Short back and sides
Mon, December 5, 2022 
I have seen fashions come and go many times over the years, trends go out of style, and often given time will become fashionable again and appear for another-go-round.
One fashion I never expected to see again is the “Short back and sides” haircut. (Left.)
Reason being, it was never really a fashion statement, it came about out of necessity.
The decade from 1930 on, there was a world-wide depression.
Men were unemployed much of the time, but at the same time in order to get even casual temporary work, a person had to maintain a clean and presentable appearance.
A razor blade could be had for a penny, it was inexpensive and easy for men to keep themselves clean shaven. However, a hair cut is a different matter.
It had to be cheap, which meant quick and easy, and to maintain the tidy appearance, it was necessary to have a haircut every two weeks.
Men wore hats, either a brimmed felt hat, or a cloth cap. All a person needed was a pair of non-electric hand operated shears, to set themselves up in business charging a nickel for a short back and sides haircut, extra for some cut off the top.
The depression of the 1930s was followed by WWII, these were hard times, the trend continued. I remember in the 1940s, every two weeks, a silver shilling (12 Pennies.) clutched in my hand, running 2 or 3 miles, to a house where a Mr. West lived.
Mr. West had 12 children, which is probably how he got into the business of cutting hair.
After the war in my pre-teen years I would go to the barber shop for a haircut every two weeks, there was only one style, short back and sides.
I remember I had to ask the barber not to go too high at the back and sides, I hated to have my hair left like a little round skull cap on top of my head.
On weekends there would be 10 or 12 people waiting, but with each haircut taking only 5 or 10 minutes, the wait was never that long.
To me the short back and sides was a trend of that era, never a fashion. Who could indulge in fashion, when all a person could do is survive. It lasted 30 years from 1930 to the 1950s. Fashions do not last that long.
By the 1950s my generation were the first to come of age after the war, and to become interested in our appearance and fashion, and I would travel miles to avoid getting a haircut like the ones I see trending today.
I would get on a train and travel to London and pay good money to get my hair styled like Tony Curtis, (Above left.) or Robert Mitchum (Above right.) Note that movie stars did not have a short back and sides haircut, their hair was styled.
It seems to me that these over the top, “Manly” haircuts that are trending today, hark back to time when men were tough. They kind of act like a “Padded bra of masculinity.”
In the 1950s we all wanted to be different and to look different. We did so by all looking the same, as every new generation has done since.
It never works. A persons looks are what they are given in life, all one can do is exercise and eat healthy to make the most of what they have.
A confident demeanor and personality will take a person further than mere looks. And no haircut or style will make you appear tougher, or prettier, or whatever look you are going for.
Reader Comments (6)
Hair fashion today is an abomination. It started going down hill some 20-odd years ago when "bed hair" became the style for men.
I know - I am old, but don't get me started on man buns.
Of course, during the COVID lock-down, many of us never got professional haircuts and made do with DIY or amateur family members cutting it. Or letting it grow and wearing a toque, LOL!
Didn’t the mullet and the rat tail come before the bed hair? Then we had the hair completely shorn off, with a sun-visor worn indoors at night. Think about it, a sun-visor became “non-sexy” lingerie for the head.
Dave
I am fortunate, my bride and my mother-in-law both make sure my hair is kept cut and presentable. In my misspent youth, I allowed it to grow quite long. I was cured of that when it caught fire one time due to a backfire from a recalcitrant SU carburetor. It has been off the collar and ears since then.
I get what you’re saying about the “undercut,” as it’s often called, but it is the only style that I can grow out with curly hair and get a decent helmet fit.
Not that it’s ever been my hairstyle as long as helmets have been compulsory for races…