What Style is it? Every decade had a wide variety of hairstyles for men and women and that can be confusing. Young women adapted the latest styles, older women often held onto their youthful coiffures and then there were creative individuals who styled their hair to suit themselves. However, in every decade there were some common styles. For instance, in the 1840s the majority of women wore their hair looped over their ears, while in the 1880s it was severely pulled back. Men’s hair in the 1850s and 1860s was longish but by the 1890s their short styles resemble what’s being worn today. Bangs Sirst appeared in the 1870s. For men, there were personal styles by fashion innovators/icons such as newspaperman Horace Greeley’s under the chin beard known as a Greeley or General Ambrose Burnside’s facial hair which bore his reversed name—sideburns. Those Civil War soldiers who wore Burnside’s connected sideburns and mustache in the 1880s were retaining the look popularized by Burnside in the 1860s. (Library of Congress Dag no. 271)
Then there are styles for which there are few precedents. In the 1850s men wore their hair combed up in a wave on the top of their head. They kept it in place by using copious amounts of hair products. Lack the curly locks? No problem. Use a curling iron. They were available for men and women. Also in the 1850s women wore their hair full on the sides of their head in big puffs. The identity of this man is unknown, so we’ll always wonder did he intend to mimic female hair or was it a result of his hat Slattening out the hair on the top and letting his side curls stick out. It’s deSinitely an odd combination of feminine puffs and masculine sideburns.
Study the waves, curls and decorations in the hair of both sexes then compare your images to the examples in Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 18401900. You’ll have a better sense of when a particular hairstyle was in vogue.
Age Appropriate There is a gray area in hairstyle history. It’s who wore what and when. There were hairstyles for young women, i.e. long Slowing locks while older women wore their hair neatly coiffed. But here’s the thing. If a woman wanted to look younger she’d don a style more appropriate for a female younger than her or vice versa.
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