Women's Hair

     In the late 1930's young caucasian women still maintained a style known as a page boy cut that began to gain popularity in the 1920's. The page boy cut is a blunt cut where the lady has her bangs cut straight across above her eyes and the ends of her hair are a blunt straight around cut too.


The cut can be worn short; cut to the edge of the chin, or can be worn longer; to the shoulders.1 The page boy cut was also known as a "bob" cut. Hair designer, M. Louis stated in his book on hairstyles that the longer version of the "bob" "lends itself easily to manipulation".2 When he says manipulation, he means that many things can be done with hair that is cut this way. It is easy to work with.

     The late 1930's was a big time for hairstyles because women were not wearing many hats. They chose to wear bowknots, clips, or snoods.3 If you'd like to learn more about hairpieces of the time, go to my page about hairpieces. Below are some hairstyles of the time.4 Depending on your screen, you may or may not be able to read what is written. The bottom right style is a page boy bob with the ends rolled under. As you can see with most of the styles, some type of curling is involved in making it. Women of the time used setting lotion to help them keep their curls in place throughout a whole evening. Setting lotion or hair tonic, as it was sometimes called, is the equivalent to today's mousse or gel. All the styles below were in style from 1930 to 1940.





     In the early 1940's the styles continued to be about short styles, mainly for utility sake.5 Women adapted the same styles of the 30's with fake pieces of the 40's to give the appearance of longer hair without the hassle. To find out how they did this go to the section on "Extensions" on my hairpieces page.

Endnotes

1) Napolitan. p.74
2) Napolitan. p.75
3) The Modes in Hats and Headdress p.305
4) The Modes in Hats and Headdress p.309
5) The Modes in Hats and Headdress p.315

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