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There are gebder conventions associated with quite a number of hair styles. Some styles are genfer specfic. We have never, for example, seen girls wearing crew cuts, but we commonly see them with short bobbed hair. Here girl's bobbed hair was commonly not as short as boys' cuts an styled differently. Some styles have been worn by both bows and girls, even at the same time. The most obvious here are various styles of bangs. There were are a wide range of bangs cuts and we commonly see boys and girls with their hair cut in bangs.Other styles hve been worn by boyth bots and girls, but usually at different times or mot in the same family,. The best example here is ringlet curls. Many boys wore ringlets in the 19th century, but generally their sisters did not.
Bangs are one of the most popular styles for children. Some styles have been worn by both bows and girls, even at the same time. The most obvious here are various styles of bangs. There were are a wide range of bangs cuts and we commonly see boys and girls with their hair cut in bangs. Often boys and girls wore bang sat the sae same time, but with stylish variation. The most common differentiation was for boyswith bangs to have their hair cur short at the sides and for gurls to wear it over their ears. But this has not always been the case, We notice some younger boys in the eary 20-th century with bangs cuts just like their sister's cut. And we note boys in the 1970s when long hair was popular also wearing bangs with long cuts at the side.
Short hair has at time been very popular foir girls. Commnly specific styles for girls were not as pronounced as for boys. Thus we often seen girls with both long and short hair. We commonly see girls with short bobbed hair. Here girl's bobbed hair was commonly not as short as boys' cuts an styled differently.
Crew cuts were a definite boys' styles. We have never, for example, seen girls wearing crew or the other extreme short cuts like flat tops.
Some hair styles have been worn by boyth bots and girls, but usually at different times or mot in the same family,. The best example here is ringlet curls. Many boys wore ringlets in the 19th century, but generally their sisters did not. After the 1900s, ringlet curls became increaingly a destinctively girls style. A reader writes, "Very interesting discussion. Any reason why sisters of boys who wore ringlet style hair did not also wear them? Why would the mothers only like the style on boys? I never notices this before, but I will try to keep the question in mind when viewing old photographs." HBC would never say never, but this as faras we can determine, the general practice. I think the reason is that boys don't like to wear anything perceived as girlish. Girl's don't mind wearing boy items, but boys don't want girl items. The fathers may have been a factor as well."
Fashionable hair styles for women during the 19th century were mostly long styles. Many women had very long hair. Women were very proud of gtheir long hair. We see many girls with long styles, but not all. There were a range ofstles fir girls and send had shortish style, but usually covering their ears. This is useful because it hekps identify the gender in period photographs, mist of which do not identufy the individuals. It is, howev, not a perfect indicator, nit only because soje girkls had short hair, but because som boys had long hair. Many bits ar he mid-19th century had hair down to and not commonly over their ears. While short hair for girls was not uncommon, really short styles like the ones worn by boys were much less common. We are not yet sure why girls had such really short hair. We do not think it was fashionable, but perhaps our readers will know more about that. There are other reasons that girls might have really short hair. They could have been sick or perhaos had hair lice. Practicality could have been another factor, but that mighthave been more common with wirking-class families. Short hair becane more common for girls in the 20th cebtury, but styles as short as the ones worn by boys were still not very common.
A popular style in the early-20th century was Dutch-boy bangs with hair at the side down to or even over the ears. The term 'page boy' of course comes from the medieval page boys serving in royal courts. Hair syules varied during the medieval era, but there were times when the style was short hair bobbed at the side. This seems to haveen a Norman style in thr late-Middle ages. The term Dutch Boy cut seems to be identical with page boy. We do not know of a stylitic difference, altough we welcome reader input here. This wa an American term, we think relating to a fictionl chracter. It was unknon in the Netherlands. There is also a similrity with the bowl cut except the front bangs and side hair with the page/Dutch cuts are cut to different lengths. We see bowl cuts in the 19th century, but Dutch/boy cuts do not seem common. We do see them in the 1910s-20s. A good example here is Floyd Van Horne about 1915. One source suggests that the style was popularized for boys by silent film child star Jackie Coogan. Interestingly, the length of the hair at the side appears to have been longer in illustrations such as ads (Dutch Boy Paints) and the comic (Buster Brown) than suggested by the photographic record. We do see boys with hair over the ears , but they seem less common that habing the side hair cut at or above the ear. Although initially a boy style, it became much more common for girls.
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