A hundred years ago, women's bobs raised the dander among Cincinnati men

From the Cincinnati Enquirer, October 5, 1924, image taken from Greg Hand's microfilm

OA hundred years ago, most Cincinnati men thought women had gotten all the progress they deserved. Women could vote, they drove cars, they smoked cigarettes, and some of them had jobs. In 1924, Cincinnati women discovered a new way to exasperate men. They had the nerve to cut their hair.

For many men, it was a sign of the end of times. The Enquirer [2 April 1924] The Post reported the story of a man who shot himself in the head after a three-hour tirade against all women because his wife had a bobbed haircut. [29 March 1924] The Washington Post published a story about an 18-year-old girl who bought rat poison to try to kill herself because of the abuse she suffered from her parents when she got her hair cut. A single woman told the Post [25 April 1924] that she was happy being single with her hair cut in a bob.

Imagine the suffering I could endure because of my short hair if I were married. My husband could kill himself because of me, which would force me to wear black for a year. I look awful in black. Of course, if a woman looks beautiful in black, it is not so bad if her husband kills himself because of her short hair.

Some men have avoided suicide and filed for divorce, Robert M. Hannah, of Spring Grove Avenue, told the judge, according to the Enquirer [3 May 1924]that his wife mistreated and neglected him, but that the haircut was the straw that broke the camel's back:

He said he was very opposed to bob haircuts and that to torment him she had him cut his hair and then brought it home to him wrapped and told him it was a gift. Then they broke up.

Local courts have ruled that women who make decisions about their own hair violate their husbands' property rights, Judge William D. Alexander said, according to the Post. [18 March 1924]believed that husbands who cherished their wives should have a say in their appearance. He dismissed a complaint against John Brown of Clifton Avenue, who had struck his wife when she had her hair cut without permission. The judge said:

If my wife wanted to have her hair cut in a bob, she would at least consult me; it is a wife's duty and a matter of courtesy to her husband.

Cincinnati generally tended to blame the fall of civilization on any new fashion, and the local newspapers were happy to accommodate this by publishing stories of bobbed-haired bandits who committed robberies all over the city. There was one such gunslinger who operated in the West End and carried a formidable revolver for attacking men who wandered about the neighborhood at night. The Enquirer [3 March 1924] I was delighted because New York and Chicago had suffered the predations of the bob-haired bandits and our city felt abandoned:

Cincinnati pulled off a masterstroke last night with a bobbed haircut and became a cosmopolitan city.

Another short-haired bandit operated for several months with a male accomplice. [4 April 1924] said she was the mastermind behind the operation when a gas station on Central Avenue was robbed:

The blonde bandit with short hair, who had been wanted by the police for two months, during which time she had been active, reappeared on Thursday evening.

From the Cincinnati Post of April 12, 1924, image taken from Greg Hand's microfilm

Perhaps it was because of the unsavory connotations of bobbed hair in relation to banditry, suicide, or divorce, but the biggest controversy over bobbed hair in 1924 involved the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing. The college's dean, Laura Logan, penalized eight students who dared to cut their hair by requiring them to take three extra months of classes (presumably to grow their hair back). Dean Logan told the Enquirer: [10 April 1924]:

It was necessary to make a decision on this because of the need to decide what was appropriate for a nurse's uniform and what was not, said Miss Logan. It was decided that bobbed hair detracted from the dignity of the uniform. Uniformity being essential, this was the only way to maintain it.

For the record, here are the young women whose rebellious fashion sense earned them doubly secret probation at nursing school: Mildred Carson, Grace Funk, Virginia Jordan, Mary Randolph, Virgina Shoot, Isabel Baer, ​​Doris Kreimer and Mary Macey.

Newspapers reported that nursing schools at Christ Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital had similar rules. At Deaconess Hospital, the Post [11 April 1924] I found the superintendent somewhat conflicted:

“We have more important things to worry about than cutting our hair,” said the Rev. A. G. Lohmann, superintendent of Deaconess Hospital. Rev. Lohmann said he did not particularly fault women for cutting their hair. “It's certainly more hygienic,” he said. The superintendent, however, felt that bobbed hair was unattractive. He discouraged bobbed hair at his facility by requiring new nursing students to wear hairnets.

One sector of the economy that was very favorable to the bob was the tonsorial business. In 1924, hairdressers knew how to style and braid hair, but they didn't know how to cut it. Barbers, on the other hand, were now served by a very different clientele, women. Business boomed, according to the Post [30 Aprl 1924]:

Of the 85 beauty salons in the city, 19 have opened since January 1. The demand for bob hair care is such that many establishments are opening in the suburbs. Just like the husband and father, the wife and daughter now have their favorite hairdresser, to whom they regularly go to get their bob cut.

And that might explain the real reason so many men have balked at the new, more expensive hairstyles. Hugh McKay complained to the Post [1 October 1924] that his wife's haircut cost him four dollars, compared to 40 cents for her haircut, once special treatments like waves and marcelles were applied. And, once her hair was cut, her hats no longer fit and she needed new hats.