Figure 1.--This Canadian boy, Master L.D. Ross was photographed at the Notman studio about March-June 1865. This was a Canada's nest known photographer. The boy kooks to be about 4 years old. He wears a plaid dress, in keeping with a Scootis nsme. He also wears pantalettes and holds a rounded croewn hat that seems to have a large bow and white streamers. He has carefully done ringlet curls with a big curl on top his head.

We note Canadian boys wearing ringletv curls in the 1860s. L.S. Ross here wearing a plaid dress in 1865 is a good example (figure 1). We also notice Henry Wildgrass wearing ringlets in 1863 with a knee pants suit. We are unsure about the chronology. This may have been a popular style earlier, but we do not have earlier portraits in our archives to assess this. It is the appearance of the CDV about 1860 that brings large numbers of images to us for the first time. The vartious styles of ringlets appeat to have been very simnilar to those worn by American boys. Ringlets for boys seem to have been more common in Canada during the mid-19th century thn America. Here the Canadians were probably following British trends. Of course the ringlet styling for American boys exploded furing the 1880s as a result of Mrs. Burnett's book, . We are not sure how common they were. We notice boys wearing them with both dresses, kilts, and kneepants. We do not know if French and English-soeaking families differed as to how popular this style was. We note that in Europe it was more popular in England than in France. In fact the French called ringlets English curls. The McCord Museum in Montreal has a photograph taken of "Mrs. Taylors Boys" It is from their Notman archive of photographs. Notman was an important Canadian photographer. The portrait was taken in Montreal, I think in 1882. It looks to be two brothers close in age dressed in matching Highland kilt outfits. Strangely one boy has ringlet curls and the other straight hair of about the same length. We are not sure why they are dressed alike and their hair done so differently.

Chronology

We note Canadian boys wearing ringletv curls in the 1860s. L.S. Ross here wearing a plaid dress in 1865 is a good example (figure 1). We also notice Henry Wildgrass wearing ringlets in 1863 with a knee pants suit. We are unsure about the chronology. This may have been a popular style earlier, but we do not have earlier portraits in our archives to assess this. It is the appearance of the CDV about 1860 that brings large numbers of images to us for the first time. We note Canadian boys with ringlet curls thriughout the second-half of the 19th century. The McCord Museum in Montreal has a photograph taken of "Mrs. Taylor's Boys" It is from their Notman archive of photographs. Notman was an important Canadian photographer. The portrait was taken in Montreal, I think in 1882. It looks to be two brothers close in age dressed in matching Highland kilt outfits. Strangely one boy has ringlet curls and the other straight hair of about the same length. We are not sure why they are dressed alike and their hair done so differently.

Styles

We are just beginning to assess the various styles of ringlet curls in Canada. The vartious styles of ringlets appeat to have been simnilar to those worn by American boys, but we noitice sone styles that were not very common in America. . The variations in parts, length of the ringlets, location, thickness, and other elements. The 1860s Canadian images we note were not the most common stles we see American boys wearing, but the chrnological difference is a factor that has to be consuidered. Most of the images of American boys wearing ringlets come from the 1880s-1900s. We do not have enough Canadian images to assess the popular syles. We see images like an unidentified New Brunsick boy with curled bangs in the 1880s. But without a larger archive we have no way of knowing how common this particular style was.

Ages

We are not entirely sure at what age Canadian boys wore ringlet curls. Our Canadian archive is too small to form any defenitice assessment. We suspct the age conventions were similar to those in America and Britain. Age conventions varied chronologically. We do not have any information on the early-20th century. The peak of popularity was during the Fauntlerpy era (1885-1905). And this seems to be the time that we hav the oldest boys with ringlet curls. We note boys from about 2-8 years of age wearing ringlets. Younger boys did not have ringlets because few had enough hair to be done into ringlets. Within that range we do not have a lot of insight, at least until the boys reache age 6 years. The largest number would have been in the 2-6 year category. At age 6, children began school and we rarely see boys with ringlets at school. There is an exception here. Children began school if they had reached age 6 years by the beginning of September. hose with later borthdays would have to wait another year. This is, however, a very preliminary assessment based on our knowledge of American and British trends. It is possible that some older boys had their haif done in ringlets, but there would not have been very many. A more detailed asessment will only be possible asour Canadian archieve expands.

Siblings

Often siblings had different hair styles especially if there was substantial difference in age. Thus ringler curls which at least for boys was age depndent might not be wirn by brithers. Those close in age might have the same hair style including ringlet curls. The general pattern we noted in neighborin America was that if a boy had hair done in rnglets, than geneally his siter's hair was done differently, presumably so he would not think he was getting a girl's style--something to which boys, even young boys, often object. Thus images of boy and girl siblings with ringlet curls are relatively rare. At least this was the general pattern in America. We can not yet confirm that this was also the case in Canada because our archive is so limited. We suspect that it probably was as America was a very strong influence on Canada in questions of fashion..

Popularity

Ringlets for boys seem to have been more common in Canada during the mid-19th cedntury thn America. Here the Canadians were probably following British trends. Of course the ringlet styling for American boys exploded during the 1880s as a result of Mrs. Burnett's book, . We are not sure how common they were.

Clothing

We notice Canafian boys wearing ringlet curls with a variety of outfits. We have noted portraits of boys wearing ringlets with dresses, kilts, and kneepants.

Ethnic Groups

We do not know if French and English-soeaking families differed as to how popular this style was. We note that in Europe it was more popular in England than in France. In fact the French called ringlets English curls. French boys might have long hair, but it was less common to do the hair in ringlets.

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Created: October 9, 2003
Last edited: 7:00 PM 3/7/2018