* boys hair styles M-Z








Boys' Hair Styles: M-Z

In our modern age the greatest attention is given to women's hair styling. Lesser attention is given to that of men and children. This has not always been the case. Men have given great attention to hair styling in some ciltures and historical eras. In our modern era, boys have begun gicing great attention to their hair. This began with Elvis Presly and his side burns in the 1950s and the Beattles in the 1960s with what was at the time considered long hair. The teenage boy in the 1990s might spend considerable time preening in front of a mirror. Perhaps not as much time as the modern girl, but certainly more than was common in the 1950s. I have listed here the boys' hair styles with which I am familiar. Unfortunately in many cases I do not know the formal names for these cuts or much information about them. Please let me know if you are aware of any others or have any childhood memories about your hair styles. Hopefully someone with barbering experiences swill eventually help us analize the various cut styles.


Figure 1.-- We notice many boys with medium-length hair cuts. Age is a factor with these medium styles. In some eras only younger boys wore medium cuts. In other eras older boys wore them as well.

Medium Cuts

We notice many boys with medium-length hair cuts. Medium cuts are hair styles down to or over the ears. Short cuts may be done to the ears, but cut away around the ears. Medium cuts are not cut away and may cover part are all of the ear. Of course the dividing line with short and long cuts are subjective. We see many boys with medium cuts during the mid-19th century. Medium cuts were especially common in this period. At the time men often wore medium cuts. They become much less common in the early- and mid-20th century, except for younger boys. We see medium cuts again in the late 20th century. They were done in various styles and lengths. We do not yet have information on country trends. Age is also a factor. In some eras only younger boys wore medium cuts. In other eras older boys wore them as well.

Mullet

A HBC reader pointed out that the "mullet" was left out which he says was "the quintessential American haircut". HBC would not agree with that, but it was a haircut favored by rednecks, 1980's bands like DuranDuran, and soccer players for decades. It was not commonly worn by boys, but some teenagers in high school wore it. It is was a busy hair cut worn very long at the back. A HBC reader writes aboy the mullet, "That was definately a major hairstyle from 1985-1993 for boys. In 85, I was 12 years old, and very noticeably, many boys in my school had that haircut, and my school ranged from kindergarten to 8th grade. Not only was the mullet the major haircut, most other boys were feathering their hair." The term "mullet" is on your site, but to let you know what it is, it's the top and sides of the hair cut short, and the back long. We never used the term "mullet" ever in the 80's. That term was coined in the late 90's to describe the haircut. We just said "short on the top and sides and leave the back long". The "mullet" is actually an evolved haircut that came from the many feathered hairstyles. The sides would just get shorter and shorter in order to feather them until at one point people were just shaving the sides. Then when spiked hair was introduced, people didn't want to totally lose their long hair, so the spiked the top and left the back long. Feathered hair and spiked hair wasn't the only styling options for the mullet, as people roller set them, or even permed them, or if they had naturl curls, just have the natural curls cut short on the sides and top, leaving the back long. As for elementary school boys, the going look was feathered, spiked, or naturally curled mullets. Also, with the shaving of the sides, some boys would have stripes shaved into the sides for design. A HBC reader tells uds, "My cousin had that when he was 9-10 years old at the time".

Natural Curls

Hair comes in all type from straight to natuarlly curly. When the style of keeping younger boys hair long increased in popularity, some mothers found that the boys' hair was natuarally curly. Some mothers were particularly enamored with this look and begun to curl their sons hair to produce the desired effect. Often boys with this style would wear their hair over their ears, but not down to shoulder level as with ringlet curls. Mothers liked to keep their babies and todlers in curls. Except for the Fautlroy period of the 1880s-90s. For the most part this was just the natural curls of the young boys. They were normally cut when the 19th century boy went from dresses to pants. Often mothers would save the shorn curls as a keepsake.


Figure 3.--British boys at about 8 years were commonly sent to spartan boarding schools. Until that time mothers often had them wear their hair long over the ears. Younger boys might have curls and older boys bangs. This particular boy, in case you do not recognize him, is the real life boy whom one of the most beloved chilhood character is based.

