The Guillotine Haircut



During the French Revolution, many fashionable young men and women of the upper and middle classes began to cut their hair short. After the Reign of Terror that saw the execution of thousands of people, it became fashionable for the young people to imitate the look of the unfortunate victims who had been put to the guillotine. The executioners cut their victims’ hair to make sure the blade went cleanly through the neck, and then tied a red ribbon around the neck to indicate the fatal cut. Before long, the Reign of Terror ended and society began to find its way back to normality……sort of. The haircuts, however, remained.