Figure 1.--This boy for his school portrait sports the most popular boy's hair cut during the 1950s. The standard or regular cut was long enough to comb and had a part, but well off the ears. The most common cut had a kind of wave at the front. |
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Short hair styles were popular in the 1950s and the primary styles worn by boys. School-age boys did not have long hair. We note a variety of short hair styles. The standard or regular cut was long enough to comb and had a part, but well off the ears. The most common cut had a kind of wave at the front. Many boys used hair cream to keep it slicked down. Younger boys might have bangs. A very popular style were different very short cuts like crew cuts or buzz cuts. These cuts seem uniquely American. We do not see them in Europe, Boys began to object to these short cuts by the late 1960s, but in the 50s they were very popular and standard. Many boys wanted them. Some parents saw them as a good style for boys during the summer. Teenagers with a rebelious attitudes might grow sideburns, but you do not see long hair to any extent, especially for boys. A kind of pre-hippy group of young asdults called beaktniks might have longing hair. That was as long as hair got in the 1950s. A reader writes, "I remember using Brylcream to keep my hair slicked down. I think Elvis Presley was a major influence on hair styles in the 1950s."v Basrber shops might has a posterr or chart with depictions of the popular styles at the time. I think this was still fairly common ast the time.
Short hair styles were popular in the 1950s and the primary styles worn by boys. School-age boys did not have long hair. Long hair was seen as a girls style. The only exception was younger pre-school boy, but even most of the younger boys had short hair. We note a variety of short hair styles.
We note several different popular styles. The standard or regular cut was long enough to comb and had a part, but well off the ears. The most common cut had a kind of wave at the front. Many boys used hair cream to keep it slicked down. Younger boys might have bangs. A very popular style were different very short cuts like crew cuts or buzz cuts. Boys began to object to these short cuts by the late-1960s, but in the 50s they were very popular and standard. Many boys wanted them. Some parents saw them as a good style for boys during the summer. Teenagers with a rebelious attitudes might grow sideburns, but you do not see long hair to any extent, despecially for boys. A reader writes, "I remember using Brylcream to keep my hair slicked down. I think Elvis Presley was a major influence on hair styles in the 1950s." He did affect teenasgers, but we do not see boys with sideburns. The key here was that parents still largely dictated the hair cuts for pre-teens.
The shorter cuts cuts worn by American boys in the 1950s seem uniquely American. We do not see them in Europe.
A kind of pre-hippy group of young asdults called beaktniks might have longing hair. That was as long as hair got in the 1950s. They did not have a significant impasct on boys.
Barber shops might has a posterr or chart with depictions of the popular styles at the time. I think this was still fairly common ast the time. I vagely recall seeing some of these charts. We notice publications by the AMBB with illustrations and instructions for the barber.
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