Figure 1.--This cabinet portrait shows an American boy with slender long curls reading a book, at least that is the pose. He may just be looking at the pictures because he only looks to be about 5 years old.He seems to have two parallel side paets, but it is a little difficult to tell. In between the hair is kind of woven tiogether. Written in pencil on the verso is: Lizzie Blenker. That may have been his mother's name. The studio was Stierle Bros., Marshfield, Wisconsin. The portrait is undated, but we would guess the 1890s.

The hair at the top or crown of the head was done in various ways with ringlet curls. For the most part the top of the head was done plainly. The most common approach was a center part. This provided an equal amount of hair on both sides that could be used to form ringlets of the same length wgich was seenas desirable. This is not always clear in the many portraits taken at the time because the boys commonly had their hair done as bangs in the front. Sometimes the center part extended to the forehead, but more commonly the bangs obscured the center part. We also notice two side parts at equal points down each suide. This left hair in betwen that was not used to form the side ringlets. This hair might be used to form various types of top curls or other top styling. The boy here seems to have some braiding work (figure 1). We are not sure that the top curls walways involved twin parts like the boy here. It is a little difficult to tell from the photographic record. The most common top arrangement was one large top curl. The large top curl was, however, not the only option. We see a number of portaits with a large top curl. A good example is American boy C.C. Ellis about 1870 is a good example. The more varied styling on top was much less common. But we see Albert Hawley about 1900-05 with double top curls.

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Created: 2:16 AM 5/6/2011
Last edited: 7:44 PM 1/3/2016