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The bows worn by boys were usually squite small, basically only a narrow ribbon. Sizes did vary, both in the whith of the ribbon and the length. Some were so small that they are hard to detect in photographs. This was sometimes the poor quality of the photography, but also reflected the small size of the bows. This was rarely the case for girls which sometimes wore quite large hair bows. One does not normlly see old photographs of girls with hair bows so small that they are difficult to see. Others are larger and clearly visible. Boys' bows, however, never reached any where near the size of girls' ribbons. They were primarily ribbons, usually quite narrow ones, tied in the child's hair--in contrast to the much larger bows stylishly tied into very smart bows that the girls wore. The smaller bows of the boys could not be tied in such destinctive bows. There were some differences between countries. Boys in America might have quite small ones because they were essentially ornamental. French boys usually had uncurled hair and wore hairbows to keep theor long stright hair in place and thus they needed to be somewhat larger. HBC has less information on other countries.
The bows worn by boys were usually squite small, basically only a narrow ribbon. Sizes did vary, both in the whith of the ribbon and the length. Some were so small that they are hard to detect in photographs. This was sometimes the poor quality of the photography, but also reflected the small size of the bows. Some bows were just small little ribbons, usually tied to one side. This small size appears to have been realtively constant over time. We have not noted any detectable chronological trends here. It also appdears to have been realtively similar acrros different countries. Other ribbons might extend all the way to the boy's forehead. While most were quite small, HBC has noted a few boys wearing quite large hair bows.
Small hairbows were rarely the case for girls which sometimes wore quite large hair bows. One does not normlly see old photographs of girls with hair bows so small that they are difficult to see. Others are larger and clearly visible. Boys' bows, however, never reached any where near the size of girls' bows. Girls' hair bows were tied from much wider ribbon and cut at greater length. Boys usually did no have hair bows, but when they did they were quite small, especially when compared to those worn like their sister. We note a few images of boys with large hairbows. We note, though that if they had sisters, the sister's hair bow was almost always larger.
Boys wore hair bows in a rnge of different colors. We note that the relatively few boys that wore large hair bows, usually wore white hair boiws. We almost never see boys wearing dark colored large hair bows.
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They were primarily ribbons, usually quite narrow ones, tied in the child's hair--in contrast to the much larger bows stylishly tied into very smart bows that the girls wore. The smaller bows of the boys could not be tied in such destinctive bows. In fact the narrow ribbons most commonly used for boys were tied rather like strings than fancy boes.
There were some differences between countries. Boys in America might have quite small ones because they were essentially ornamental. French boys usually had uncurled hair and wore hairbows to keep theor long stright hair in place and thus they needed to be somewhat larger. HBc has less information on other countries. Our informtion is largely based on our archive of American images. Hopefully our foreign readers will provide us information on trends in other countries.
We have yet to find any written information about the size of boys' hairbows. All of our assessment here is based on the analysis of our image archive. We would be very interested if any of our readers know of a source of informaytion to help us better understand size trends.
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