1700 hair

[GunClick Rick]

In pictures and in movies you see the guys with the white hair,i know most were wigs and were powdered for body or head lice,but what was up wuth the curls and such.Just fashion of the day?I was watching a documentory and the guys all had curls like curlers would do in a womens hair,and i notice it was the upper class as the soldier or regular feller has dark hair while talking to his superior.And then there is the thing with long hair and big bushy sideburns but there again it seemed like the foot soldier didn;t do it as much.Was it just they went longer periods befoir gettin a hair cut?The soldiers of today are shaved clean.

[St. George]

Asking about hair styles and fashion from the 1700s is a question best suited to a board dealing with the Buckskinning/Fur Trapping era.

Styles (and Regulations) change over time.

For example - during the Vietnam War years - AR 670-1 stated that members of the Army National Guard could wear short haired wigs to cover the long hair that was so popular at the time, and stated how long mustaches could be and how long hair coulld be kept.

There was even a poster.

Ask any Drill Sergeant or trainee of the time, and you'll find out that the soldiers pictured in said poster were GIs 'getting over' and that 'that' hair length was far too long to suit any leadership, so if it ever got that long - it was to be cut.

Today's soldiers shave their heads for the heat and because it looks cool - a look video games have popularized and cops and skinheads both emulate (go figure) - because it's menacing.

Ultra-short hair was always something seen in the Ranger Batts and in Airborne - more of a 'tribal' thing than anything else.

Conventional forces always try to mimic the little things they see being done by those elite outfits - but the never seem to step up for the training to actually join them.

Guess it's easier to just get the haircut and maybe a tattoo...

Here's how men wore their hair during the Victorian Era.

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St. George's Notes XXIV - Victorian-Era Men's Hairstyles...
« on: January 03, 2006, 01:00:48 pm »      

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A critical part of creating your Impression is how you wear your clothing and gear and how correct to the period it all is, since it needs to look 'natural',   and it should be able to be photographed in Black and White and look as though it belongs with those older pictures as seen in reference books.

For the most part - acquiring the gear is easy.
Expensive, sometimes - but easy enough when you're focused.

Here's some information to enhance that 'Look' - once you're done putting it all together - by a bit of judicious personal grooming to top it all off.

'Shave and a Haircut - Two Bits'...

Prior to the Victorian Era, males 'in general' maintained cleanly shaven faces - albeit with some difficulty - given the fact than shaving technology of the period was in its infancy - the Gillette Safety Razor not making an appearance until after 1904.

With the mid-eighteen hundreds came a widespread shift toward facial adornment in a wide multitude of styles.

Though the facial hair 'movement' of the Victorian era faded with the conclusion of the Nineteenth Century, it was a fad that affected nearly all men of the age.

Facial hair, ranging from bushy mutton-chops to carefully waxed mustaches, 'defined' the appearance of mid to late-nineteenth century men, and created a divide between boyhood and manhood

In pictures and photographs from the era, it is rare to find a male - past the age of manhood - depicted without facial hair in some way, shape or form.

As the century continued, the preferred style of facial hair grew progressively longer, bushier, and more pronounced, but it remained 'stylish'for men to wear facial hair of all sizes and descriptions .

Hairstyle Terminology of the Era:

Mustachio - an exceptionally luxuriant moustache

Beard - the hair on a man's chin, cheeks, and throat

Side-Whiskers - unusually long whiskers worn on the side of a man's face  

Muttonchops - side whiskers that are narrow at the temple, broad along the lower cheek or jawline, and separated by a shaven chin

Moustache - the hair growing on the upper lip, especially when cultivated and groomed

Small moustaches and short sideburns were coming into vogue by the time Victoria took the throne.
Prior to this, the good Victorian-era gentleman was clean shaven.

During the American Civil War - full curly hair was worn in a crest shape by men, who brilliantly brushed the hair back or forwards in order to create a curling front lock or a cowlick.
With these hairstyles, side and middle parts were common.

Hairstyles would  often emulate those worn by popular figures of the time - thus sideburns really began to take off in this period, growing longer and bushier as the decades progressed and were initially known as 'Burnsides' - after General Ambrose Burnside.
                           
Full beards became all the rage for males, and by the 1860's the 'Lincoln' look - a clipped chin beard without a moustache - became popular.

Also seen were Spade beards, and the more 'rounded' Imperials.
Men could decide if a moustache was the right compliment to their beard choice.

During this period, as with the previous century, hair was held in place with Macassar Oil, slightly perfumed.
On the other hand - working men who worked in hard labor jobs probably avoided it, as it had a reputation for dripping down into the eyes when one was sweating...

1865-1890:

Thanks due in large part to the rigors of Campaigning and the attendant 'lessened' personal hygiene suffered by soldiers on both sides - creating an assortment of various personal menageries - shorter hair became fashionable with men, although the side and middle parts remained.
By the 1870's, parts were expanded to extend from the forehead to the nape of the neck.

In town - Pompadours were actually worn by some men, particularly those who were wealthy and spent their days in more leisurely pursuits than the working man.

Muttonchop beards and a beard growing well under the chin became fashionable, although this kind of facial hair required quite a bit of maintenance.

The late 1870's and 1880's saw the arrival of the tell-tale Handlebar Moustache - the long, drooping moustaches worn without a beards.
Most often seen on Dragoons and Cavalrymen, initially - as a mark of distinction and indicator of an 'Old Campaigner'.

1890–1900:

Thanks to the 'civilization' of the Frontier giving a  closer number of towns and thus - 'Tonsorial Parlors'  - the clean-shaven look was "in" by the end of the century, with the distinguished gentleman sporting a smooth face.

Middle parts were also popular, although the more 'classy' man wore his a little to the left of center.

Moustaches shrunk considerably in this period, and were often very small and held in place with wax.
Sideburns were still popular, although considerably shorter than they had been previously.
Muttonchops and pointed chin beards remained however - giving men a great variety of styles to chose from.

Older men - most likely those who had had wonderful, long moustaches during the previous decades - adopted the 'Walrus' moustache - huge, bushy, drooping moustaches that covered much of their lower faces.

At any rate - whiskers of all types adorned the faces of Victorian-era men, from thin side-whiskers to full, bushy beards in accompaniment with thick moustaches.



Scouts Out!

[Angel_Eyes]

Facial hair was the same as today, a matter of fashion, style and available funds, not much has changed.

GCR,,,clean shaven soldiers of today is to facilitate the sealing of the gas-masks edges in combat conditions,,,at least, that's what my sergeant told me!

AE (who's got bushy side-burns)

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Angel Eyes,

The clean shaven/short hair looks, I am told, go back to the Greeks. When they fought the Persians, known for their tresses, the Greeks were taught to grab the hair, forcing the neck to extend, and then slit their throats ... but the Greeks had no hair to get the same treatment done to them ... so I am told.

AS far as 'Sideburns' they were the rage of the Civil War and for a while afterwards ... taken from the tonsorial habits of a General Burnsides ... where by some accounts sideburns got their name ...