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Hair styles like fashion have varied over time. Hair at school became a major issue in the 1970s, but hair was not always a major issue. Both boys an men in the mid-19th century war their hair relatvely long, often covering their ears. As far as we know it was entirely up to the boys and their parents as to how a boy wore his hair. Only in the late-19th century did short hair for men and school age boys become standard. We are not sure just how schools began to address the queston of hair. For boarding schools it was simple. The school simple brought in a barber and gave him instructions and billed the parents. The boys had nothing to say as to the style. For private day schools and state schools the issue of har was left to the parents.
Here not only was fashion a factor, but also health especially in the 19th century and early 20th century. Personal hygene was a problem in the 19th and early 20th century when many homes did not have running water. Short hair was a way of limiting haead lice. This concern continued into the 1960s. A reader tells us, "... at primary school we used to have visits from the "nit nurse" who would inspect our hair for headlice!This was probably going back to the days when children could not be kept so clean but even so it was quite a performance and any child who had them was given a bottle of solution to take home. My Mum always kept our hair washed on a regular basis but even then headlice could spread no matter what parents did and long hair was discouraged in boys for that reason." I'm not sure if schools in the early 20th century had hair cut rules. I think there was more general concormity, but I am not entirely sure about this. Many schools certinly began adopting hair cut codes in the late-1960s as long hair began to become popular. We are not sure just when the schools began to develop dress codes ad hair styling codes. We know this developed in the 1970s when long hair began o bcome popular. To wht extent it occurred earlier, we are not sure. Schoolboys tend to have short hair cuts in quite uniform styles as most schools forbided long hair or excessive styles. A reader writes about the 1970s, "One thing that I can tell you that there was a variation between schools in the 70s and parents then went along with that. My little brother went on to a non-uniform school when we moved and he was allowed to have longer hair (by Mum not due to school regulations) than me and my older brother had ever been allowed. Maybe Mum saw that short hair and uniforms went together and my uncle (who had been in the army) always said so too. I keep meaning to write to you about our trips to the barbers because they seemed such an adventure and I shall try to do so. I also sometimes think that Mum allowed my little brother to have longer hair because he was the youngest but I can't be sure of that." Gradually after waging hair wars, schools became to become more flexble on the issue. This occurred when younger masters started showing up with longish cuts. Actual rules varied from school to school. Hair color is another issue. Boys will usually earn a temporary exclusion if they turn up with died hair.
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