Why did Victorian Women Cut their Hair Short? 

You can accurately portray almost any era at all as a woman with short hair - poor women have been selling their hair for the convenience of rich people throughout most of history. We seem to want to forget poor people so often in the costuming comunity

Having exclusively had a pixie cut for a little more than a decade. I can attest people having their opinions on it hasn’t gone away. “Y’know, men don’t like short hair.” Is for some reason the most common one, as if the rest of me looks like I care what men like.

When Jo March had her hair cut off in Little Women, she mentioned that the barber said she could have a "curly crop" once it grew out a bit. If there was an actual name for the style, cutting hair short must have been a more common practice than we realize.

Oh no, the articles about my boy Oscar having a haircut were fully justified. That hairstyle was a war crime.

Light bulb popped up for me as soon as you brought up the bleached hair trend. It's not just the stark line between the bleached hair and the natural color. Even today bleaching damages the hair, sometimes to the point where all there is to do is cut it off. I imaging the Victorian's bleaching methods weren't any better.

I actually cut my hip length long hair because of men playing with it. When I would have it down in public, I would have complete strangers (men) come and put their hands in my hair from behind WITHOUT ASKING (women tended to ask), so it was a safety issue and concern for me. So I always wore it up when going outside, and decided to cut most of it off mid lockdown (as a lot of people did). I cut it to my mid shoulders, cutting off nearly 20 inches of hair. It's oddly freeing to have shorter hair. Definitely not as short as most people consider, but definitely short for me to have such near shoulder length hair.

the sheer cognitive dissonance i felt at seeing people in 1880s dress sporting pixie cuts truly did me in. because, all of a sudden, their faces looked like people i would meet today. they resemble my sister and their partner; my non-binary friends; middle school girls freeing themselves from their hair for the first time; women i know that have lost their hair during chemo. i felt a kinship with the women in those pictures that i have not felt before. the young girl on the right at 13:19 looks like a young Millie Bobby Brown; the person on the left on the very first set of images reminds me of Kaz Rowe. i love this video and i cant wait to share it with my short-haired friends.

My grandmother talked about two different instances in which short hair was considered desirable. First, women (especially) would have their heads 'shorn' if they were ill with any sort of fever. Long hair was considered a 'drain' on the limited energy that fevered people experienced. Men already had shorter hair so they usually weren't mentioned. Then, when she was a young woman the flappers with their bobs became fashionable. Grandmother was right in tune. She couldn't wait to get rid of her long hair. In contrast, Great Aunt Laura, my great grandmother's sister never cut her thick dark hair which she wore wrapped around her head until her death at 105. It's notable that she had siblings who were stolen away to school where hair was forcibly cut. One other thing, short hair was also a statement that women have always made when they were protesting against their expected role as a woman. They still do. Perhaps in some of your photographs we are looking at women who did not have the vocabulary to speak about their feelings but found they could be eloquent with their hair.

My grandfather (born 1906) used to talk about his mother’s hair. It was so long it reached the floor. She would let it down and all her children would gather to comb and brush it every day.

The only reason I ever thought women had short hair in that time period would've been because they sold it. This was enlightening, thank you!

I find it so fascinating how humans don't really change throughout our history, but people will paint humans of the past as extremely different than how we are today, however, if you do any bit of research into it, you find that they were indeed just like us.

The first time I ever got a pixie...so many people asked "is your husband ok with it?!" Which was just... so annoying.

I present for your consideration: head lice First haircuts I gave my boys were because of lice. Impossible to get that fine tooth comb through curly hair. After the cut, the beasties were gone in two treatments. I imagine back then, when there weren't treatments as easy and effective as we have now, lice must have been a nightmare! Then you get a short do and whoop! there they go. What a relief! Great video, so much great information and so many pretty pictures!

As someone who went from 'at the hip because I don't have a lady's maid so it can't be longer' to 'post breast cancer quasi boot camp' over the last six months, short hair is SO easy. I think I'm keeping it short for a while. It's good to know that I can still wear historical costume! Great video and your cut is very cute.

