Pink, the singer, has made it her trademark, followed by other celebs who have sported it at one time or another: Justin Bieber, Little Richard, David Beckham and Robin Thicke being among them.īefore referring to an adolescent-looking hairstyle, the term pigtail was used back in the 1600s to describe a twist of chewing tobacco. After Elvis- who by the way had blond hair naturally– wore the pompadour, its popularity exploded. By the 1950s, men were wearing a version of the look that is all about elevation of the hair near the front of the head. She wore the hairstyle, inspiring a fad that became popular for a time- then not- then revived in the 1890s-1910s- then disappearing for a couple decades- and once again revived for high-society women in the 1940s. Pompadours became all the rage thanks to Madame de Pompadour, a mistress of King Louis XV. This hairstyle dates back to 1721, and has managed to make a comeback in modern days. Here’s a look back over the years at the various ways we’ve styled our locks and the origin of the names of those hairstyles. Even Donald Trump’s combover, or whatever you call that thing on his head, has its own Facebook page, but only 51 Likes. Has there been another drastic hairstyle that’s accomplished the same feat? What if the 1990s equivalent of Irene Castle-Sinead O’Connor and her shaved head-had really taken off? Perhaps a buzz cut would have been the late 20th-century version of the bob and we all would have gotten it, at least once.It is one of the first things we notice about someone upon being introduced: Hair. And the cloche, invented by milliner Caroline Reboux in 1908, gained popularity because the close-fitting hat looked so becoming with the style, especially the Eton crop.Īlthough later co-opted by the mainstream to become status quo (along with makeup, underwear and dress, as earlier Threaded posts described), the bob caused heads to turn (pun!) as flappers turned the sporty, cropped look into another playful, gender-bending signature of the Jazz Age. The headband, usually worn over the forehead, added a decorative flourish to the blunt cut. The still-popular bobby pin got its name from holding the hairstyle in place. Women wearing cloches in smoking car, 1920s.Īccessories were designed to complement the bob. (An expansive photograph collection of bob styles can be found here.) A medical condition, the Shingle Headache, was described as a form of neuralgia caused by the sudden removal of hair from the sensitive nape of the neck, or simply getting your hair cut in a shingle bob. Be warned: Some new styles weren’t for the faint of heart. The finger wave (S-shaped waves made using fingers and a comb), the Marcel (also wavy, using the newly invented hot curling iron), shingle bob (tapered, and exposing the back of the neck) and Eton crop (the shortest of the bobs and popularized by Josephine Baker) added shape to the blunt cut.

At the end of 1924, 21,000 shops had been established-and that didn’t account for barbershops, many of which did “a rushing business with bobbing.”Īs the style gained mass appeal-for instance, it was the standard haircut in the widely distributed Sears mail order catalog during the ’20s-more sophisticated variations developed.

In 1920, there were 5,000 hairdressing shops in the United States. A 1925 story from the Washington Post headlined “ Economic Effects of Bobbing” describes how bobbed hair did wonders for the beauty industry. When they began cutting the cropped style, it was a boon to their industry. Hairdressers, sensing that the trend was there to stay, finally relented. A collection of American Hairdresser magazines published in 1920s.

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