Over the Ears

We note various periods in which boys commonly wore their hair over their ears. Here there were different styles and conventions over time. We note that over te ears styles were common in the mid-19th century. This was not, however, a specifically boys' style as adult men also wear their hair over the ears at the time. Mothers in the 1920s-30s liked to keep their boys hair long. Often mothers in affluent families were more apt to keep their children's hair long. After World War I, long shoulder length hair was no longer found, but often hair over the ears was considered stylish for younger boys--at least by proud mothers. America boys would have their hair cut short when they entered first grade at about 6 years of age. British boys might not have their hair cut until they were about 8 years old and sent off to their preparatory boarding school. We again notice overvthe ears styles in the 1970s and 80s. Many boys wore their hair even longer, but over the earsstyles were most common. And longer styles eventully were also worn by younger adults.

Page Boy

The page boy cut was based on the hair style of Medieval pages at royal courts. I'm not positive that this was a style worn just by the pages or rather was the adult male style of the day. The page boy cut had bangs at the front and carefully styled hair over the ears. It was worn by boys in the late 19th, but was more popular in the early 20th century. It was not, however, a major style worn by large numbers of boys. By the 1920s only a small mumber of younger boys wore page boy cuts. There was a revival in the 1970s when American boys began wearing longer hair. It was not, however, one of the major styles of the 70s.

Pig Tails

Pig tails or queues were commonly worn in the 18th century. They were not a juvenile style, however, but worn by men and boys. Commonly there was just one rather than the twin style. HBC has not noted pig tails in the 19th centuty after the first decade. We do note them reappearing in the early 20th century, primarily after Word War I (1914-18). They were, however, a girls' hair style. A few younger boys in the eraly 20th century wore them, but this was not very common.

Pompadour

The pompadour or pomp is the style of wearing the hair brushed back off the forehead. Typically a pompadour is not parted, but just brushed straight up and back. The pompadour is also a woman's hairstyle again with the hair brushed back high from the forehead, into a roll (much higher than for a man's pompadour). The term is named after a woman (Marquise de Pompadour, a mistress of France's Louis XV). The pompadour is referred to (as a man's hairstyle) in John Steinbeck's classic 1952 novel "East of Eden": He was wearing a flat-topped, narrow-brimmed hat, very stylish, and when he saw them he broke into a run and yanked off his hat and they could see that this bright hair was clipped to a short brush of a pompadour that stood straight up.

Rat Tail

A reader writes, "Something that I saw a lot in the 1990s that has disappeared in the 2000ds was pre-teenage boys with one very long strand in the back sometimes more than 6 inches long. The width of the strand ranged from pencil thinkness to about an inch. Some people called it a rattail." Yes I have not seen it lately either. I did note one boy on "Jeapordy" wearing one.


Figure 4.--Boys dressed in Fauntleroy suits were often done up in long sausage curls or at least long hair and bangs. Long hair became less common after the turn of the century.

Ringlet/sausage Curls

Ringlet curls became fashionable for women in the early 19th century. Soon doting mothers were styling their daughters and some younger sons with ringlets. Even younger boys wearing ringlets, however, was not common until the later part of the 19th century. Some boys were put into long ringlet or sausage curls by doting mothers during the Fautleroy craze of the 1880s-90s. In some cases it was not just very young boys who wore ringlets. This style required a great deal of work to maintain, almost necesitating that the boys so attired were from wealthy families which could afford hired help. It was particularly prevalent in America. The style went out of fashion after the turn of the century, but boys in long curls were occasionally seen until the 1920s.

Short Back and Sides

This is reffered to as the "regulation" hair cut in America. It is a very short tapered haircut. The back and sides are cut very short back and sides - a widely-used term used in Australia and New Zealand (especially before the 1970s) to describe a short tapered cut. A barber in New Zealand provided the following information about the term "short back and sides": Before the 1970's the most common haircut given in New Zealand was the "short back and sides" which is 1/8th inch on the back and sides (tapered 'round the edge) and reasonably short on top regardless of whether it is brushed back, flat top, side part, center part, or whatever. A male (regardless of age) would religiously get his hair cut every 2-3 weeks without fail and accordingly all that was needed on the top was a trim. A New Zealand written song uses as part of it's lyrics referring to the New Zealand male's haircut "a bit off the top and short back and sides". This cut was also common in Germany. A good example is an unidentified German boy in 1933. I'm not sure what the German term was for this cut.


