*** boys hair styles: national styles -- England hair styles








English Boys' Hair Trends: Individual Styles

English boys hair styles
Figure 1.--One of the most destinctibe hair styles worn by English boys during the 19th and very early 20th century. They were not as common as in America, but more common than in the rest of Europe. The French called thm 'English curls'. This photograph is undated, but was probably taken about 1900, although this is diificult to tell as it is a rather unusual cabinet card.

English boys have worn a wide variety of hair styles. Perhaps the the best known English hair style was the straight back and sides--a severe style. Younger boys wore longer hair, although here there were social class connotations. Long hair was more common for boys from affluent families. The length varied over time. Boys wore long hair both in tight ringles and in natural curls. Bangs were also very commonly worn by primary school age boys, especially the younger boys. As they got older they were more likely to wear hair styles with parts. Short hair styles continued to be popular into the 1960s when the Beatles and other inflluences begn to popularize longer hair. Boys might wear quite long hair in the 1970s, but shorter styles gradually became more popular in the 1980s. Very short almost shaved hair styles appeared in the late 1990s.

Bangs

Bangs are a popular hair style for boys, including English boys. The English term for bangs was 'fringe'. There are a range of styles for bangs. Some bangs were done very sharply. Others were more of a roughly done effort, in part because sharpky cut bangs becamne rougher as the hair grew. And biys varied as to how frequently their hair was cut. They were done with other style elements, including both longh and short styles. The chronology is another topic of interest. We are not yet sure about the chgronology of bangs. It is a topic we are working on. We have little information on the 19th century. Bangs were very commonly worn by primary school age boys in the 20th century, especially the younger boys. This means the age at which mother determined how the boy's hair was cut without any real consultation with the boy. As they got older boys were more likely to wear hair styles with parts like a short back and side cut. Many turn of the 20th century school portraits show boys in bangs and girls with long hair, although there were many exceptions here. A good example is the photograph from an English village school in the early 1900s. Popularity and age convetions varied over time. Notably the Beatles started out with bangs, although the length of their hair (rather modest at first) at the time elicted the mosr comment. Girls also wore bangs, but it was less common as center parts were so common for girls.

Cropped Hair

Some English boys had closed cropped hair at the turn of the 20th century, but this style was more common in Germany and othercontinental countries at the time. Very short almost shaved or cropped hair styles appeared in the late 1990s. This style first appeared with the skin heads in the 1980s, but by the turn of the 21st century was being widely worn by boys without the social connotations associated with the skin heads.

Curls

English boys wore a range of different culed hair stylss. Curls of course exceptg for very young bos eas a hair style generally seen as a style for girls and women. This was not a peculiarly 19th century style. We see men wearin elkaborate curls in the 17th and 18th centuries. These were, however mostly wigs. This was not common for boys. We have paintins which show these styles. But we do not have a guge archive of hair fasion trends until the invention of photography (1839). In America we have a large arcive of dags abd ambros (1840s-50s), but far fewer in England and the rest of Europe. This changes with the appearance of the CDV (1860s). This gives us the ability to follow English hair styling in great detail, both chilfren and adults. And we see many types of curls. Many youngr boys had natural curls. We see different lenths of hir, some curled some not. We see curls done in different ways on top of the head, both sinle and dounlr cirls or eolls. We see ringlets in various lengths and styles. English mothers seemed to have liked hair styling for boys. we do not see much of this cropped hair which was commin Germany, Russia, and much of Central and eastern Europe. Ringlet curls seem more popular in England thab any other European country where long hair was often not curled. Rinlets were, however, even more common in America where you almost neversee uncurled long hair, at least until the 1970s.

Long Hair

Younger boys most common wore longer hair in the 19th century. There were social class connotations. Long hair was more common for boys from affluent families. The length varied over time. We do not have much informatio on the first half of the 19th century, especially before the inventin of photography. Even after Dags and mbros appeared (1840s-50s), photography was much less common than in America. Only with the appearance of the CDV do we see large numbets of images. We see boys wearing their hair over or artially over their ears at mid-century. Only tounger boys wore long shoulder-length hair. The Fauntleroy craze as in America was very popular (1885-1905). This affected hair styling. We see long hair sone in both ringlets and uncurled. Ringlets were less common than in America, but more common than on the Continent. In fact, the French called ringlets 'English curls'. A good example of long uncurled hair is Swindon boy John Gardner (188-89). After the turn-of-the 20th century we see mostly sht cuts, although pre-school boys from comfortable families often wore curls, but rarely long ringhets as in the Fauntleroy era. Short hair styles continued to be popular into the 1960s when the Beatles and other inflluences begn to popularize longer hair. Boys might wear quite long hair in the 1970s, but shorter styles gradually became more popular in the 1980s. Although we se a diversity of styles, both long hair and skin-head styles.

Short Back and Sides

Perhaps the the best known English hair style was the short back and sides. his ws a stle doe in vasryng degrees of sverity. In the most severe form, the hair at the side is cropped almost entirely off. The hair on the top of the head is allowed to grow, not real long, but at least enough for a part. In a less severe form it became the srandard hair stule of English/British boys. The Contunntasl style of basically cropping off all of a boy's hair was nec=ver very popular in England. We re not entirely sure when his became the standard English hair cut, but believe it was in the late-19th century. A good examople is the O'Connor boys in 1960.











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Created: March 28, 2003
Last edited: 1:12 AM 10/8/2023