Boys' Hair Styles: Family Trends


Figure 1.--This charming American family portarit is undated. The clothing and hair styles as well as the photograph format lead us to believe that it was taken about 1900. Mother has outfitted the children differently, but both older children have ringlets although the part is different.

One interesting question is how family hair styles varied. Hair styles have varied considerably over time. What might be considered as a boys' style in one era might be a popular girls' style in another era. Girls for example commonly had center parts during much of the 19th century while today many boys like center parts. The gender conventions concerning hair length have also varied considerably over time. Ringlet curls were once worn by boys, but in other times was seen as a girlish style. As a result, using hair styles to differential gender in old photographs is not always easy. An analysis of family portraits can provide some useful information on these trends that are not possible through individual portraits. These family portraits offer very important information on both gender conventions and stlistic trends, especially in the 19th century when gender conventions were more amorphhous than is the case today. We are just beginning to address some of the issues emerging from these family portraits. We know for example that some mothers dressed their younger children alike--both boys and girls. We believe it was less common to style the children's hair alike, but this is just one of the many questions we are beginning to persue here. Here national differences are a complicating factor.

Chronlogy

One interesting question is how family hair styles varied. Hair styles have varied considerably over time. What might be considered as a boys' style in one era might be a popular girls' style in another era. These family portraits offer very important information on both gender conventions and stlistic trends, especially in the 19th century when gender conventions were more amorphhous than is the case today.

Parts

Girls for example commonly had center parts during much of the 19th century. Note in the portarit here it is the girl who has a center part (figure 1). This convention was especially strong in the mid-19th century. This begin to change in the late 19th century and center parts for boys were popular in the early 20 century. The center part for boys had a revival in the 1990s.

Specific Hair Styles

The gender conventions concerning hair length have also varied considerably over time. Ringlet curls were once worn by boys, but in other times was seen as a girlish style. As a result, using hair styles to differential gender in old photographs is not always easy. An analysis of family portraits can provide some useful information on these trends that are not possible through individual portraits. Here we have a variety of qwuestions. We have noted both boys and girls wearing ringlets, for example, although the popularity varied over time. We have wondered what a mother did who had both boys and girls. Often when the boy had ringlets, his sister did not. Here the bother has styled both the brother and sister with ringklts, but varied the part. Other mothers adopted different appraoches. Hairbows are today are strongly assocaited with girls' styling, but in the 19th and early 20th century as shown here, boys also wore hair bows (fgure 1).

Identical Styling

HBC has done some work with families whose mothers have dressed the children identically or with coordinate outfits. The fashion of family hair styles also needed to be addressed. Here the size of the family and the desparity in ages among the children influenced the mother's decissions. We have just begun to address family hair styles. We need to persue both the styles and some of the issues emerging from these family portraits. We know for example that some mothers dressed their younger children alike--both boys and girls. Here families differed. Some children wre dressed differently and a few identically. Other mothers coordinated outfits in an age graded system. We believe it was less common to style the children's hair alike, but we have noted a few instances where mothers did so. And we are not yet sure how mothers coordinate their hair styling choices with their approach to clothing. Note in the image here that mother has outfitted the children differently, but both older children have ringlets and hairbows although the part is different and the hairs bows placed differently (figure 1). Some mothers placed the hairbows simalarly.

Country Trends

Here national differences are a complicating factor. We have so far been unable to assess country differences in any meaningful, in part because most of the available images are American. This is a subject, however, that we do hoe to address.








Christopher Wagner






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Created: November 2, 2002
Last updated: November 3, 2002