My mother who was born in 1918 England told me that when she was a girl if someone had head lice, their hair would be cut very very short. She knew that this had been the case for generations. They would have their heads examined at school and would not be able to return until their hair had been cut.

9:15 "Are millenials killing the hairpiece industry?"

You have no idea how happy this video has made me... I'm still going through what will be six months of chemotherapy, and lost all of my hair, apart from a scattering of eyebrow hairs, which stubbornly hung on! My last chemo is on 20 Dec, and it started growing back a couple of weeks ago so I'm not even at a buzz cut stage yet... but it is so nice to know that I don't have to wait a few years for my hair to fully grow back before I can authentically do my vintage wardrobe. This brings me enormous joy. Thank you x

Beatrix Potter, as a young lady with a lymph node condition, cut her hair short in this fashion. This was so fascinating, thank you for all your research and for sharing your findings!

What they said about women cutting their hair short leading to baldness is so dumb and it reminded me of how people tell kids not to make faces or their face will stick like that. Can't tell if the Victorians really believed that or if it was just another way to control women by infantilizing them.

Interesting that women were accused of trying to look younger by cutting hair short, and that shorter hair was seen as more childlike", when these days people generally have the opposite association.

Those 1880s pictures of the women with short cuts are so surprising! It makes them look so modern in a way because I’m so used to seeing women in the past with long hair. So interesting! ❤

The rather weird article that goes on about there being no pleasure in stroking short hair reminds me of a quote from Maurice, the Edwardian gay novel by E.M Forster. Maurice is being hypnotised to try and cure him of being gay (it doesn't work obviously) and the hypnotist is convincing him there's a painting of a beautiful woman called Miss Edna May. "And look at her lovely long hair." "I like short hair best," says Maurice. "Why?" says the hypnotist. "Because I can stroke it." So there you go, short hair, way more stroke-able according to Maurice (of course in this case it's because he's thinking of men). This was a great video! I've had short hair for a long time and one of the reasons why I didn't think I'd ever get into historical reenactment in any way is because I don't want to wear a wig or grow my hair out. I could always dress as a man which would be totally fine but it is nice to know that the mid 1880s would also work. And yes, people still have Opinions about women cutting their hair short. The good news is, the vast majority of the people I know have never met me while I had long hair, so they don't have anything to compare it to and can't go "you looked better with long hair wahh why did you cut it." If people wonder why I cut my hair short, here are the short reasons. a) Matches my gender presentation better as I lean more butch, b) I never learned how to style long hair so I just wore it in a ponytail all the time and what's the point, c) the ponytails were giving me a headache and d) didn't enjoy the wind blowing hair into my mouth. Short answer is just because I like it.

When you mentioned Chicago, I immediately thought "Windy City" and then googled because something was niggling in the back of my head. The tallest skyscraper in the world was in Chicago from 1885 to 1931. Given the Great Fire was in Oct 1871, Chicago was going through a massive building boom and they were building UP. That creates wind tunnels and amplifies the wind off the lake even more. Could this have all started with one woman or a handful of women cutting their hair short out of pure frustration with up-dos being blow to bits or collapsing from the wind? All of a sudden a city of women are realizing its just so much more practical? At least one major playhouse also opened in Chicago that year... likely bringing in a bevy of dancers and stage actors. Maybe it all started because of a haircut for a part in a play.

We do in fact have tiny muscles on our follicles, namely the Arrector Pili muscle, which is what makes our hairs stand when we are cold or get shivers. Just wanted to point that out. :P

I used to keep my hair long because i just didnt care, that was until my sister had a girlfriend that would constantly play with it. She would come up behind me and pet me and go on about how pretty it was. One day i chopped it off super short, she acted like i committed a crime against humanity.

my great grandmother had gorgeous LONG thick red hair. and migraines -- a LOT of migraines. her doctor finally told her she MUST cut her hair to help stop them.. SO she did & pretty much the whole family cried when she did, but the migraines pretty much stopped cold.. one of the reasons for cutting hair in those times

My gramma got what she called an Eton Crop in 1919 ish- she was very fashionable! This was in London England and she went to work! As a secretary! Not a role filled by many women at that time.

