Authentic hairstyles

[sam H]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

I have noticed that a lot of guys had hair cut short and off the neck in the back but kept a little bit longer in the front. I know center parts were considered very feminine. Short close cut hair was common among people in appalachia as well as with hunters and trappers. and more than likeley among many soldiers as well. seeing as how it is the most practical haircut for living outside but also one of the less fashionable of the time period. Another thing to remember is that it would have been cut down with scissors and this comes out looking a lot different than hair cuts you see today done with clippers.

there is an article that was published in 1861 called "tips for the new recruit from an old veteran" that talks about the most practical hair and facial hairstyles for soldiering as well as a bunch of other good stuff. I will try to find the link and post it.

[Salt Pork]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

There is an article in the Richmond Examiner, dated 1862 it suggest the best hair cut for balding man is to cut it short.

William Summe

[Skutatos]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

In reference to the shorter hairstyles already discussed, here is part of a photo from the Liljenquist collection showing what appears to be a shaved head:




Full image here:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/lilj/item/2010650789/

[Pvt. Shattuck]

Re: Authentic hairstyles


Here's a look not everyone can pull off

[GenuineInformation]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

That near-equilateral triangle of a coiffure is unfortunate, for sure.

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

And that's not the first image I've seen of someone with that hairstyle. In 1860, the Old Settlers' Association of Scott County, Iowa, published a poster-sized image of all the members of the organization, each image about an inch high by 3/4 inch wide or so. There is a gentleman who died in the 1850s pictured with an identical hair cut. It's impossible to scan the image due to the size of the mosaic, but I'm so glad to see this hairstyle on another person, simply so that I can verify to others what I've been trying to describe for years.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

Hallo!

IMHO, hair and hairstyles can be tricky, just as they are today. Meaning, there are fashions in society often based on ethnicity, socio-economic class, occupation... and one's personal or generational view or vision of the "presentation of self in everyday life" that leads a person with hair that will accommodate a range of styles or not to pick something.

Just a few observations....

1. Up to a point, "hair styles" reflect a broad "cultural" range that gets complicated by fashion, fad, and trends. And it seems that the next generation wanting to make their own statements "rebel" against their parents' generation. For example, the long queues and clubbed styles of the second half of the 18th century including wigs for those that could afford them fell to the rise of the short “Greco-Roman" classic styles of the Napoleonic era. Which fell to the "longer" styles of the 1830/1840's which fell to "medium" length styles of the 1850/1860's, etc., etc. (Complicated by a younger person fad in the 1860's to really short whether as a coming of age statement or response to lice epidemics.
Or "retro" looks such as a return to more "Greco-Roman" looks such as P. T. G. Beauregard's hybrid look with the temples combed forward.

2. There normally, usually, generally (NUG) are always exceptions and extremes. Oh, take Edmund Ruffin.

3. There can be divides between what lads did to the hair for photo image takings versus what they may have done in the field when they did not have oils and greasy dressings on hand, nor the time and inclination to primp and preen.

If I were hard pressed to make some brief generalizations about “everyday common,” I would describe a "prototypical" fairly common hairstyle as this:

1. Grown out, looking more like needing a haircut that actually "long" long. Meaning crowding down over the collar and nape of the neck in the back, and crowding down over the ears by quarter, half, three fourths, or fully. Ideally regulations called for shorter hair, but...

2. The front combed back off of the forehead. (With a side note about the Greco-Roman combed over the temples.) Hair parted on the side. Left hand side seems to edge right hand just a bit, but that is not a hard and fast rule. Somewhere I have a lad with a part on both sides at the same time.)

3. The hair NUG oily looking (whether by added oil/grease or because it had not been washed). Sometimes seeming to be the victim of “Hat Hair." Or sometimes, leaving one with the impression... "What were you thinking? Didn't you comb your hair before sitting for the image?"

4. Then as now, one cannot really say what “the” CW hairstyle is. But, if one sees similar traits among a bunch of images, IMHO it is safe to choose from the trend. Perhaps, one can say what NUG is not a common CW hairstyle. For example, mid back length "pony tails" gathered with an elastic tie at the back of the head... not so much.

5. Black hats and hot humid days of marching or campaigning can do a number on your hair "style."

6. Period studio and field photographs do a better job than words. If you work from a Period photograph you cannot go too far wrong. If you identify a trend from a number of Period photographs, you help eliminate making exceptions rules when not portraying the exception.

Others' mileage will vary...

Curt

[AZReenactor]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

One of the best period haircuts I got was after scrounging a pair of scissors at an event, handing them and a comb to a messmate I trusted, and asking if he would give a go at trimming my hair. "Just take it up off the neck, up over the ears, and so that it doesn't hang down in my eyes." He didn't really know how to cut hair, but managed well enough for my needs.

It was a serviceable haircut if not a fashionable one. While it might not have made the cover of GQ, having read often enough of soldiers lending a hand to one another in the same manner, it seemed appropriate enough for me.

The hard part, then and now, is finding a comrade who won't scalp you. ;-)

Baring that, I have an old school Bosnian barber who gives me a relatively straight forward scissors cut (without using electric clippers) and a straight razor shave every few months or so.

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

Also remember, then as now, that genetics sometimes took over to give a hairstyle not intended.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

Hallo!

"Also remember, then as now, that genetics sometimes took over to give a hairstyle not intended."

Ask Richard Ewell or Ambrose Burnside.

:)

Just a-funnin'....
Curt

[poilu1917]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

Besides the link already provided (Robert Anderson Gallery), does anyone know where one can view the additional patient photos taken at the Harewood Hospital as seen in the CRRC?

[JerseySkilletLicker]

Re: Authentic hairstyles

I used to carry this book, I believe it is still available. The value of it, to me, was that the entire class of young men were individually pictured, showing a great variety of hairstyles of the period.