It's OK, Yankee Brooke! You're In The Mode, Rock That Curly Hair!

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
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Only one of countless fashion images featuring curly hair, it's almost hard to find illustrations where the fashion queen has straight hair.

Sorry to have yet another curly hair thread. There's just so much here you fortunate females blessed with copiously curling locks deserve your own thread of honor.

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Isn't she wonderful? Pretty sure she's a bride, too. Those ringlets were carefully created from what was probably a head full of riotous curls.

@Yankee Brooke's curly haired lament turns out to be needless- those of you whose curls are the bain of their living history experience can feed the carrot pompade to the rabbits, take the tongs off the stove and cultivate a smug persona.

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Short, curly hair!

For one thing, checking out both Godey's and Demorest's between 1861 and 1865, ( think Vogue ), most of what were images depicting cutting edge fashion featured waves, curls and carefully cultivated ringlets. Those hair pieces advertised to add volume ( and fashion )? Curls glued to a comb.

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You could buy your curls if nature had been too stingy to bestow them on you.

AND Belle Boyd sure rocked her curls-
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Take a good look at quite a few women wearing the classic ringlets- it's women who turned natural curls into era glory.

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This couple is wonderful. If ever a man were dapper.... she seems to have a hair net maybe attached to that pearl band?

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This musician seems to have carefully arranged her curls into tight waves?

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I can't tell if her hair was naturally curly before the ringlets- she may have had to scorch her hair to pull off fashion.

And another wedding photo.
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Pretty sure she was born with hers!

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She's probably a little post war, not much. I'm smitten by that ribbon holding the curls in place. Cute or what?

We kept at it. This is post war, one of my grgrgrandmothers- yes, those were very tight, natural curls she beat into some kind submission but note the few allowed to decorate the rest.
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There really are a TON more- enough here ( I hope ) to make the rest of us get the tongs out again.
 
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Was researching photos of Jackson, TN during the war and came across the Tennessee Virtual Archive (click to go there), a collection of war artifacts documented by the libraries in Tennessee. And low and behold ... guess what these silly looking things are (compliments of Madison, Co, Tn)? Curlers!! Made of leather. Who knew? (not me) Cool, eh?
 
I was born with very thick curly dark hair. I would have loved to have less thickness and able to wear it straight in high school (60's). Most of my life I've had to wear it shorter but now that I'm older I'm glad for the thickness because a lot of older women's hair gets thinner as they age & thankfully mine hasn't.
 
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Was researching photos of Jackson, TN during the war and came across the Tennessee Virtual Archive (click to go there), a collection of war artifacts documented by the libraries in Tennessee. And low and behold ... guess what these silly looking things are (compliments of Madison, Co, Tn)? Curlers!! Made of leather. Who knew? (not me) Cool, eh?

Those are... interesting. At first I thought they were fishing tackle.
 
Love the curly hair. I was born with straight hair. Had perms all my life. My Mom got my first perm at age 3. I have some pictures that were made just after got it.


I'd forgotten those perms! Remember how they smelled?? What's so funny is how we all run out to buy whichever hair it is we weren't born with- hair straighteners or perms and curlers. I've always been smitten by crimpers, best way to fry your hair ever invented. They've been around for awhile.
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