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A HBC reader informs us that she has cannot find any mention of the word "bangs" being used anywhere else in the world (except Britain) in relation to hai rstyles. We have few details about chronological trends with the bangs fashion. We do know that many American boys in the 19th century did wear bangs. This may have been in part the unintentional result of a "bowl" cut which was common for frontier and rural boys whose mothers cut their hair. Interestingly, bangs were often used in combination with ringlet curls for boys, often from affluent city families, receiving very fancy hair styles. Bangs were really popular during the 1960s in America. Before the Beatles hit, long bangs in the front were the "Surfer" look that boys, especially in Junior and High school really liked. If you were blond, or could bleach your hair, you were really cool. The rest of the haircut was
short, except for the bangs, which could hang down to your eyebrows. When the Beatles got popular, the rest of the hair on the head caught up with the bangs. The rather shaggu bangs of a young John F. Kennedy Jr, in the early 1960s also had an impact on boys' hair styling. The question of whether bangs has been more common in America than other countries, that may well be the case, but it is a question we have not yet persued in details--so I can not give a definitive answer yet.
A HBC reader informs us that she has cannot find any mention of the word "bangs" being used anywhere else in the world (except Britain) in relation to hairstyles. (Even in Britain the term "fringe" is more common.)
We have few details about chronological trends with the bangs fashion. We do know that many American boys in the 19th century had bangs. This may have been in part the unintentional result of a "bowl" cut which was common for frontier and rural boys whose mothers cut their hair. We have little information about the early 19th century before the development of photography. We have much more information about the mid- and late-19th century.
A 19th century example is Percy Brown in 1891.
Interestingly, bangs were often used in combination with ringlet curls for boys, often from affluent city families, receiving very fancy hair styles. Bangs were worn throughout the 20th century. They seem especially popular during the ealy 20th century. Bangs were really popular during the 1960s in America. Before the Beatles hit, long bangs in the front were the "Surfer" look that boys, especially in Junior and High school really liked. If you were blond, or could bleach your hair, you were really cool. The rest of the haircut was
short, except for the bangs, which could hang down to your eyebrows. When the Beatles got popular, the rest of the hair on the head caught up with the bangs.
Bangs were an enormously popular style for both boys and girls and we see them done in many different styles. We note many different styles of bangs, but we are not sure about the terms for the different cuts, or in fact if there were proper names for the cuts. Ringlet curl cuts might have front bangs. Many short hair styles were worn with bangs. A popular style in the early-20th century was Dutch-boy bangs with hair at the side down to the ears. A good example here is Floyd Van Horne about 1915. There were many different ways of cutting the bangs. Some were severely cut, straight across the forehead. Othereswere more molded to the shape of the child's head and cut in a kind of curve. There were also different ways of conecting the bangs cur on the forehead to the hair at the suide of the head. In contrast to the more severe bangs cuts, we note much more informal, even shaggy cuts. The rather shaggy bangs of a young John F. Kennedy Jr, in the early 1960s also had an impact on boys' hair styling. When longer hair became popular, we see many boys with page boy cuts.
The question of whether bangs has been more common in America than other countries, that may well be the case, but it is a question we have not yet persued in details--so I can not give a definitive answer yet.
We note boys of a wide range of ages wearing bangs. This varied somewhat over time. They seem most common for younger boys, but we also see teenagers with bangs. There are many examples archived on HBC. We note Bert Dodge who was about 3 years old in the 1880s.
We note many American portraits where the boys have similar or identical hair cuts. One of the most common styles used were bangs. This convention od similar hair styles was most common for younger boys and bangs were apopular style for this age group. This was even a style that could be used for boys and girls, especially after World war I when boibbed hair for girls became popular. There were many ways of cutting bangs. The different age or shape of the head affected how the bangs were cut. We see a lot of these family portaits with similar or indentical bangs cuts in the early 20th century.
Bangs are one of the most popular styles for children. Some styles have been worn by both bows and girls, even at the same time. The most obvious here are various styles of bangs. There were are a wide range of bangs cuts and we commonly see boys and girls with their hair cut in bangs. Often boys and girls wore bangs at the same same time, but with stylish variation. The most common differentiation was for boys with bangs to have their hair cur short at the sides and for gurls to wear it over their ears. But this has not always been the case, We notice some younger boys in the eary 20th century with bangs cuts just like their sister's cut. And we note boys in the 1970s when long hair was popular also wearing bangs with long cuts at the side. While the hair length at the sides was the primary difference in gender with bang cuts. There were, however, many other sytlistic differences.
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