Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows a little boy with two big sisters. They look to be about 5-13 years old. All three have their hair done in ringlet curls, although there are diffeences. The girls do not have tightly done ringlets like their little brother, but have colored hair bows. And his hair is not parted in the middle like his sisters' hair. The portrait is a little unusual in that the boy is wearing a suit more associated with an older boy whose curls have been cut. The girls wear matching white dresses, perhaps with frilly pinafores. All three wear black long stockings. The portrait is not dated, but the clothes and mount suggest it was taken about 1910. Ringlets like this for boys at the time were going out of style. The name of the studio is difficult to read, but they were located in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

The American photographic record is immense beginning with the first Dags (1840s) and then even more so with the CDVs and cabinet cards (1860s). Thus we have a substantial archive which allows to follow not only clothing trends, but hair styling as well. We have found a huge number of portraits with boys wearing ringlet curls. Most of them are individul portraits, but there are family images as well. The trends we have notived is that often mothers who did their son's hair in ringlets looked to other styles for their daughters. This is especially the case when the boys were much beyond the toddler years. But many mothers loved the style. And we do have several some instances of mothers doing brothers and sisters both in ringlet curls. This was not, however, the general convention. For whatever reason, most mothers just did not want to do their girls' hair in ringlets if they were doing their boys' hair in ringlets. We are not enturely sure why, but presumanly they did not want the boy to think that finglets were a girls' style. Brothers of the same or similar ages might have ringlets, but brothers and sisters less commonly. We would not say it was rare, but certainly less common. We have seen some brothers and sisters with matching ringlets, but less commonly than with brothers. The examples we have found are mostly during the Faunleroy era. This may not indicate gender trends as this was when ringlets for boys were the most common. When we do see boys and girls with ringlets they were often younger boys. The boy here looks to be about 5-years old. We do not see boys nuch older pictured with his sisters, all in ringlets.

Photographic Record

The American photographic record is immense beginning with the first Dags (1840s) and then even more so with the CDVs and cabinet cards (1860s). Thus we have a substantial archive which allows to follow not only clothing trends, but hair styling as well. We have found a huge number of portraits with boys wearing ringlet curls. Most of them are individul portraits, but there are family images as well. We believe that prevalence in the photographic record is a good indicator of actual prevlence. There is a bias toward more affluent Americans who were more kiklrly to have portraits made, but this would not affect prelence here as we are comaring the relative gender trends in runglet curl portraits.

Mixed Hair Style Portraits

Ringlet Portraits

Many fashion concious mothers mothers loved the ringlet style. They were enamored of the idea doing their son's hair in ringlets and thuis did their daughter's hair in ruinglets as well. And we do have several some instances of mothers doing brothers and sisters both in ringlet curls. This was not, however, the general convention. For whatever reason, most mothers just did not want to do their girls' hair in ringlets if they were doing their boys' hair in ringlets. We are not enturely sure why, but presumanly they did not wabt the boy to think that finglets were a girls' style. Brothers of the same or similar ages might have ringlets, but brothers and sisters less commonly. We would not say it was rare, but certainly less common. We have seen some brothers and sisters with matching ringlets, but less commonly than with brothers. Another complication is differences in the styling. We see some piortraits in with both a brioyther and sisters have ringlets, but styled differently to a lesser or greater degree. We are not sure if these were just the vageries of hair styling or had sone significance.

Chronology

The examples we have found are mostly during the Faunleroy era, meaning 1885-1905. We have few earlier examples. We jniw ringlets were worn before the Fauntleroy era. We do not, however, have many imagrs showing briothers and sisters together,so we are not sure bout the sibling conventions during earlier or later periods. This may not indicate gender trends as this was when ringlets for boys were the most common.

Age

When we do see boys and girls with ringlets they were often younger boys. The boy here looks to be about 5-years old (fiugure 1). We do not see boys nuch older pictured with his sisters, all in ringlets.

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: 12:29 PM 7/3/2018
Last edited: 3:02 PM 8/21/2018