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Crew cut

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A Marine with crew cut, 2006

A crew cut is a type of haircut in which the hair on the top of the head is cut relatively short,[1] graduated in length from the longest hair at the front hairline to the shortest at the back of the crown.[2][3] The hair on the sides and back of the head is tapered short.[3][4] Other names for this style of taper include tight cut and fade.[5][6][7]

Crew cuts can make the face look more defined. They are popular with men and boys who want a short, low-maintenance hairstyle.[8][9][10] Crew cuts have almost exclusively been worn by men and boys, especially those of high school and college age who want to be perceived as clean cut and athletic.[11][12][13][14]

The crew cut and flat top crew cut were formerly known as the pompadour or short pompadour, as well as the brush cut, and had been worn since at least the mid-18th century.[15][3][16]

Etymology

A Marine lieutenant with a crew cut.

The term, originally crew haircut, was most likely coined to describe the hairstyles worn by members of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell and other university crew teams, which were short to keep the hair from being blown into the face of the rower as the boat races down the course opposite the direction the rower is seated with both hands on the oars, making it impossible to brush the hair out of the face.[17][18][19][20]

The name drew a contrast to football haircuts, which had been long since 1889 when Princeton football players began wearing long hair to protect against head injury, thereby starting a trend, not altogether welcome; mop haired football players were frequently caricatured in the popular press.[21][15]

History

In 1895, the championship Yale football team appeared with "close-cropped heads" and subsequently long hair went out of style for football. Almost concurrently, the first helmets began to appear.[21]

Prior to the invention of electric clippers with a motor in the handle in 1921 and their ensuing marketing and widespread use, barbers considered the perfect short pompadour to be the most time consuming style to trim.[22][23][24] [25]

Crew cuts were popular in the 1920s and 1930s among college students, particularly in the Ivy League. The style was often worn as a summer haircut for its cooling effect.[18][19][20][26]

Men inducted into the military in World War II received G.I. haircuts, crew cuts, and a significant proportion continued to wear a crew cut while serving and after, as civilians.[11][27][28][29][30][31]

As long hair became popular in the mid 1960s, the crew cut and its variants waned in popularity through the 1970s and 1980s.[32][33] The crew cut came back in style in the 1990s, popularized by Boyz II Men in 1992, and then became exceedingly popular in the 2000s and 2010s among youths and adults alike.[34][35]

Styling

The hair on the sides and back is cut with a coarse clipper blade from the lower edge of hair growth to or nearly full up to the crown. The clipper is gradually arced out of the hair at the hat band to achieve a taper. Clipper lines are blended out so there is a seamless transition between lengths.[36][37][38] A tapered back and sides generally contours to the head shape; the hair progressively graduates in length from longer hair at the upper portions of the head to shorter hair at the lower edge of hair growth on the back and sides.[39]

With a semi-short crew cut, the hair on the sides and back is cut with a coarse clipper blade about half way up to the crown; the clipper starts to gradually arc out of the hair at the top of the ears.[40][41][42] Short crew cuts are sometimes referred to as butch and high and tight. Though with the exception of variant forms, a butch differs from a crew cut in that the top hair is cut a uniform short length.[43]

A short pompadour with a flat top was considered the standard while a somewhat curved appearance across the top was suggested for wider foreheads and face shapes.[22] The style with a flat top acquired the name brush top short pompadour and the style with a more rounded top, round top short pompadour.[44] A fade is where the hair on the sides and back is cut close to the head and then tapered upward to a longer length on the top of the head.[45][46]

A short crew cut might have a similar proportional graduated difference in the length of the hair on the top of the head. If a short crew cut is three fourths of an inch (19mm) at the front hairline, the length of the hair at the back of the crown might be one fourth of an inch (6mm). A crew cut where the hair on the top of the head is graduated in length from the front hairline to a chosen point on the mid to back part of the crown as a flat plane, of level, upward sloping or downward sloping inclination is known as a flat top crew cut or flattop.[47][48]

A long crew cut can be referred to in the US as an ivy league crew cut or ivy league.[15][49] A long crew cut might be graduated in length on the top of the head from one and a half inches (38mm) at the front hairline to one half inch (13mm) at the back of the crown. [50][51]

