Figure 1.--Here we have a pair of portraits which we believe is a depiction of a first hair cut. Unfortunately there is no accompanying information about the boy. All we now for sure is that he is an American boy. The portrait is undated. We think it was taken in the 1890s, bby the late 1880s is possible. In the before picture he is wearing pants and a fancy fauntleroy blouse with a large floppy bow. He has short ringlets tied with ribbons. Click on the image to see the boy after his hair was cut. Image courtesy of the RG collection.

Here we have a pair of portraits which we believe is a depiction of a first hair cut. Unfortunately there is no accompanying information about the boy. All we now for sure is that he is an American boy. The portrait is undated. We think it was taken in the 1890s, buy the late 1880s is possible. In the before picture he is wearing pants and a fancy fauntleroy blouse with a large floppy bow. Notice the copious amounts of eylet lace on the blouse. Even the breast pocket is set off in eyelet lace. The boy only wears this blouse in the ringlet portrait here. We have seen, however, many boys wearing these fancy blouses after they had their curls cut as well. The bow is in a plaid material. He has short ringlets tied with ribbons. Notice the hair done with a center part. Often this center part was more common for girls, but here we see that there was no definitive convention on this. The ribbons could be white, but they may be a pastel shade--perhaps blue. The relatively narrow ribbons were popular for boys. Less common were the much wide ribbons tied in massive bows that were worn by girls. It is difficult to tell, but he may be wearing the same trousers, almost certainly kneepants, in both portraits although it is difficult to tell for sure. In the second he wears a suit with a sailor-styled blouse. This is not a sailor suit, but the blouse gives it a sailor look. It is a cut-away jacket done in a herringbone pattern. Note the vest does not match the suit, but is dome with what looks like small polkadots. He has a new short hair cut with the same center part as seen in the ringlet portrait. We think these must be before and after shots of his first haircut. Not only are their definite similarities in the boy's face, but note the same chair in both portraits.

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Created: 3:54 AM 12/28/2005
Last edited: 3:54 AM 12/28/2005