Figure 1.--This boy is unidentified, but we think he is an American. The clothing and furniture suggest the 1920s. He looks about 5 years old.

Ringlet curls for boys and other long hair styles declined sharply in popularity after World War I (1914-18). Some very young boys might wear natural curls until their first hair cuts, but this was usually onlt to ear length. We see a few boys wearing long ringlets in te 1920s, but not very many. Dresses for boys passed from fashion by the 1920s. Little boys instead wore rompers, smocks, or short pants. Boys in these new styles might have longish hair, but the uncommonly wore ringlets. Most boys in the early 20th Century wanted short hair. A boy with long hair, especially a school-age boy was apt to be teased if he still had long hair, especially long ringlets. Thus, but not all of the boys kept in long ringlets were from more affluent families with the time to devote to curling a boys' hair and the ability to give such attention to fashion trends. Long shoulder-length ringlet curls virtually disappeared for boys in the 1920s. We note no images of shoulder-length ringletsin the 1920s. They were no longer worn, evn by boys from afluent families. Younger boys might have long hair over their ears and natural curls. It was rarely worn at shoulder length or curled into ringlets. We are not entirely sure why ringlets largely disappeared in the 1920s. A factor may be the work associated with curling and maintaining ringlets and the declining availability of domestic servants. We think fashions, especiall the gender conventions, were thecprimary factors.

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Created: 11:22 PM 4/23/2008
Last edited: 11:22 PM 4/23/2008