See also

References

  1. ^ Trusty 1971, p. 108.
  2. ^ Trusty 1971, p. 107.
  3. ^ a b c Thorpe 1967, p. 132.
  4. ^ Trusty 1971, p. 107-108.
  5. ^ Booker 1892, p. 24.
  6. ^ Modern Barber College 1946, p. 50.
  7. ^ Moler 1905, p. 40-43.
  8. ^ Thorpe 1958, p. 133.
  9. ^ Trusty 1971, p. 113.
  10. ^ Stephan Talty (April 19, 1998), "Crew Cuts Forever", The New York Times
  11. ^ a b "MANNERS & MORALS: Teen-Age Moderation". Time. 16 February 1959.
  12. ^ Moler 1928, p. 41-45.
  13. ^ Moler 1928, p. 100.
  14. ^ Scali-Snipes 1999, p. 282.
  15. ^ a b c Trusty 1971, p. 97.
  16. ^ Moler 1911, p. 82-83.
  17. ^ "John Hay Whitney Philanthropist, Film Producer, and Father of the Crew Cut". Yale Alumni Magazine. April 2002.
  18. ^ a b "Pompadours Passe Says Barber; Collegetown Condemns Crew Cuts". The Cornell Daily Sun. Vol. 100, no. Number 141. 25 March 1937. {{cite news}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
  19. ^ a b "Obecure Origins of the Crew Haircut Revealed by Harvard Square Barbers". The Harvard Crimson. 23 November 1935.
  20. ^ a b "Two-Fisted, Stout Jawed Movie Idol Plus Crew Haircut Resembles Composite Undergraduate". The Daily Princetonian. Vol. 65, no. Number 46. 27 March 1940. {{cite news}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
  21. ^ a b Beau Riffenburgh, The Official NFL Encyclopedia: "The Helmet"
  22. ^ a b Moler 1911, p. 82.
  23. ^ History of Andis
  24. ^ Andis, Our History
  25. ^ Thorpe 1967, p. 120.
  26. ^ "Crew Haircut With Back Sheared Is The Male Method For Beating The Heat". Life. 11 (2). 14 July 1941.
  27. ^ "The Men 300,000 New Sailors Will Make The Navy Their Career". Life. 9 (18). 28 October 1940.
  28. ^ Gordon L. Rottman (2007), Fubar: Soldier Slang of World War II, p. 52, ISBN 9781846031755
  29. ^ George Thomas Simon (1974), Glen Miller and His Orchestra, p. 343, ISBN 0306801299
  30. ^ Victoria Sherrow (2006), Encyclopedia of hair, p. 194, ISBN 9780313331459
  31. ^ "The Great Hair Hangup". Boys' Life: 45. July 1967.
  32. ^ "The Great Hair Hangup". Boys' Life: 29. July 1967.
  33. ^ Kaminsky (10 May 1974), "Long Hair-Style Trends Cut Short", The Cornell Daily Sun, 100 (Number 141) {{citation}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
  34. ^ Victoria Sherrow (2006), Encyclopedia of hair, p. 101, ISBN 9780313331459
  35. ^ Victoria Sherrow (2006), Encyclopedia of hair, p. 54, ISBN 9780313331459
  36. ^ Moler 1928, p. 100-103.
  37. ^ Thorpe 1958, p. 129.
  38. ^ Trusty 1971, p. 98.
  39. ^ Scali-Snipes 1999, p. 259.
  40. ^ Modern Barber College 1946, p. 51.
  41. ^ Moler 1905, p. 41-45.
  42. ^ Moler 1928, p. 91.
  43. ^ Thorpe 1967, p. 129, 132, 133, 135, 142, 143.
  44. ^ Thorpe 1958, p. 141.
  45. ^ Trusty 1971, p. 108, 110, 113.
  46. ^ Moler 1928, p. 94.
  47. ^ Thorpe 1967, p. 133-134.
  48. ^ Trusty 1971, pp. 110–111.
  49. ^ Trusty 1971, p. 102.
  50. ^ Thorpe 1967, p. 128, 129.
  51. ^ Trusty 1971, p. 89-90, 135-136.

Bibliography

  • Moler, A.B. (1911). Standardized Barbers' Manual. Unnattributed Publisher. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Thorpe, S.C. (1958). Practice and Science of Standard Barbering. Milady Publishing Corporation. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Thorpe, S.C. (1967). Practice and Science of Standard Barbering. Milady Publishing Corporation. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Trusty, L. Sherman (1971). The Art and Science of Barbering. Wolfer Printing Co. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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