Figure 1.--This studio cabinet card portrait shows the four children of an unidentified Iowa family, three girls and a boy. They look to be about 5-14 years old. The boy wears a dark Fauntleroy blouse and bow. The girls wear identical plaid dresses with velvet trim. The girls also have identical short hair cuts. Short hair was not unual for girls, but their cuts here are unusually short. They look like boys, but given their age and the fact that their little brother wears knee pants, there is no doubt that they are girls. The large shoulder sleeves help date the portrait to the mid-1890s. The photograph was taken at the Dwight Studio in Remsen, Iowa.

Hair length is an element of style, but is such an important element that it is worth considering separately. We note girls wearing long, medium, and dhort length hair. The popularity of the fifferent lengths varied over time and this can be followed in the photographic record. Style and fashion appears to have been the most important factor, but it was not the only factor. Other factors include economics, sanitation, and time. Some girls had their hair cut short because of lice. It lso took more time to care for short hair making shirt hair more practical. Economics was a factor here. Girls growing up in comfortable circumstnces were more likely to have long hair than working-class girls whose mothers worked outside the home and there was no help at home. In addition, many of these girls had to work at an early age. This assessment is somewhat complicated by the fact that some younger boys also had long hair and their gender is not identified. And some of the children in drsses with short hair are boys.

Created: 4:49 AM 3/13/2018
Last updated: 4:49 AM 3/13/2018