Bobbed Hair of 1920s in America

Hairstyles of the 1920s created more controversy in hair fashion than in any other period of American culture and one hairstyle, known simply as "the bob," would be at the center of this great debate. Bob haircut was first introduced during the Great War. The bob haircut would eventually cause a revolution in the way women would wear their hair. "The New Woman of the 1920s" described Irene Castle, Mary Garden, and Mary Pickford's decisions to adopt, or not to adopt the new style.

The bob hair was simply a blunt cut, level with the bottom of the ears all around the head. Bob hair was worn with the hair brushed off of the forehead. Bob hair was a simple look but an extreme departure from the feminine looks created by Gibson called Gibson Girl. When a woman had her hair cut short, she began wearing long necklaces and short skirts. Irene Castle, dancer, started the bob hair for convenience before entering the hospital for an appendectomy. She knows that she would forever trigger a revolution in 20th century hair fashion. Mary Garden, a singer, also bobbed her hair because she felt freer than long hair. Mary Garden described bobbed hair as a "state of mind and not merely a new manner of dressing my head. It typifies growth and alertness." She also described bobbed hair as a progressive and freedom.

Mary Pickford, a film star known as "America's Sweetheart", rejected the bob hair. Mary Pickford argues that long hair make woman more feminine than bob hair. She also argues that long hair can be dressed according to mood or circumstance. Mary Pickford also imagined how fairy princess would or Elaine, the lily maid, looked like with short, bob hairstyle and she said, "[it] is unthinkable and almost shocking." Some women look well with a bob because it depends upon the shape of the head and the size of the woman. Mary Pickford said, "if woman is large, bobbed hair will make her head seem disproportionately small and will cause her neck to look too large for the face above it." Marry Pickford also talks about her family. If she changes her hairstyle to bobbed hair, then she would never be forgiven by her husband or her mother. The real reason she did not bob her job was the mail she received from her fans saying, "[please] do not bob your hair." "Please do not cut off your curls." After all the arguments Mary Pickford talked against the bob hair in the article,