Figure 1.--This American boy is having his ringlets cut. The phorograph appears to date from the 1870s. His name may have been Beck and he looks to be about 5 years old. Notice two of the cut ringlets laid carefully on the table. The boy does not look very happy about it.

Cutting a boy's curls was always a major rite of passage. For a boy to finally have his curls cut and allowed to wear more closely cropped hair meant that he was growing up. Really young boys did not understand this but boys only a little older did. While long hair for boys in the 1960s became very fashionable, it was certainly never curled. In previous years, however, long hair, even uncurrled long hair, was generally perceived as girlish. We have few examples of a boy actually have his curls cut. The actual process was not commonly commemorated with a photograph. This is in part because when ringlets were most common in the late-19th century, amateur snapshots were not yet common. We are not sure just who did the cutting. The work of curling the boys hair was as far as we cam tell entirely done by the nother or female household help in the home. Just who finally cut the curls is an open question. We have virtually no information addressing this tgopic. As mother was primarily responsible for the younger children, it seems likely that in some cases it was mother who actually cut the boy's curls. But this was a wrenching decesion for many mothers who were lothe to accept that their little boys were growing up. Thus in some homes it fell to father tgo do the cutting. We are not entirely sure how this was decided. It must have been a matter of discussion between the molther or father.

The Event

Cutting a boy's curls was always a major rite of passage. For a boy to finally have his curls cut and allowed to wear more closely cropped hair meant that he was growing up. Really young boys did not understand this but boys only a little older did. While long hair for boys in the 1960s became very fashionable, it was certainly never curled. In previous years, however, long hair, even uncurrled long hair, was generally perceived as girlish. We have few examples of a boy actually have his curls cut. The actual process was not commonly commemorated with a photograph. This is in part because when ringlets were most common in the late-19th century, amateur snapshots were not yer common. Thus a photograph would have required a trip to the photographic studio. Often the results of cutting the curls, sometimes a before and after photograph recorded the event, but rarely the event itself. Perhaps because photographing any kind of movement was difficult, especially the process of trimming the locks of a small boy. We also do not have any actual accounts. Some of the occasions were a gtrnder moment between the boy and mother. In other instances it may have been more of a family occassion. Younger boys do not recall and older boys report sometimes a difficult confrontation with their mothers. One would think that some kind of family ceremony may have been involved, but pergaps some mothers were too upset to have organized such an event.

Who Cut the Curls

We are not sure just who did the cutting. The work of curling the boys hair was as far as we cam tell entirely done by the nother or female household help in the home. Just who finally cut the curls is an open question. We have virtually no information addressing this tgopic. As mother was primarily responsible for the younger children, it seems likely that in some cases it was mother who actually cut the boy's curls. This could occassion a very tender moment between mother and son which often omnly the mother fully understood. But this was a wrenching decesion for many mothers who were lothe to accept that their little boys were growing up. Thus in some homes it fell to father to do the cutting. We are not entirely sure how this was decided. It must have been a matter of discussion between the molther or father. Some of this discussion was probably in private. Some may have been done with the child present. Presumably the boy may have been allowed to pipe up himself on the topic. Often a decesion was mutually reached. In some cases, mothers were adament on the subject of cutting a boys curls. Some boys who has determined mothers like Elizabeth Barret Browning or who lost their fathers likev Thomas Wolf might have particularely difficult times. We think thst often it was the father who dud the curring, bith with or without mother's approval Some fathers actually wielded the sissors. Some may have taken the boy to the barber shop. To this dat, the bsrber shop is a male enclave. It is usually the father who takes the boy there.

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Created: November 19, 2001
Last edited: 11:23 PM 9/12/2010