Figure 1.--This American boy had long wavy curls and, for a boy, a rlively large hair bow. He looks to be about 4 years old. The image is undated, but HBC would guess it was taken about 1900. Image courtesy of the RG collection. This was a trick photo with thh boy's wagon. Click on the image to see the complete photo<./i>

Many of the American boys that we have noted with hairbows appear to have worn them with ringlets. This was not the case in France and many other countries. Even in America we have noted boys wearing hairbows with hair that was curled, but not done in ringlets. It is sometimes not possible to tell if the child in question has hair that has been curled or is simply naturally curly. We have noted the boys' hair in differnt lengths from below the shoulders to over the ears. While this was not the most common option in America, many of our images are American--primarily because HBC has aceess to more old American photographs. At this time we have only very rough chronological page.

Chronology

At this time we have only very rough chronological page. The chronolgy is somewhat different from country to county. We believe that the chronology of wearing hair bows with long curly hir was esentally the same as the hair style in general. we do nt know hen ddung the hair bow was the most common.

National Trends

Many of the American boys that we have noted with hairbows appear to have worn them with ringlets. This was not the case in France and many other countries. Even in America we have noted boys wearing hairbows with hair that was curled, but not done in ringlets. While this was not the most common option in America, many of our images are American--primarily because HBC has aceess to more old American photographs.

Curling

It is sometimes not possible to tell if the child in question has hair that has been curled or is simply naturally curly.

Length

We have noted the boys' hair in differnt lengths from below the shoulders to over the ears. Some boys had hair well down their backs. The boys wihout ringlets ppear to have longer hair than th boy ith ringlets. It hould be remember that forming the hair into ringlets in effect shortend it. Thus their hair looks shirter thn it really was. We just do not at this time have enough information to assess if certain lengths were more commonly worn with hairbows.

Changes

Hair styles, as long as cutting is not involved, can be changed daily. We are not sure at this time to what extent the children's hair styles represent a relatively permanent style or if mothers changed styles periodically. WE wonder if some boys might hve worn their long hair sometimes in inglets ad othr time in long ways curls. This would of course vary from mother to mother. We jut do not know at this time if mothers who did not do thir son's hair in inglets one week, might do so the next week. We believe that mothers tended to have preferences nd these styles thus persisted over time. To the extent mothers would change the styling just is not knon at thi time.

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Created: May 13, 2000
Last updated: November 22, 2001