As someone who has to keep their hair short for their health Thank You so much for this. It's so nice to know that at least by the 1880's some women where using short hair. I've fought with wanting long hair so that it would look right in vintage fashion this has given me so freedom from that. I can't tell you how freeing this was for me so again thank you so much for sharing this.

Not only is this video fascinating, but with talking about short hair I *immediately* spotted your earrings, which were made by my friend! It was so cool to spot them, her stuff really suits your style!

My grandmother said she cut her hair in the early 1920s in Appalachia, and she said it created a controversy at school

Your video inspired me to do some research on Trove, a free resource of scanned newspapers at the National Library of Australia. I discovered that there was also a fashion for short hair in 1877. According to one 1877 article I read, the demand for false hair outstripped supply, so some women who couldn't buy false hair just cut their hair short instead. This created its own trend. It was described as 'cut quite short to the head all round, except in front, where it is left long enough to form round ring-curls ... It is young-looking, pretty, becoming and advantageous to the hair.' I agree with you that the Victorians defy our stereotypes of them. They were much more interesting, individualistic and unpredictable than we tend to assume.

I keep my hair cut short because of my chronic migraines. Also, keeping my hair short makes my life SLIGHTLY easier with many of the rest of my chronic illnesses with many of them being chronic pain.

okay but when you said that having short hair stunts growth for the brain. DAMN SON!! The dude who wrote that had a major self call out post. Callin himself and other men out.

"There is no fun in gently stroking a head that has nothing but stubble" - au contraire. Is there anything nicer than stroking a freshly buzzed head?

Disease can cause hair loss - the high fever and stress messes up the usual follicle cycle and throws many of them into the shedding stage simultaneously. I lost about half my hair after typhoid fever - it fell out in handfuls a couple of weeks after I was "well". Having half long hair and half stubble doesn't style well, so I had it cut into a pixie cut and grew it out again. Also, for periods of convalescence - and the aftermath of typhoid or whooping cough could be months of bed rest and recovery - short hair mats and tangles less than long hair. So cropping the hair of the invalid was seen as necessary. Lady Caroline Lamb's hair was cropped because of a fever. She decided she liked it that way and kept it short for at least several years.

I love the Victorian era aesthetic but I have lupus and it badly affects my hair. I'm no good with wigs either so I always felt like I was missing out on experimenting with modern takes on their hairstyles. Then I found your video! I'm now down the rabbit hole of cute hair styles to try and I'm so excited 😊

I go through various variations on short cropped hair, (most recently I've been sporting a look inspired by the French Revolution styles) and my hairstylist commented that she loves how I always come in with interesting short hair requests and how she loves getting to do very short cuts on women.

There is a link between fever and hair loss - it's called telogen effluvium. Basically, for some people a fever will cause the normal hair follicle's growth and fallout cycle to reset. I know after having a vicious flu a few years ago, with a fever, I lost handfuls a few months later.

You had me at "Men love to play with it!" They like to play with so many things. :-)) Kidding aside, my great -grandma told me that in late victorian era women cut their hair to get rid of lice, for high fever or to sell, never for personal comfort or to antagonize anybody.

This is fascinating, I was always told women in the. Victorian & Edwardian era never cut their hair. Thank you for this it's very interesting. 💇‍♀️

