Victorian Hairstyling 1830-1860

Owen, P (1965). 'Fashions in Hair: The First Five Thousand Years'. London: Peter Owen Publications. p524-528.

Throughout the early years of Victoria's reign the styling of hair was very much dictated by her own sense of fashion and was therefore relatively simplistic. Consisting predominantly of braids, plaits and ringlets all divided neatly down the centre of the head, traditionally the hair was placed into tight curls at the sides of the head, or if plaited was gently pinned back into the remaining hair that was often plaited into a large mid hanging bun. These two styles were considered extremely fashionable throughout the period, the plait in particular being popular for young ladies whose hair needed to stay neatly styled throughout their day. A particularly difficult element to uphold especially for Victorian children.
Daytime Wear:
"The whole head was parted at the centre down to the nape of the neck", another parting was then made across from the each ear so that the hair sat equally divided into four sections. The back two lower pieces of hair are then twisted around one another or plaited up into a bun at the back of the head, the front sections are then plaited. These two plaits are then dropped by the ears round to the back of the head to reconnect and wrap around the bun. The plaits at the side should begin below the ear allowing the front parting of the hair to sit smoothly against the face therefore framing the wearers features. This hairstyle was particularly popular among the young ladies of the home.

Grecian Plait          Cable Plait           Basket Plait 

Within this time period there were three types of plait in particular that proved most popular for creating more ornate styling than than of the traditional plait. At this stage the hair was also heavily decorated with flowers and silk fabrics to add elaborate feats. The use of gold ribbon and flowers was most popular with the most fashionable of flowers being the lily, adorned with pearls. Below are three examples of the most popular decorative plaits within early Victorian society:
Grecian Plait - This is essentially a basic fishtail plait, the hair was divided into two equal thin sections of hair, smaller outer sections were then taken from the outside edges and crossed over alternately to create a smooth, even braid resembling the tail bone of a fish.
Cable Plait - Three larger pieces of hair of equal sizing are taken, the left strand is then taken under the centre and back over to its original placing. The right side strand is then repeated on the alternative side ensuring the middle strand stays straight the whole time.
Basket Plait - Taking four sections of hair, weave the first lefthand pice over, under and then per the other three pieces of hair. Support strand as a new right hand piece. Taking the new left piece repeat the whole precess again until the braid is formed down the whole length of the hair.

Image scanned from Book Ref
"Fashions in Hair"

Styles of the Evening Attire
Throughout the Victorian period it became popular for attire to change throughout the day in accordance to meals and company. This is particularly true for the evening attire of ladies who would create elaborate hairstyles for the purpose of being the most fashionable and beautiful guest to the dinner. As it was not commonly place for ladies to cut their hair during their lives it allowed them to create incredibly long plaits and ringlets that could support a great deal of elaborate head decoration including feathers, flowers and a number of highly ornate hair extension pieces and jewellery. The below explained hairstyle is one of the more commonplace styles of the early Victorian ladies style for evening attire. Infront of the ears on each side of the head were roughly three ringlets on average, each of considerable length often falling to the shoulders or below the chin. Behind these would sit a number of smaller ringlets all positioned to fall behind the ear. The back of the hair was then divided into 5 sections. The centre piece being the longest is then twisted up to create the support for the rest of the hair which is then twisted up into  rounded bun called a rouleaux. The hair is then pinned and adorned with feathers and jewellery.

See images O & P for reference.