Period Mens Hair

[ltdan25th]

PLease forgive me if this is not the correct place to post this.
I have benn trying to find out how the men wore thier hair during the Civil War period. I know tha most of you will just say to look at original pictures but it is very hard to tell when most of the ones I have seen they are all wearing their kepis or slouch hats.I portay a Federal Officer and want to look more the part. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated,.

[Amtmann]

Try looking at Civilian Pictures.


PLease forgive me if this is not the correct place to post this.
I have benn trying to find out how the men wore thier hair during the Civil War period. I know tha most of you will just say to look at original pictures but it is very hard to tell when most of the ones I have seen they are all wearing their kepis or slouch hats.I portay a Federal Officer and want to look more the part. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated,.

[Texian]

Check out the following thread on hair length for a start:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=411&highlight=hair+styles

Hope this helps,
---Ed

[theknapsack]

Carte d' Visites are good also, sometimes and a lot of the time they don't have their hats/caps on. Civilian Pictures are great also.

[Justin Runyon]

The guy who cuts my hair, also a friend, and I sat down with the Harewood Hospital photographs to study. Not only is the style duifferent then, but they seem to have a completely different way of cutting it. Hes been able to "reproduce" that to a T. If there was an approved vendor list ofr Hair, id put him on it.

Try the afore mentioned series of photographs, they are exceptional clarity (as they were used for medical education purposes) taken of men right out of the field (no prewar fancy haircuts) and none of the fellows are wearing hats.

[ElizabethClark]

I ditto the suggestion for looking at pictures of citizens. It's not like there's one special "military" hairstyle--you're going to see the same variety you'd see if these men were in their regular lives. The majority of men's images from the era (non-military) that I've seen don't have a hat--and even with a hat on, you can usually get some clue to the hair.

Another source would be portraiture of the time, painted and drawn. While there is some allowance for artistic license, the basic styles will be there.

[Drygoods]

Here is an interesting quote that I read from Mary Chestnut's diary.....
August 19, 1864
Wayside Hospital, Columbia SC

"One man had hair as long as a woman's. A vow, he said. He has pledged himself not to cut his hair until war (was) declared (over) and our Southern country FREE.
Four of them had made this vow. All were dead but himself. One was killed in Missouri, one in Virginia, and he left one at Kennesaw Mountain. This poor creature had one arm taken off at the socket. When I remarked that he was utterly disabled and ought not to remain in the army, he answeered quickly. "I am First Texas. If old Hood can go with one foot, I can go with one arm. Eh?"

interesting quote but it seems enough for her to comment that this may have been the first man she met with such long hair.
Judith Peebles