Hairstyles of the Victorian Era
All photos from the private collection of Marna Jean Davis - All rights reserved, for study purposes only.
Please do not copy.

Hair in the Victorian Era

Let's face if most women wore their hair two ways in the Victorian Era- Long and UP! With only a few brief variations an adult female would keep her hair up in some manner or another. There will be those of you who will argue with this, and yes I have seen photos of women with their hair down but always in intimate settings, or sometimes a photo a young woman/girl. It just wasn't proper for the lady of this era to have her hair down on her shoulders. This can be a problem for the lady who wishes to recreate this era- because at first glance the hairstyles seem to require an immense length of hair. However, most lady's with at least medium length hair can accomplish a reasonably good Victorian hairstyle. First we will take a look at some hairstyles of the period, and then try to give you some hints to duplicate them.

Pre-bustle era(prior to 1868)- During this era there is not a lot of choice as to the proper hairstyle. There are NO bangs, hair is parted in the center of the head and drawn back neatly. Hairnets when worn were restricted to behind the ears or low on the nape of the neck to hold locks from cascading down. An 1860's style is shown at right. Early Bustle Era (1868-1875) Hair becomes very elaborate during this period. First the straight back no bangs look, develop into little twists or puffs on either side of the center part.

Then bangs or "fringe" start appearing, often tightly curled, and the volume of the hair slowly starts a move from the back of the head to the top. This is also the era when you will sometimes see a "cropped" head as hair was very valuable for false hairpieces during this era. The 1870's is also where you will see styles that "appear" to be down, but notice that these styles are always worn with nicer clothing and are quite elaborately arranged. These are also generally the styles that took false hairpieces to achieve. 1876-1880 During the middle years of this era the hair will reach its highest point. The long curls will be seen for evening wear, just one or two escaping from the cascade of hair to rest upon the shoulder.
1881-1889 Nearly all hairstyles have bangs, they can be straight, curled, frizzed. Some older ladies will cling resolutely to their center part, all one length hair. The remainder of the hair is pulled back on the back of the head. 1890-1898 Hairstyles becoming sleeker looking and about 1893-1896 Spanish combs will become very popular to accent the upswept topknot of hair.

How do I make mine look like that?

First go to your local Wal-Mart and pick up a package of Goody's ouchless no metal hairbands. They come in various natural hair colors in a package and one of them will blend in with your hair. They are virtually invisible, and a great help to keep things from becoming flyaway!

Hairpins- one can never have enough, and yes they did have metal hairpins by the 1850's so you won't have to make do with the large tortoise shell looking ones that never hold well anyway. I usually choose hairpins over bobby pins. My Demorest's advertise stay put hairpins that look as if they were simply twisted around each other.

Molding Manic- Ok I will blatantly endorse this high priced luxury because it's the only thing I have found that will make my curls actually stay in place on a humid day. Its pink and a 6-oz bottle will cost you close to $5 but it only takes a dab. Your other option is to let the natural oils build up in your hair to give them some hold- a few days of no shampoo will do this(rinse only) or buy some other type of goo to artificially "dirty" your hair.

Hairpieces- sometimes a style will call for a bit more hair than you might have. When buying hairpieces look for something that matches your color well and looks natural. Do not have it styled in cascading finger curls. Common hairpieces in the Victorian era would include a chignon or bun, the long curls to be artfully added to a pulled back hairstyle, or something that could be braided or woven in with your own hair to add more volume. Don't get a layered wig either- bangs were a shocking enough invention for most older ladies in the 1870's!