Figure 5.--Sailor suits were one of the most popular styles for German boys. Note the older boy in the short pants sailor suit whose hair has been shaved in a photograph taken before the First World War.

Cropped Hair/Shaved Heads

Even more severe than the crew cut was cropping a boy's head. This style was common for school age German boys in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. It appears to have past, however, by the 1930s and the NAZI era. One might have thought that the milatarism of the NAZIs might have reinspired it, but this was not the case. This could have reflected the NAZI leadership's desire not to emphasize their clear desire to launch another war. This style is currently cut completely to the skin using a razor (either some form of blade razor or an electric razor). This should not be confused with hair that is cut using clippers. A crewcut or a buzzcut is not shaved. Too many people tell their barbers that they want part or all of their head shaved, when they actually want a tapered cut or some other clipper cut. I'm not sure how the German boys' had their hair cut.

Side Burns

Side burns which were a common adult stlyle in the mid-1860s appeared again on teenagers during the late 1950s, in part a reaction to the short crew cuts which had become an "established" look. The style received great popularity as a result of the metioric career of Elvis Presly.

Short Hair

Short hair has been the dominant style for boys since the early 19th century. There are many hair styles for short hair and thus this designation overlaps with other styles. While short hair has been popular durung most of the 19th and 20th centuries and seem to be the dominant style in the early 21st century, there have been periods in which longer styles were worn. Boys and men often wire their hair over their ears in the mid-19th centuy. We note some boys wearing very long hair in the 1970s and 80s. These were rather brief interludes during extended periods of short hair. And even during these periods, many boys had short cuts or long cuts well short of the shoulders. And during some periods boys wore very short cropped hair. There were many styles of the very short cuts, crropped hai, butch, buzz, flat top and others. Short cropped hair was common in Germany during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many American boys wore short styles like buzz cuts and flat tgops during the 1950s abnd early 60s. There were two basis styles of short hair, cuts that that could be combed and parted. Other styles were too short to be combed. Extrenely short hair cuts became increasingly popular in the 1990s. The style was to cut the hair short all around without any noticeable styling. The hair is cut at about 1/4 inch length. Because of the length there is no noticeable part. This style appears to have been more popular in Europe than in America. In this style the side burns are cut well above the ear at about the level where the ear joins the suide of the ear.

Slicked-down Hair

We see many boys with slicked-down hair. We don't know much about this style. It also varied in popularity over time. An early example is two unidentified English boys in the 1850s. Note that their father does wear his hair slicked down. I can recall using hair lotion in the 1950s to slick down by hair. There were several such hair grooming products. I forget the names now.

Standard Short Cut

We note boys beginning to wear shorter hair in the 1870s. A good example is an American boy, Dan Brown, in the 1870s. A kind of standard boys cut. The hair in top was cut short, but long enough to be parted. The hait at the side was cut around the ears. The side burns cane dien to anout the middle of the ear. This continues to be the stanfard boys' cut, although other styles and lengths have come and gone over time.


Figure 7.--This boy wears the spikey hair look of the 1990s. Note the natty double-breasted jacket that never seems to go out of style.

Spikey Hair

The spikey and outrageously colored hair of British punks has inspired a substantially modified spikey hair style worn by boys in the 1990s. Of course the hair style for boys doesn't have the bright colors and prominent spikes. But there is a clear spikey look. Perhaps even Bart Simpson had an impact here. Some readers report wearing it even earlier in the 1980s or even late 70s. An Australian reader writes, "The boy in the natty doubled breasted jacket has the same hair style I had at age 16 in 1977. I really liked it."

Square Back

The hair at the back is cut at the bottom as a defined straight line. The hair is left full and is not tapered at the back or the sides. A square back can be used with a range of styles, including a crewcut, an ivy league or college cut or a flattop.

Straight Across

As with many hair styles discussed here, we do not know the proper name for this style, or even if there was a name. Our approach until we learn more is just to describe the style. The style was very simple. You simplu parted the hair and them combed straight across with out any change in the hair at the front. The hair was parted on only one side, but we have noted both left and right parts. We have also seen this style done with different lengths. We do see this style in the mid-19th century, but have not yet worked out the full chronology. A good example is an unidentified American boy, we believe in the 1840s.

