Figure 1.--The mother of these German children made no effort to coordinate their clothing. Both brother and sister, however, have their hair done similarly and they wear identical hair bows. The image is undated, but we would guess the 1890s. The photograph was taken in Coblenz. The boy has very curly blond hair. It looks like it is naturally curly. Mom was probably reluctant to cut such hair.

It was very rare for parents to both dress the children in identical outfits and style their hair identically unless they were twins, especially twins of the same gender. Some what more common was coordinate the clothing and hair styles, but still this was not as common as some of the other alternatives discussed here, but we have noted a few instances where mothers did so. There are many different alternatives here. For example a mother might outfit the boys similarly and then style the younger boy's hair like his sisters. We also notice many instances where the children are dressed quite differently, buttheir hair styles are identical or coordinated. Also some mothers may choose identical and others similar styles, perhaps age graaded in some way. Similarly mothers may select both identical and similar styles such as ringlet curls with differnt parts.

Identical Hair Styles

Some children had their hair styled identically. This of course was most common for like-gender siblings. There are numerous instances in the photographic record when like gender siblings, bith brothers and sisters, had their hair styled identically, especially when they were close in age. Younger brothers, however, might also have identical hair styling with their sisters, although this was less common. Differences in age and hair type, however, meant that this was less common than coordinated styling--at least for the well to do. There was identical styling for the less affluent as well. Here he lack of time and money tended to incourage mothers to adopt simple basic styles that were easy to maintain, such as bowl cuts or close cropped hair.

Coordinated Hair Styles

Coordinated styling was more cmmon because it gave a mother more flexibility. She could coordinate the hair styles of her children even though they may be different genders and different ages. Hair conventions in the 19th century were generally looser than in the 20th century. This gave the mother a great deal of discression in how she styled her children's hair. Fancy hair was more a function of the well to do for mothers who had the time any money to devote to such matters.

Created: November 10, 2002
Last updated: November 18, 2002