I used to have hair all the way down my back, and it was honestly really pretty, but it was constantly tangled and matted (just because of what the strands are like), so I was constantly putting it up in ponytails and braids. My hair is also very thick, so if I washed it, it would take hours to dry. It was beautiful when I'd take an hour of my time to slather it in oil and work all the hundreds of tangles out, but eventually, I was like, "What's the point of having long hair if it's too frustrating to keep down?" So, over the course of the next couple months, I got it cut three times. The first time by my mom (she cut it to about two inches below my shoulders), then when it started to grow out again, I got it cut by a hairstylist to above my shoulders, then when that grew out, I got it cut again by a stylist to my current style, which is sort of a "feminine Beatle cut" as I like to call it. (Not a bowl-cut, btw. It looks like the Beatles' 1964/65 hairstyles) This is the first time that I've ever had my hair any shorter than a bob, and I adore it. It's so easy to take care of, and it looks decent 99% of the time (which was not the case with my long hair, lol). It still takes at least 2 or 3 hours to dry if I don't put it up in a towel or blow-dry it, but since it doesn't really touch my clothes, I don't mind too much. I've been trimming it myself at home, too, since it's not an elaborate pixie style. I've also been surprised at all the compliments i've gotten because of it! People say it really suits me, and I think so too. I sometimes feel like I was just meant to have this style my whole life.

Thank you for answering that question. I wondered something similar after watching the BBC Miniseries Wives and Daughters and seeing the character "Lady Hawiott" with VERY short hair. I thought she looked simply elegant. It's nice to know that the costume and hair department must've done their research too. I love short hair on women and I think yours looks beautiful.

I love how these 19th Century writers had zero self-awareness about this. Women's own desires for themselves doesn't seem to enter into their calculus. "Women should wear their hair long because I prefer it" seems to be the crux of the matter.

I cut my hair pixie short 6 years ago and have never looked back. It is sooooo easy (I also stopped dyeing it at the same time and am greying). I have felt more feminine with my short hair too which I was not expecting and had spent years being very attached to my long curls. Don’t think I’d ever go back - and super interested that I could go for a Victorian silhouette if I wanted and it still be accurate!

I always love your research. And as a short hair fan, this is wonderful. Over the years (I'm now 60) I've lost count of the number of times women of all ages have said they wished they had short hair but their husband/partner liked it long; the whole 'sexy' argument. Oh my.

I’m currently growing out a buzz cut and trying my best with the awkward stages, this is giving me all kinds of inspiration for better do’s!! Thank you Nicole!

My Granny's mom kept all her girls hair short because it was easier and less time consuming: She had 8 kids and a farm to help run. "Worry about your hair some other time, we've got chores to do!"

Actually regularly cutting the hair can stave off balding to some extent because it reduces pulling on the scalp caused by weight and combing through stubborn tangles. Also if you shave it 😮 (which seems harsh for most people but if you can get over the initial shock it’s not that bad) it reminds the hair to grow sufficiently dense to make up for the lack of coverage that you normally have with longer hair.

Thank you Nicole. Now we can associate short hair in XIX c with Suffragette movement and free thinking women like painters or novelist. Not only with convalescent, mental hospital patient or circus troupe member. Also hair piece ( like bun on back of head) can be pin to short hair and with hat of this era your hair will look more traditional.

I love the short hair with these Victorian dresses. I myself have short hair and love historical dress. Now that I'm aware that this was actually a thing...well then!

In the book, "Little Women", Jo has her hair cut off so that she can make some money to send to her sick father. Since "Little Women" was a very popular book, I wonder if maybe that helped to make short hairstyles among women more popular? Also, some women probably had short hair because they sold their long hair to wig makers, so that they could make a bit of extra money if they needed to for some reason!

Wow, the lady on the left at 13:10 had the perfect mod sixties hair style! If she was wearing a poor boy sweater, mini skirt, and high boots, she would have fit right in dancing to the Beatles music. Nobody would have guessed she was from 80 years back in time!

Jeezzzz. Good to know the Daily Mail was alive and kicking in the nineteenth century. A little puzzled that they disposed of the crazy hair-weight but kept the fabric tonnage.

You are well spoken! It's nice to watch a youtuber who doesnt have a crazy number of clips when they've edited their video.

Your haircut is absolutely darling! And fabulously done, wonderful content, as usual, Ms. Rudolph. I always wish I could give two thumbs up. 👍👍

i think they shaved their hair for hair loss treatment because hair lost due to stress usually grows back after a couple of months. So when someone shaves their thinner hair and about maybe 3-4 months later their hair starts to be fuller again it might apper like what fixed the issue was cutting the hair.

