35 Lovely Photos That Defined Hairstyles of Victorian Girls in the Mid-19th Century

Girls in the Victorian period wore their hair long. Unless a girl was very ill, or a pauper in the workhouse, her hair would not be cut short.

Commonly girls’ hair was worn loose, with a centre parting. Sometimes this style was cut with a fringe or drawn back under a hair band. Alternatively, sections of hair at each side of the head might be pulled back. These were twisted and secured with hairpins or tied back with a bow.

On wealthier girls, bows were often large. Outside, they wore hats – sun bonnets and straw hats for play. Poorer girls who worked as servants would have their hair braided or tied back and covered with a cap. If they were foundlings or orphans their hair might be cropped short on entry to the orphanage or workhouse.

Here is a set of lovely photos that shows what hairstyles of Victorian girls looked like in the 1840s and 1850s.