Figure 1.--This unidentified boy An unkown boy 9 years old wearing what looks like a light-blue sailor blouse and dark knee pants tht do not match the blouse. He also wears black long stockings. The portrait was taken in Iowa City during 1920. The haircut is interesing. We wonder if parents cut their children's hair in 1920 in a university town. Iowa City is where the University of Iowa is located. His hair is very carefully dine. Either a barbr did it or mother was very good. I think they did some interesting research on children during the 1920s and 1930s at the university. Connected with the university research on child-rearing, child growth, and other pediatric concerns, they had a special school. (This sort work ws done at several state univerities during the 1920s and 30s.) The boy may hav attended that special school. Of course he could have attended one of the regular schools in Iowa city, but the sailor blouse nd hair cut suggests that he came from an affluent family. Notice also the high-top shoes which were still common in the early-20s.

Short hair with parts became increasingly standrdized in the 1920s even for younger boys. And this included the boys wearing sailor suits. American boys no longer wore long hair and curls as ws still seen before World War I. Younger todlers might have short curls, but this was much less common than was the case before the War. Some of the younger boys had longish hair, but usually not completely covering the ears. Most boys in sailor suits by the 1920s had short boyish hair cuts. A common cut for younger boys were bangs with short hair at the sides like the younger boy on the previous page. The boy here has a similar hair cut (figure 1). The bangs themselves were done in various styles at the front. This could be straight across or molded a bit at the sides. Notice how the Iowa boy here has bangs that are not cut straight across but molded a little to the shape of the head. This was a style for younger boys but you might see boys up to about 10 years of age wearing bangs and sailor suits. Other short hair styles with parts were more common. There was no special style associated with sailor suits. The bangs hair styles were probably somewhat more common with sailorcsuits than most other outfits. We believe that there were social class conventions here, especailly with the bangs. We are not sure to what extent families had barbers cut the hair of boy in elementary (primary) school.

Created: 1:55 AM 5/26/2012
Last updated: 1:55 AM 5/26/2012