Huh, fancy that! Didn't expect there's a brief trend of short hair in the 1880s! Always love how you go about such historical topics, Nicole 😺 (...also that photo of Oscar Wilde with bowl cut hair sure gave me emotional damage 😩🤪🙃🥲💀🔥)

Probably what those Victorian ladies fell out of love with about short hair was that you have to cut it regularly or it sticks out at crazy angles by your ears. That's why I keep growing my hair out. Ain't nobody got time for that constant trimming. But washing and doing your hair is much easier. Btw. Those Victorian ladies look pretty good. I never really considered, though, how women's short haircuts are so sculpted today compared to some of those 1880s cuts.

Once I left home for University I never had my hair cut. My son didn’t have his cut much until a trim at 6 and kept it long until his profession did not give him a weekly 1.5 hours for wash and dry at the hairdressers. I don’t like short hair. Mine is pearlescent pale no longer charcoal or coloured golden blonde, and thick and past my ribs

The arguments are so familiar to me it's both funny and sad. I had mid back length and went to pixie, and I was told I looked like I was sick and I wouldn't be sen as beautiful by men. Let me tell you, whatever compliments men don't give to my hair is definnitely leveraed by all the compliments women do give me

Oh wow, I was looking for a video for hairstyle inspo for a party tomorrow and you uploaded just in time!

Another fascinating video! 💜💜💜

I love seeing all the old pictures with the mullets and pixie cuts!

I love the photos you found - it is endlessly fascinating to look at these photos with your guidance as what we need to look for.

This was a fascinating look on the subject! Thank you for sharing!

Very thoughtfully researched! Loved the many newspaper clips and photographs from the period. Well done!

My great-grandmother cut off her long ponytail and kept it in a covered glass bowl on her dresser. I have that bowl on my dresser. Every morning, she would gather the rest into a tiny ponytail in the back and wrap her ponytail around it to make it look like she had long hair. Wondering if this was going on more than we thought. She was not fashionable. Although others wouldn’t see it, I’m sure all of the extended family had seen her very short hair regularly.

I was interested that one writer said all kinds of women were cutting their hair short. Where I live now, it's rural, and windy, and sandy. Most people don't have that much money, and many women are ranchers and farmers, and care more about practicality than style, except for a few young women and teens who go for short hair and various colors. It's not common away from cities and larger towns. This is true for Anglo, Mexican and Indian women. Most grown women around here let it grow longer, and clip it up out of the way, make a bun, or wear it in a single braid, and some just wear it long, if they don't have crazy hair. Mine is curly and crazy, so it gets the braid or clips. Some women cut their hair shorter, but just a practical sort of short. Women often do dye their hair here, but that's a cheap and easy bit of vanity to manage. It seems to be both a practical and cultural preference. I thought it might be like that for country women then, too.

We would be interested in your 2023 video idea🌿have a nice holiday!🎄

I always enjoy your videos 💜 You are forever teaching me something new. Thank you for your hard work

Hi from Australia, l love your shows and looking forward to watching more video next year. Have a great Christmas and a safe New Year.

Your new haircut looks gorgeous on you, Nicole!

My hair goes all the way down to past my butt now but I have also had it cut short just to my ears… it’s amazing the difference just changing the length of your makes on a day to day. I imagine that’s why that’s one of the things people change the most often. Thank you for sharing

AH this is wonderful! I'm currently grown my hair out from a buzz cut and now I'll have a bench of historical styles to try out while it grows!

I grew up in a VERY Pentecostal area...a whole community full of women with hair so long is sweeps the floor... growing up as a child...it was always so majestic to me....but short hair is so chic and convenient.

I always learn valuable information from your videos! I did not know about short hair in the mid 1880s and I'm so excited about it. Some of those hairstyles were very cute and some were downright sultry. I had long hair for quite a few years because I vend at Ren fairs dressed as a viking. However, during the pandemic I cut it all off, close cropped to my skull and I LOVED IT!! All that weight off my neck! All that heat it absorbed, gone at last! And I discovered I had curly hair. Now it's grown out to just hit my shoulder and I think I'm going to crop it off again.