Straight Back

We have noted a style with the hair combed straight back without a part. This appears, hoswever, to have been more a tennage and young adult style than a boys' style. We have noted this style in the 1920s, but do not have a complere timeline at this time. Boys woth this style could easily convert to a side or center part style, although the nhair combed straight back was sometimes cit longer than hair styles with center parts. We have noted this style in America, but are unsure to what extent it was worn in other countries. Some might call this the Gatsby look.

Strands

Boys have sometimes worn strands of hair, often associated with shorter cuts. This was the predominate style for boys in aincient Egypt who had shaved heads except for a strand of hair worn at the side. It is still today worn by ortyhodoc Jewish boys. Strands became popular for American boys in the 1980s, often worn with a short hair style.

Swept-back Hair

We notice some boys with swept-back hair. This was a style we notuce over several centuriues. We are not sure about the 17th ceny=tury, but we notice the style beginning in the 18th century. As th hair was swept back, it was in the 18th century comminly used to form a kind if pony tail. In Japan it night be formed into a bun. This was primarily a style for teenagers and adults, although we know a few boys with this style. It seems tio have been more common in southern Europe (Italy and Spain as well as Latin America than North America.

Taper

This i s the style of having the hair cut getting progressively shorter lower down towards the nape of the head. This is generally done with electric clippers and gives a crisper, freshly cut look. The degree of tapering can range from a slight taper to a style in which the hair around the nape and around the ears is completely shaven.

Teddy Boy Cut

This is a style worn by mods in England during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was a time when boys' clothing and school uniform styles were just begining to change significantly from the styles worn since the 1930s and so were hair styles. Typically the hair was cut relatively long (for the time), brushed back, and heavily greased. To read more about mods, teddy boys, including hairstyle information, read the article "Mod. The Life and How to Live It", which is part of an English website.

Top Curl

The most commpn way of styling the hair at a boy's forehead when weasring ringlets was bangs. There were, however, other options such as bangs or a front part. While these were the more common options, another option was a hair knot or other piling of the hair at the forehead and top pf the head.

Topnotch

An Australian reader mentions a topnotch hair cut, named after the Australian woodpidgeon. This dove like bird is a peaceful animal that has a plume sticking straight up, hence the nickname topnotch pidgeon and associated haircut. Topnotch was sort of stolen from a charactor from an American movie--Alfalfa in the Our Gang series. Sometimes babies with their first full head of hair would have it brushed into a little spurt or topnotch and sometimes in silent films a little boy would be almost shaved bald except for the topnotch.

Under Cut

This cut is much like a bowl cut except the ridge of the bowl is not where the cuttings ends. The ridge of the bowl is lifted so the hair is clipper cut further up the side of the head an additional one to two inches. This allows the head to be shaken and the bowl look will always return to its regular shape. The sides may either be "white-walled" or cut to 1/8" length. The bottom of the back may be either faded or square cut. A French reader in 2002 reports that this stule was popular in France, especially wamong affluent families. I'm not sire rgere are social connotations for this style in america, but there mkight be in England. Our French reader reports, "Dispite the fashion to day is with the very short hair for the boys; it is current in the rich part of Paris to meet boys with the " coupe anglaise " The coupe anglaise ( English cut ) consist with rather long hair on the top untill the level of the ears and then short hair lower. This cut emphasis the class of the boy. My granson has at the present time such a such cut and I adore him in this look. This cut can be worn by both very young boys as well as by the young teeagers."

Upsherin

Upsherin is the Jewish practice of giving a boy his first haircut on a special day following his third birthday. The practice is based on a Bible passage that says when you plant a tree you should let it grow for 3 years before haresting the fruit. Somehow this applies to a boys hair. Sometimes the boys involved are not all that happy about having their hair cut. These are not ultra orthodox jews who wear side curls. I don't how common the practice is.

Wigs

Wigs are not today associated with boys or even men, but in the 17th and 18th century men wore wigs and boys from welthy familes might also wear them. A great deal has been written about wigs because of their importance in period fashion. Much less has been written about children wearing wigs. While wigs were primarily worn by adults, boys did also wear wigs on occassion. There was a class element involved because of the cost and the fashion influence of royal and aristocratic families. Boys from affluent families were much more likely to wear wigs. There were also chronological factors. If a boy did not wear a wig, for formal occassions his hair might be dressed with curling irons, powdered, and even pomade added.






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Created: March 5, 1998
Last updated: 12:31 AM 6/5/2012