Figure 1.-- This half case Ambrotype is not in good condition, but the boy'd fce and hair is clear. Photograph Adorable Little Boy Child Spooky

Our assesstment based on a increasing number of imafes is that bangs which obsure hair oart were not very common in the 1850s. Most boys has plainly parted hair after their curls were cut as younger boys. There does not seem to be any strong part conventions except the center parts were almost eclusively for girls ncause many had lon hair and a center poart is useful in stylinging long hair. There re sone decaded in whiuch we see boys with center parts, but usually as in the 1850s, side parts were standadrd. We notice both right and left parts, well away from the crown. The side was probably more are less decided by mother so boys in the same family usully all had hair parted on the same side. Here the boys both have left parts (figure 1). A good example is of a right part is an unidentified Danbury boy in 1855. Our assessment is that left parts were the most common. This is probably because most boys are right handed and for them a right part is more difficult to combn than a left part. And of course visa-versa for left-handed boys. This may be a little different for younger boys as mothers were combing their hair.

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Created: 10:30 PM 7/28/2022
Last edited: 10:30 PM 7/28/2022