I've always wondered how my curly-headed Scottish Grannies coped with long hair. What's sitting on my head is a medium, irregular curl that's more prone to ringlets when short, and a wild, matted, intertwined mess when longer. For the past almost ten years my hair has been put up in locks and has now reached my waistline - which would not have been an option in Victorian times. The photos I have are from the early-to-mid 20th century and in them, anyone with curly hair has a short bob. - Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi

Women in 19th century moved to big cities and started working full time so there was no time for hairdresser appointments. Also, it was hard to keep a good appearance at work, wearing a complicated hairstyle. Cutting hair short was liberating.

loved all the pictures, it's so cool to see how women of the time fit short hair into their aesthetic!

I see a lot of "grow your hair long" videos talk about massaging the scalp to increase blood flow for hair growth. Since massaging your scalp is easy, free and you can do it right now (and it actually feels nice) I do it, but I'm not sure I'm actually doing anything for my hair length so much as having a little "me" moment at the end of the day.

Beatrix Potter had her hair cut off after a bout of rheumatic fever caused it to fall out in clumps. She hated it because her hat wouldnt stay on in the wind and once blew off into a fountain,and she and her father had to stand there while the park keeper fished it out.

This was so lovely to know.

1:30 - can attest that having even shoulder length thick hair during COVID last year my hair was actually hurting me at the roots. I had to wash it every or every other day, when normally I can go a few days between shampooing. My hair felt horrible, weird, strawlike, heavy, hurting, got so snarly from reclining in a chair all day and fever sweats day and night for a few days in a row. I was ready to shave it off. Glad I hadn't seen this video and your gorgeous hair then cuz I would have def gone for a pixie cute, you pull it off so well!

When I decided to stop trying to be a redhead, I cut my hair very short. It made growing it out so much easier. That was also when I embraced my grays. I go through phases where I grow it out (it's below my shoulders now) and then cut it short. I have very fine, straight, hair so it doesn't style well so long hair works best for me.

My knowledge of U.S. history is deficient. I knew about mistreatment of indigenous people, but forcibly trying to make everyone look "standardized" is horrific. While my hair has thinned in recent years, it still looks fine long (midway down my back). I tried short hair and bangs once as a child...still have PTSD whenever I get my hair professionally cut.😂

I also thought that either lice, or cutting the hair to sell could be options. I love your laugh over the interesting opinions from the period. Thank you for finding so many great photos. I adore old photos. Because of the longer time it took, people were usually serious looking, with a contemplative air about them. I always wonder what they were like, and what they were thinking. :)

I have short hair because it's easy to deal with. My sister used to ask why I had it short, and I did grow it out (it took two years and the longest I could grow it was to approximately my bra band) and I had it long for her wedding... When I walked past a mirror after getting it cut a few weeks after the wedding, it was one of those 'hello me!' moments. Short hair is 'me' in a way long hair isn't. I loved the pics you put up, especially the young lady on the left at the 13:00 mark - apart from the side parting where mine is centre-parted, that is very much like how I wear my hair! I don't intend to portray an 1880s lady, ever, but if I do fall into a fit of madness, I will gladly point to that picture. If she can do it, I certainly could! Also that Beatrix Potter wore her hair short is a revelation to me! I think Rene Zellweger had a long-hair wig for the film Miss Potter, though I'd have to watch that again to be certain. :D

well done and thank you! This is very interesting - I would also love to know about shaved heads for women, from nun's to convicts to collaborators to punks - will it ever be "normalised"?' And Nicole, please would you think about making a video on the history of dressing vintage. When and how and why did this start? Thank you so much for all the information you give!

