The Dreaded Hair Cut by Marisa Masterson

https://www.reddit.com/r/RandomVictorianStuff/comments
/1ipe4zp/women_with_unusual_very_short_
hair_photos_from/

Oh, the tragedy of it! My vanity rises to the forefront and wants to scream when I see it in the mirror--the terrible haircut! Yes, I made the mistake of allowing an untested hair stylist cut my hair. Not only cut it, but add layers and bangs. 

The experience started me thinking about cabinet cards I have seen. These stiff cardboard photos have stumped me in the past. Why, in a time when women wore long hair, did I see the images of women with harshly chopped or very short hair?

Was it a trend? Research immediately contradicted that possibility. Other than a movement in the Confederate South during that war, women did not purposefully cut their hair. So, why had these women shorn their locks?

Strangely, kerosene was one reason for women to chop off their hair. If a person's head became infested with lice, she would apply kerosene. A lot of it, too. That ruined the hair, and cutting it was required.

Desperation provided a second reason for short hair. In the nineteenth century and earlier, high fevers were difficult to treat. The common practice was to shave the sufferer's head, releasing the heat. 

A third and horrible reason for short hair had to do with institutionalizing a woman. It was common for women in mental institutions to have their hair cut very short. One more dehumanizing aspect connected with mental diseases.

The cause for the bob was not always horrendous. In the 1880s Chicago, some women deliberately cut their hair very short. Then they added a tightly curled front. In fact, President Grover Cleveland's sister was one pioneer of the look. This trend produced an outrage with people saying it would cause moral ruin.

By the end of the nineteenth century, more women cut their hair. They were the forerunners of the 1920s fad for shingled hair. These ladies needed to survive, to provide for themselves by working in factories. Shorter hair was convenient and cooler. 

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