Figure 1.--This French post card showing a boy with a short hair cut was mailed in 1910. A printed caption at the top of the card reads, "VII. Puis a écrit son ordonnance. A.N. Paris". I am not sure what that means. I also do not know why he wears such a large belt. Image coutesy of the MD Collection.

French boys in the mid-19th century wore hair that usually showed their ears, but was not cut short at the side. Some boys worelonger styles. French boys of school age have generally worn short hair since the late 19th century. Around the turn of the 20th century we have even noted school children with short cropped hair. This seems especially associated with schoolwear. Post cards at the time showed many boys with longer hair. Probably some well dressed boys from affluent families wofre longer hair styles, but we believe that short hair was much more common for most school-age boys in France. Short hair was the dominate style after World War I and continued so until the late 1960s. The cut was not the extrenmely short cropped style sometimes worn in the early 20th century. Shorter styles returned in the 1980s. By the late 1990s extremely short hair cuts had become very stylish for school age boys.

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Created: January 16, 2003
Last edited: January 16, 2003