Thank you for acknowledging Indigenous practices and how some of us as groups do prefer long hair on every gender for many reasons. My Dad's hair is nearly as long as mine. I used to like wearing my hair in an almost masculine short cut, but I haven't cut it properly since march 2020, and Culture is one reason I am leaving it long these days. I also do Medieval reenacting so it's fun to have natural Lonnnng hair for that, but when I had super short hair I'd wear a big false braid and/or a veil anyway, so it's true you can make any hair length look historical if you know your history (and sometimes use hairpieces! Very Historical)

At 13:39 I noticed that the lady's "brooch" in the right picture is actually a traditional piece of silver used in the Norwegian folk dress "bunad", it's specifically a belt clasp. Maybe she immigrated to the USA and didn't get to bring her entire dress, so she just had that small piece of her heritage with her and wanted to incorporate it into more modern clothes. Anyway that's just a little thought...

Thank you for this! I have a photo of a distant relative who had short hair! When I look it up and examine her clothing and figure out her age I am betting it will have been taken around 1885. She had very curly hair (as I do) and I can see why she went for short hair. Not knowing a lot about historic styles, I always assumed that short hair was never stylish for women. Thanks so much for your research!

I had heard that Coco Channel had cut off her hair after having singed her long hair on a hot water heater in her bathroom. Coco, being such a trend-setter, set the example and women cut off their hair to match. This story, of course, may be apocryphal, but I like it. BTW, your new cut looks great on you!

I have seen a photo of my (French Canadian but then living in an urban area in the US) great-great grandmother in her very fashionable youth, in an outfit she had made herself as a seamstress, And while she visibly had long hair in back, plaited and pinned up, the whole front of her head from the ears forward looked very much like a mass of shorn, short waves and curls. My cousin and I, who had never seen anything like this, wondered if this was some kind of optical illusion and took to calling her our great-grandmullet ☺️ what a delight to find this explanation! Based on the genealogical details, the photo was probably taken in the early to mid 1880's.

Thank you for posting this two days after I shaved my head again- I was worried that my daily historical clothes would look out of place and out of balance because usually you see at least a bun or braid of some kind. I will worry less now that I’ve seen these wonderful pictures😍 They had it right, my long hair is/was a nightmare in terms of maintenance. If it takes me like 10 minutes to get dressed I do not want to faff with my hair too- especially bc it’s fine and straight and never holds in any hairstyle (when a simple bun) more than a few hours. And the shorter hair looks surprisingly good with 1880s dresses anyways💁🏻‍♀️

And that means that these were the mothers/grandmothers to the young people of the 1920s. And might have been more likely to accept/allow their younger family member's haircuts, making it easier for them to do.

1:45 the reason cutting hair helps prevent later hair loss is because of the weight. If one is sick and hair becomes fragile, long heavy hair can pull it out. Especially with washing, because wet hair is heavy. Also when a person is sick their hair get tangled. Removing those tangled causes manual damage and boom 💥 more hair loss.

Is that woman in the thumbnail on the left wearing a short mullet?!? I LOVE it! 😂 Also…she looks A LOT like Kristen Wiig. ETA 13:30 Yes!!! Cornwallis West DEFINITELY had a mullet!!! Apparently this was Lady Patsy Cornwallis-West who was King Edward’s the 8th of England mistress. Also…to read the info you included about cutting hair being a punishment is so interesting! Here in New Orleans they didn’t make Creole women cut our hair but since we “caught the eye” of many French, Spanish and white men…the Tignon Laws of 1786 (an effort to stop placage unions in Louisiana) were passed and made it illegal to wear our hair exposed. Very interesting!

This makes so much senseee!! Like whenever I research Late 1880s early 1890s pics I would always think "Wow this updos really do look like trendy 2016ish men". And viceversa, I would scroll down instagram and think "all this guys look just like they are wearing late victorian ladies updos" So in a sense, I always though, Why have that luscious beautiful long hair to wear it in such a tight updo? haha I wish people would have had freedom to wear things as they pleased always... even today Thanks for this incredibly informative video! I´ll definitely implement this short hair trend in my victorian illustrations!

Thank you!

I'm curious. How do you do lighting so that you're lit, but not the background--side lighting? You have such beautiful lighting and I love the backdrop.