I will be looking into the different times in the Victorian era at the different styles which came about, from the subtle put ups to the hair pieces and elaborate hats they wore.
Early Victorian Hair Styles
Most women had long hair, they didn't have hair cuts and styles like we do now, they either had just the ends cut off or they were singed off! Girls were allowed to have their hair down but when they reached the age of 15/16 they had to have their hair up, it was a sign of being respectful. Most women who had their hair down were actresses and models who were just looking some romance and intimacy.
Before the Civil War it was very fashionable for women to have sausage curls, they would frame the face and go all around the head. I don't personally like this hair style as I think sausage curls look terrible now but back then it was how everyone had heir hair.
If it was't in sausage curls then they had it all back in braids and curls pinned up. The front of the hair would be in a middle parting, braided and then brought down around the ear and pinned in to the back of the hair too. Fringes weren't in fashion at all, that's why the middle parting was in place and the hair framed it, it was very flattering to hair the hair down to the jaw on the sided.
Other common styles were having the hair all up at the back in a braided bun and then the front was in a middle partin again but the hair was loose with long sausage curls framing the face. If the hair wasn't down then the curls were rolled up going down the sides of the head. They looked like little sausage rolls which much have been very fashionable back then.
They would decorate the hair using flowers, leaves, ribbons and jewels, later on though hair pieces, curlers and hats became all the rage and then hair started to change.
The Victorian's were all about cleanliness of the hair and always wanted to look respectful, it reflected their dress as well.
Late Victorian Hair Styles
Ladies hair started to change from the middle partings and the hair down the front to wearing a chignons on the back of the head was all the fashion. Every change in hair styles was still reflected in the dress style too. The hoop skirts came in to fashion and so did using pads to make rolls or wings in the front of the hair.
In 1870 hair started to move higher up the back of the head and the styles were getting bigger too. The pompadour style was all the rage pulling the hair up on to the top of the head and leaving the front of the hair to fall around the face, they would have it curling or crimped down each side too. They were a called the pin curl bangs, a little hair was just over the forehead but they were curled in to place, very fashionable and even featured in Vogue.
Rats were added in to the hair to give lift and volume when styling, a rat is a collection of hair from your brush which you mould into a shape and pin it in to the hair. Hair was usually always pinned up on top of the head and then a twist started to come in to fashion.
Later in the 1890's a look called the Gibson Girl was created. The hair was pulled on to the top of the head in to a bouffant style, it looked very elegant and was a massive trend going through to the Edwardian era.
Hats were still in fashion and so were hair pieces to give the extra volume and extra style to the hair.
Hats & Hair Pieces
During the 1830's hats which sported feathers, jewels, frills and ribbons were all over, it was the must have fashion accessory of that time. Another thing they used to have in their hair was birds and birds feathers - bit of a weird accessory but women did wear them.
The shape and style of the hat changed through the era as styles changes, from big head dresses with the feathers to bonnets with frills.
Bonnets were very big at first as the hair was bigger and piled up on the back of the head, the bonnet went over the hair, as hair started to get smaller the bonnets changed shape and size to match the hair.
An American magazine called "Godey's Lady's Book" was so popular during the Civil War, it had ladies new styles, a piano music sheet and measurements for new garments. It provided women with new fashions and it gave them chance to make them at home.
From around 1866 bonnets had pink bows, frills, silk ribbon and ties with flowers on a woven straw bonnet. Girls would also wear bonnets to mimic their mothers too.
Hair pieces were added in to the hair for extra volume, extra hair to make it even bigger and for style. You could get full on hair pieces which were added on to the back of the head sticking up and out of the head. These would then have a bonnet over the top too. You could get pins with strands of curls to pin in the back too or they would be on a comb and slipped in to the hair.
They were very popular because they looked very good but they were also good for women who had thin hair. It enabled them to have good hair too, ladies weren't restricted to having one style of hair as there were numerous different looks they could make with these hair pieces.
The Marcel Wave
The first set of hair tongs were first brought about by a French hair dresser called Marcel Grateau, women wanted their curls to last and stay in the hair so he came up with a design to create that. He made the first tong, they were heavy and you had to heat them up to get the hair warm and change the shape of the hair. The tong was a great success and it let women have more freedom with their hair and change the style more. The waves in women's hair was then called "The Marcel Wave".
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