The Classic Bob Cut

A Classic haircut never goes out of style, but what makes it a classic? The shape, the style or how the person is wearing it? Who came up with it? And what makes it enduring?

In the 1920’s cultural shifts were happening, some women were cutting their hair as a show of autonomy and rebellion against the patriarchy and times that said wearing your hair long was godly, prim and proper. And the act of cutting your hair was thought of as being rebellious and loose or of low morals. Seems crazy now, but it was the way it was about 100 years ago. When i think of that time of hair rebellion, one of the things I think of is the the movie Bernice Bobs her Hair with young actress Shelley Duval starring. Made in the 70’s, it’s a story about a young woman Bernice, visiting her family cousins in society and her feeling a bit unnoticed and overshadowed by her prettier, more popular with the boys cousine. So to get noticed, she decides to cut her hair, much to the the shock and awe of her family and friends. The boys on the other hand end up taking a shine to Bernice and her new sense of freedom. Seems tame now, but for a laugh you should see it. The ending is great as we see Bernice take her irreverent revenge on her cousin.

Silent film star Louise Brooks also comes to mind, with her raven colored hair cut into a geometric box bob with straight blunt fringe. Cut by hairdresser Saveli who at that time was the only hairdresser in Nyc using a razor.

“Saveli himself attended to my hair. He shortened my bangs to a line above my eyebrows, shaped the sides in points at my cheekbones, and shingled the back of my head. Barbara was pleased. ‘As a mattra-fact Pie Face,’ she said, ‘you are beginning to look almost human.”-Louise Brooks.

She is striking in this new shape as it hugs the back of her head, cut short like a mans and angles forward lip length accentuating her jawline and burgundy pout. It’s drastic and dramatic. The jet black color alone paired against her alabaster skin tone is remarkable and so new and modern for the time! And that’s what got me thinking, what makes her haircut a classic and why has that cut endured the test of time?

Fast forward 40+ years to 60’s London and you will see the master of hair technique and geometry, Vidal Sassoon creating similar shapes for women at that time. Before Sassoon, to get your hair done at a salon meant that first you had to be able to afford it. Secondly it was a totally different experience than the salon experience we know of today. Then you would go to the salon about once a week for a ‘wash and set’, where you would get your hair shampooed and set with rollers and put under a dryer until dry and then your hair would be brushed out and styled into a shape that favored your face shape and current fashion of that time. The idea that this was where real ‘hairdressing’ took place as it was these hair masters that elevated this experience, like Are Gallant and Sydney Guilaroff who played stylists to the stars.

What Vidal Sassoon did was revolutionary!

He introduced the idea of ‘wash and wear’ and the idea was meant to free women from the burden of going to the hair salon to have their hair set and styled. It couldn’t have been more timely for The Women’s Revolution was taking place at the same time. To be autonomous and free from societies norms of what and how and who a woman could be. Don’t get me wrong you still could go to a hairdresser and have your hair done and many famous stylists grew into fame around this time, but it was about choice, and the choice was hers and hers alone.

Vidal Sassoon had his muses, Mary Quant’s Bob, Grace Coddington’s Five Point were just a few of his masterpieces. When he cut Mia Farrow’s hair for the Polanski film, Rosemary’s Baby, it was a media frenzy unlike anything before and was cut in a boxing arena with lights and cameras like a boxing match! I mean, what a marketing genius. The winner it seems was Mia as it launched her new career and fame as a serious film star.

Vidal taught us how to cut hair with the clients hair at natural fall and Blow dry hair with a handheld dryer! He talked about the beauty of face shape and head-shape and how a cut could accentuate one’s features. He also taught us about the importance of higher education and developing your craft. Being a hairdresser was not a drop out career and you could be very successful and make very good money. For those of us who were trained in the “Sassoon Method”, cutting your first bob was scary, rigid and ritualistic and once mastered was a sign of growth and great skill. To this day It still is.

Fashion is so cyclical. Hair cut into geometric shapes and short skirts to match and the swinging 60’s were born, kinda similar to what had happened in the 20’s, right? As time moved on so did these haircuts. From perming in the 70’s to straightening in the 90’s, to eventually using the razor as Bumble and bumble introduced in the early 2000’s. The classic bob haircut is now more current than ever, todays versions are my favorite, undone and lived in and a bit mussed up. Not too fussy. But we wouldn’t t have gotten here without our heroes and heroines of the past pointing always to a new vision of tomorrow and moving forward.

yours in style,

SJ xo