Victorian Hairstyles

Victorian Hairstyles

Early Victorian Hairstyles 1830’s-1860’s

1830’s-1840’s

The Victorians did not cut their hair and therefore it was very long and a lot of intricate hairstyles could be created with it. At the time the hair was very rarely down, instead it was put up and made to look as elaborate as possible as it made the women look more sophisticated and was associated with the upper class. The hair usually had a strong centre parting with the hair framed around the sides of the face to about chin level as at the time this was seen as flattering. The hair at the sides of the face would often be curled tightly and the curls always came forward towards the face as this was the desired look where as today the hair is usually curled away from the face as we now see this to be more flattering. Bonnets were also very popular and were often made so that the elaborate hairstyles would fit underneath the bonnet without being ruined. Alternatively hairstyles were created so that the bonnet could be attached to them so the bonnet would stay in place.

This is a portrait of Ann Randall from Woodstock in 1831 when she was 17 years old.

http://www.centralmass.org/files/releases/betsey-ann-randall-1831.jpg

Queen Victoria on her accession day in 1837

http://www.avictorian.com/victoria/1837_victoria_20June_accession.jpg

1840’s-1860’s

The hair was still curled at the sides of the face but often hung lower and the curls were not as tight, they had a more relaxed style. The curls were also slightly further back away from the face, but a strong centre parting was still popular. In order to create curls the Victorians used a curling iron that would have been heated in fire, coals, or by using gas heaters. Marcel tongs can be used today to recreate the small, tight curls.  Marcel tongs can also be used by men for styling beards and moustaches as was popular in Victorian times.

Examples of early and mid Victorian hairstyles.

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Drawings of early and mid Victorian hairstyles which women would have seen in publications and copied.

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Mid/late Victorian, 1860’s-1890’s

The curls in the hair were often at the back of the head instead of at the front or sides. The hair at the front of the head was sleeked back and lay flat against the scalp. If there was any texture at the front of the head it was on top of the head replacing the centre parting, and then the sides were sleeked back. The texture on the top of the head was often created by tight curls, sometimes they looked like little curled fringes. In order to create height at the back of the hairstyles a lot of padding and hair pieces were used to give structure and support. Hair pieces were also helpful to make the hair look good if the natural hair was damaged which it often was because of the amount of heat used on it.

Example of a mid Victorian hairstyle.

http://bartoscollection.com/images/200_Hair_BB_Bustle01a.jpg

Late Victorian illustration which women would have copied.

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Late Victorian 1890’s

Padding was still being used to create elaborate hairstyles and decorations such as flowers and little combs were used to make them more eye catching and extravagant. Curls were still being used at the hairline to create little fringes and the parting of the hair was still not obvious as texture was still being used on top of the head. Tendrils and ringlets started to be added to hairstyles to create a more relaxed style and the curls in the hair became looser too which created a more soft romantic style.

Modern interpretation of late Victorian hairstyles.

https://fashionthroughhistory.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/victorian-hairstyles.jpg

Late Victorian hairstyle using a hair piece and hair accessory.

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Throughout the Victorian era the hair would have been quite dirty and matted as they very rarely washed their hair. Occasionally nobility would wash their hair, perhaps for a special occasion such as a wedding but the lower classes would hardly ever wash their hair. The hair would be very frizzy and damaged because of the amount of heat used on it and so hair pieces were often incorporated into the hairstyles. Also lard and oils were used to add shine and combat some of the frizziness. The hairstyles they created were often copied from tutorials in publications such as magazines.

A Victorian Inspired Hairstyle

In this hairstyle I sectioned the hair off at the front and sectioned hair to go into the four plaits at the sides. I then put the rest of the hair into a ponytail and made two plaits from the hair. I folded the plaits upwards and over the ponytail and pined them. I then made four plaits with the sections of hair at the sides, overlapped them and then pined them around the updo, using them to hide the band of the ponytail at the bottom. I then curled the front of the hair, making sure I curled towards the face to keep the Victorian style.

Then I pined the curls so that all of the hair was up to see the difference between having them loose and having them pinned. I liked the shape of the curls when they were hanging down but I think the hairstyle works better as a whole when the curls were pinned as all the hair is up the style looks more complete.