Rats- no not the little gray furry kind with teeth. Period magazines call them topsies, rouleaux crepes, and rouleaux. My granny showed me how to make these and I make several different kinds depending on what I want to use them for. She made narrow tubes of old pantyhose and stuffed them with haircombings or cotton. I personally prefer natural wool either wrapped or braided into shape of a shade close to my own hair color. I like the natural wool because my hair will "cling" to it. You can also save your haircombings and wrap them together to the desired shape and wrap one of the cheap invisible hairnets around them to hold them in place. I have a whole collection from short straight ones to large doughnut shaped ones depending on what I want to do with my hair. Topsies or rats are incorporated into the hairstyle by either winding the strand of hair around the topsie or rolling the topsie up into the hair. Depending on the look I want I even fill out my french twists with them.

Haircombs or barrettes- if your hair is layered around your face you will most likely need some of these to keep from getting frowsy looking. I like the fake tortoise shell looking combs for everyday wear, but fancy silver or gold ones can be worn for "dress up". The teeth of the actual period combs are a bit different from the modern ones, but you will only see the top of them when they are in you hair anyway. Haircombs were worn throughout the Victorian era. An option might be to build your own barrettes like the chignon pins shown. These were featured in an 1870 Demorest magazine and were made of Buffalo horn.Be careful when you do use barrettes that no "non-period" parts show.

Sponge curlers- (this hint was given to me by a friend)- buy the smallest sponge curler you can get and tightly roll your bangs in it overnight. (A bit of molding manic helps greatly!) Then the next day you are ready to go by just picking the curls gently apart with your fingers (you can't beat this when you are camping out!)
Now for some hairstyle ideas from the past!

Demorest 1870

This first style shows the back and sides of the same coiffure, and is arranged as follows. Part the hair from ear to ear about five inches from the front, and tie the back hair tolerably high. Then part the fron hair on bothe sides in a straight line with the eyes, roll the hair back from the temples as shown in the engraving, make a small Pompadour (puff) of the hair in the middle, and fasten a frisette between the puffs on the left and a ribbon bow on the right.. A braid en diademe (crown like) finishes the front. For the back, divide the hair into seven strands- three large and four small ones. Roll the large ones over good sized topsies, and the others over smaller ones. A medium sized braid cable shaped finishes this really graceful coiffure.

The next two hairstyles are from an 1879 Demorest

The right shows the hair done in a simple style for daywear. The front bangs are curled and combs hold the sides. The back could either be braided and looped back up or you could separate the hair into two strand and twist both strands very tightly taking care to twist them in the same direction, then hold both strands together at the bottom and allow them to "untwist" a bit. They should wrap around each other and form a softer twist. Fasten the bottom of the braid or twist with a hairband and tuck it back into the base taking care to hide the band, and fasten with hairpins. The left hairstyle is a simple bun. Gather the hair into a ponytail at the back of the head and twist the ponytail. Coil it into a bun around the ponytail holder and fasten with hairpins. Combs help hold the sides up and older ladies might favor a center front part and no bangs, but bangs could be worn in any of the popular styles with this.

The next style is from an 1884 Demorest magazine.

As you can see it is a simple french twist, but instead of curling the ends at the top, or tucking them back into the twist itself, the end is coiled in a small "bun" to one side of the twist. This particular one shows "fancy hairpins" scattered throughout. The rhinestone hairpins fashionable right now work very well if you choose to wear this style in the evening or with a fancy dress. For day wear- use plain hairpins to fasten it up. The bangs would be worn curled. I have also seen evening styles of this era with the french twist and curled ends on top.

Several ladies in the 1880's showing different styles of bangs worn. Left to right are tightly curled bangs (use a sponge curler), Finger curls (use lots of gel or molding manic), side twists with no bangs(this was also popular in the early 1870s and is useful to keep stray hair from your face while you work. Just part in the center and comb off a small section and start twisting toward your head. You can pick up more hair as you move toward the back.) and finally plain straight bangs.

This photo is approximately 1872. This might be a good style for a lady with shorter hair. You could part it center front and curl the sides and front tightly, then pull the back into a ponytail and add some long false curls to finish the look. This style looks like the back was probably rolled over a topsie of some sort, and likely had quite a bit of false hair added to it.

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