Early Victorian Hairstyles

During Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837- 1901 hairstyles changed quite drastically, it can be split into two distinct areas of change from the early to mid and the mid to the late Victorian era.

During the Early Victorian era the hair was very long as they didn’t cut it, so they would wear their hair up to stop it from being messy. They would rarely wash their hair and if they did they would use soap, so the condition owl usually be quite dry. They would usually have the back of the hair with a high or mid bun, usually it would be twisted of plaited into the bun rather than neatly made. For the front of the hair, it would usually be middle parted and slicked down. To frame the face they would details the sides. They could do this by curling the sides, such as sausage curls or they would plait the sides so it hung near the ears. You can see this within these portraits from the time. 

DeCourtais 125. (). Annotated Bibliography . Available: http://individual.utoronto.ca/beaujot/web2/bib.html. Last accessed 4 February 2015.

Haug, J. (). Victorian Hair Jewellery. Available: http://www.victoriana.com/Jewelry/victorian-hair-jewelry.html. Last accessed 4 February 2015.

We can see this particularly with Queen Victoria's Portraits from her coronation and her wedding day. On her wedding day the hair is sleek in a centre parting. The back of her hair was up in a bun and the sides were two neat plaits to frame her face. Her Coronation hairstyle was along the same lines. 

Wikipedia. (30 january). Wedding Dress of Queen Victoria. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_dress_of_Queen_Victoria. Last accessed 4 February 2015.

Between the 1840's-1850's hairstyles became more ornate, as the curls that framed the face became longer. However the sleek and centre parting carried on being popular. Some would experiment with the middle parting by making it into a v shape. They would use tongs to create the curl and you could vary the size. 

Reference:

The Barrington House . (25 July, 2012). Victorian and Edwardian Hairstyles. Available: http://bartoscollection.com/vehairstylesbyera.html . Last accessed 4 February 2015.