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I've heard somewhere that there was a minor trend in Europe in the 1920's for men to have long hair. Anyone know anything more about this? I have a hunch it might be connected with the dada movement. Even better, does anyone know where I could find pics? I ask because I'm going to a "1920's" themed costume party. Thanks!
http://the-light.com/mens/samson/4/houseof5.jpg
Welcome, Spindly Fingers. Here is a photo from 1931 taken here in the US. These guys had great manes, many past waist length. It is here in Victor's site. (Note the address.) I don't know about Europe, though.
Absalom
WOW i don't think i have ever seen doods with that long of hair in such a old photo before.
That photo is a one of a kind!
I have never seen any long hair guys like this from the 1930s.
It actually reminds me alot like the hippies of the late 60's- early 70s era. Some of those blokes have really nice waist length manes.
Those guys were incredible. Here is a link to more info regarding them:
http://www.peppergame.com/
Regards,
Mike
High!
Yes, there has been such a trend in Germany back then... especially just after World War I and in the early 20s, just google for "Inflationsheilige" ("inflation saints"), "Gusto Gräser" (who was a friend and mentor of Hermann Hesse!), "Muck-Lamberty", "Willy Ackermann"... in the unsettled times after WW I, many travelling esoterics and mystics roamed central Europe with their followers, some of them attracting tens of thousands... politically, they ranged from anarchists to fierce nationalist-racists, most of them were influenced by the first German youth movement, the Wandervogel, the origins of the German ecology movement can be traced back to them... and, yes, many of them sported long hair and beards!
See you in Khyberspace!
Yadgar
Now playing: Es ist soweit (Spliff)
Hello,
This is no different than the cult leaders and their more or less excentric cults that made the headlines in the seventies and eighties, and nineties. They took advantage of unsettled times, to convince the people that there is something better in their cult. Some cult leaders had long hair, like "Rael", a ufo cult leader, but most had short hair and even insisted on short hair on the part of their members, as they ran their cult more or lesss like a business whose purpose is to get more new members.
Have a nice day,
Georges in Montreal.
Thanks for the great info guys! Great little community here, by the way.
Supposedly the soldier returning from WWI brought back the short hair trend.
In order to reduce the problems with fleas and lice the military started requiring very short hair cuts. Apparently these guys maintained the look when they got back and it caught on until it became the expected standard.
Try diging up some phtots from the 1800s and you'll see that long hair was more common than short hair for men.
The short hair also made it *very* easy to spot a conscripted soldier in a crowd of folks with regular length hair. That made identifying deserters rather simple and was a *big* demotivator to simply cut and run.
Hello Castaway,
It is hard to tell whether "most" men had long hair before 1920. I have heard from my mom, and by some research, that it was common for boys have their hair grow long until age seven (sometimes eight when he started school, sometimes earlyer). At that age he got his first haircut, or short haircut if trims were common until then. As for older boys and men, in the late 1800's, it seemas that the longest hair was covering the ears with very conspicous sideburns. Artistic and bohemian types, like in our present times may be seen with long hair, but they were the exception. In the mid 1800's long hair was seen only on older guys who lived their prime in the 1700's when long hair and powdered wigs were still commonplace.
At the link below, comming from a Civil War reenactment society, are a critical view of how some participants in reenactments dress. Long hair is frowned upon in this group as you will see.
http://www.citizenscompanion.com/
Another reason why people thought men had long hair in the 1800's is because, compared to the crewcut fifties and early sixties, anything else seemed "long". If one uses a yardstick from the mid seventies, when a beatle's cut was seen as short and not mid-length (By my yardstick, mid-length is shoulder-length), the whole 1800's would have been seen as a short-haired period. Short hair came with industrialization, and hair got even shorter after World War I.
Have a nice day,
Georges in Montreal.
