Figure 1.--This Philadelphia boy is unidentified. We would guess he was about 6-7 years old when he posed for this portrait. The cabinent card is undated, but we would guess was taken in the early 1880s.

American children generally began school about 6 years of age. The public school system as still evolving in the early 19th centurtu, but after the Civil War (1861-65) this age standard became increasingly standard. This was just the time that ringlets became especially popular for boys. We see boys wearing ringlets before the Civil War, but the photographic record suggests that it was much more common after the War, especially for younger boys. Most children had their hair cut short before beginning school. This is because boys with long hair, especially curls were likely to be teased at school. The vast majority of boys had short hair cuts. There were exceptions such as a Catholic boy in the 1890s. Or a unidentified California boy in 1891. Some of the boys we note with curls seem younger than 6 years old. Even so, boys with curls at school were not very common as can be observed in school portraits. Hiome portrairs are also helpful even if not datred. We note two Wisconsin brothers wearing identical sailor suits during the 1900s decade in Wisconin. They are close in age. One has ringlets, the other does not. They look to be about 5 and 7 years old. This would suggest that the boys had their hair cut when they were about 6 years old. We also note a New York boy who looks to be about 6 years old in the 1850s. We suspect that many of the boys who wore ringlet curls at age 6 and older were boys from affluent families that did not go to public schools. After the very early 20th century we see far fewer boys wearing ringlet curls. One boy who still had ringlets about 1910 was Carl Kellison. We think that he had probably not yet begun school. It shoukld be nioted that not all 6 years olds had begun school. The geberal ruke was that to begin school in Seoptember that children had to be 6 years old are close to tuning 6. Thus is a boy's birtthday was in Ocrber ior larer he had to wait until he wa closer tob 7 years old to begin school.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 3:40 AM 11/24/2007
Last edited: 3:30 AM 4/21/2008