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The style of curling the long hair worn by 19th century boys into long ringlets is primarily associated with the 1880s and 1890s and was strongly influenced by Francis Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy. Although the drawings in Mrs. Burnett's book may have been more influential than her text, which mentions the young Earl's hair only in passing. Of course Mrs. Burnett did not write her book in a vacuume. She must have known mothers with the same romantic impulses that motivate the way she dressed her sons. It was the publication of her book who took the style of long ringlet curls for boys from a fashion adopted by a few romantic mothers to a wide spread fashion craze affecting litterally millions of hapless boys of all ages. Ringlet curls were worn by boys before the late 19th Century, but it was in the late 19th Century that the reached the peak of popularity for boys.
The style of curling the long hair worn by 19th century boys into long ringlets is primarily associated with the 1880s and 1890s and was strongly influenced by Francis Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy which appeared in 1885. Although the drawings in Mrs. Burnett's book may have been more influential than her text, which mentions the young Earl's hair only in passing. Of course Mrs. Burnett did not write her book in a vacuume. She must have known mothers with the same romantic impulses that motivate the way she dressed her sons. It was the publication of her book who took the style of long ringlet curls for boys from a fashion adopted by a few romantic mothers to a wide spread fashion craze affecting litterally millions of hapless boys of all ages. Ringlet curls were worn by boys before the late 19th Century, but it was in the late 19th Century that the reached the peak of popularity for boys.
Romantically inclined mothers, influenced by English-American
authoress Francis Hodgson Burnett, kept their sons in curls, a
fashinoable statement when wearing Little Lord Fauntleroy suits or other fancy clothes such as kilts.
A factor here was the fact that the Industrial Revolution was creating wealth for n expanding middle class. Large numbers of prosperous women no longer had to work. This meant that they had a great deal of time on their hands, No where was this more the case than the rapidly expanding Unites States.
Many mothers had delayed cutting their sons hair before the publication of Mrs. Burnett's instantly popular, at least among mothers, Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1885-86. After publication, however, it not only became more popular to delay cutting a boy's hair, it became fashionabe to curl it. Boys' in long fashionable curls, sometimes boys as old as 10 or 11 could be seen. Many reports exist of boys kept in curls well into their boyhood. Franklin Roosevelt in the 1880s who
was raised at home wore dresses, kilts, and Fautleroy suits crowed with carefully maintained curls.
The fashion of keeping small
boys in long hair predates Mrs. Burnett, especially in Europe. Some boys may have had their hair curled before the publication of the book in 1885, but it is certain that the fashion became much more wide spread after publication. Even more significantly the fashion was extended to older boys than before the
book was published. I am not sure about the extent of curling boy's hair before 1885, but believe it was relatively rare. There are numerous images og boys in ringlet curls archived in HBC. Unfortunarely only a few are actually dated. One example is Martin Allister Wambold, an American boy in 1886.
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Not only did more boys wear ringlet curls in the late 19th Century,
but some older boys also wore them. The larger numbers of older boys were boys being schooled at home, but some boys as old as 10 or 11 years wore them. One limiting factor here was the increasing importance of public
and private schools. Especially by the 1890s it was becoming increasingly
more common for even rich families to send their boys to school rather
than educating them at home. And of course a boys curls would have to be
cut before sending him off to school. A doting mother might admire
ringlet curls, but his school mates would be unlikely to share her
enthusiasm.
Families still tended to be lrge in the late 19th centuty. Nothers w/ould often do their sin's hair in ringlets and their daughtr's hair in othr, often less dramatic styles. There wre other alernativ conventions, but this was very common into the early 20th century. Agood example is the Powell family in 1886.
Many of the boys with ringlet curls archived on HBC are American. An early American example is Arthur J. Miller about 1870. Another American example is Nartun Allister Wambold in 1886. We also see boys in foreign countries as well, but not as many.. We note a French boy, Maurice Terrillon, 1894Maurice Terrillon, in 1894.
We do not see very many boys with ringlet curls in the 1870s. Generally speaking the trend was toward shorter hairs in the 1870s. Photography was well established in the 1870s so the photographic record is probably a good indivation of the relative popularity of hair styles. The popularity of finglets for boys appears to have sky rocketed in the 1880s. This included both the number of boys wearing ringlets, but theur age as well. A major factor of course was the publication of rs. Burnetts book, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1885). The popularity of the book and stage play helped fuel the Fauntleroy craze among mothers. This included both the velvet Fauntleroy suit and long hairstyles for boys--especially ringlet curls in the United States. Much of this incresed popularity occurred in the United States, although we also see it n Europe. More boys wore ringlets in America than any country. We note many boys in Euroe with long hair in the late-19h century, but ringlets were less common. This trend toward ringlet curls continued in the 1890s. The popularity may have been even greater in the 1890s. And there may be more older boys wearing them. We are not yet sure as to the relative popularity during the decade.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing ringlet chronology pages:
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