Figure 1.--This American boy in 1909 wears ringlet curls and a hair bow on top of his head. Here ir can be seen that the bow is tied into a lock of the boy's hair. To learn more about him click on the image.
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Figure 1.--This American boy in 1909 wears ringlet curls and a hair bow on top of his head. Here ir can be seen that the bow is tied into a lock of the boy's hair. To learn more about him click on the image. |
While it was not the most common position, we note some boys wore hair bows on top their heads. This is tricky to judge as the question arises as to where does the top of the head end and the side begin. HBC has decided to define top as placement at or near the crown of the boy's head. We do not know just why this was. Perhaps it was because it was so common for girls to wear their hair bows on top of their had. We have no written accounts decribing this convention, only what we have noted from the available images. Here a very large percentage of the images we have noted show the boys wearing hair bows had them at the side of their head. Interestingly, some mothers who placed hair bows on top of their son's head then placed bows at the side of their daughter's head. These assessments are made largely from American images. We are not sure that the same conventions pertain in European countries, for which we have far gewer images.
Most boys wearing hair bows seem to have worn them set to the side of their heads. Sort of attached or tgoed on to curls, seemingly as an after thought. We do see boys with hair bows on top of their hed. They are rarely the huge hair bows which seem to sit up like girls wore. Rther they seem to lie down flat. A good example is an unidentified American boy.
While it was not the most common position, we note some boys wore hair bows on top their heads. This is tricky to judge as the question arises as to where does the top of the head end and the side begin. HBC has decided to define top as placement at or near the crown of the boy's head. A very large percentage of the images we have noted show the boys wearing hair bows had them at the side of their head.
We do not know just why this was. Perhaps it was because it was so common for girls to wear their hair bows on top of their had. We have no written accounts decribing this convention, only what we have noted from the available images.
Figure 2.--This girl is the sister of the boy in figure 1. Note how her hair is styled differently and her hair bows placed differently. Notice the center part. |
Interestingly, some mothers who placed hair bows on top of their son's head then placed bows at the side of their daughter's head. This is interesting beause it was much more common for girlks to wear hair bows at the top or side of their hair. The only reason for this that we ca think of ws that mothers like to deferetiate the hair styles of their sons and daughters while till usung hair bows for both.
These assessments are made largely from American images. We are not sure that the same conventions pertain in European countries, for which we have far fewer images. There may be similarities, but we can not yet say this.
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