell a boy not to come into his classroom again wearing braces or boots or whatever and if he then did he made them stand outside and then do detention to catch up on the work which had an effect. I can't remember anyone being banned from class for hairlength except during woodwork as the woodwork teacher said long hair was dangerous and those boys who had it would have to get it cut or wear a hairnet - that made us with short hair laugh!

Other Schools

Some schools, state schools too, did ban both skinheads and short hair and sent boys home - the skinheads until it had grown out and the others to get a haircut. My secondary school as I say was fairly liberal in this regard but then there was less likelihood of gang fights and so on developing because boys came from all over London and what went on in the streets around the school was less likely to spill over into the school - and fights between schools happened too.

My Cousin in Yorkshire

My cousin's grammar school in Yorkshire wouldn't have allowed long hair or skinhead cuts either. I know this as although I only visited them in the school holidays he was surprised that I had a skinhead cut when I went up there when I was older - and my aunt and uncle weren't too impressed either nor were my Grandparents. He wouldn't have been allowed it by his parents anyway but by then Mum had given up on me. He just metioned that it wouldn't be allowed at his school but as I have said before London fashions were changing faster than elswhere and the school rules just couldn't keep up. That was the mid-70s. When I first went up to Leeds the Christmas after starting secondary school my cousin (who was almost exactly the same age as me) had started at his new school up there too and we compared notes - mainly about teachers, subjects and so on but uniform too. I don't recall hair being mentioned then (1970/71)and our uniform rules were pretty similar (standard grammar school uniform really except he had to wear shorts for the first 2 years whereas for me they were optional and depended on Mum's decision) and our hairstyles the same but later when we were about 14 he hadn't changed all that much in what he wore or his hairstyle which his parents (and Gran!) decided and bought for him whereas I had started to buy my own fasionable clothes - although Mum still wouldn't let me wear most of them up there even the ones that I still got away with as school uniform. Anyway that's a different subject really.

Outside Influences

Again outside influences affected boys hair length too - besides parents that is. Some scout troops I know were still run along semi-military lines and required short hair as did air, naval and army cadets and seascouts were particularly insistant on short hair. I wasn't in any of these but I understood the seascout thing because I always liked short hair for swimming as long hair could slow you down quite a bit so it wasn't just an appearance matter. My mate Michael's brothers boxed for the local boys club and he told me they had short hair for similar reasons - speed of movement but younger boys who boxed wore protective helmets anyway. Boxers also weren't allowed to wear brylcreamas it made the gloves of the opponent slippy. Anyway that's what Michael told me - he didn't box but he was given me some tips one day when my Mum had me and my brother box each other one day when we had been fighting too much - that's a different story though!

My Style

Anway as I say Mum wouldn't allow me or my older brother to have long hair and when it came to the point where I was allowed to choose my own hairstyle it was a "skinhead" cut which was very short anyway and then the schools objected to that!

My Little Brother

One thing that I can tell you that there was a variation between schools in the 70s and parents then went along with that.My little brother went on to a non-uniform school when we moved and he was allowed to have longer hair (by Mum not due to school regulations) than me and my older brother had ever been allowed. Maybe Mum saw that short hair and uniforms went together and my uncle (who had been in the army) always said so too. I also sometimes think that Mum allowed my little brother to have longer hair because he was the youngest but I can't be sure of that.

Bill