Life, 1924-08-28 · page 10 of 36
Life — August 28, 1924 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical article addresses the 1920s controversy over women bobbing (cutting short) their hair—a radical departure from long hair conventions. The page presents humorous illustrated "styles" with absurdist names: "The Ku Klux Kut," "The Hard-Boiled Egg," "The Cat's Whiskers," and "The Dumbbell." The text describes bobbed hair as a sweeping national craze causing divided opinion, with the magazine promising to settle the "to bob or not to bob" debate. The illustrations mock both the fashion trend itself and the intense social debate surrounding it, treating women's hairstyle choice as worthy of serious public discussion and symposium. This reflects genuine 1920s anxiety about changing women's roles and appearance during the flapper era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: The Bobbed Hair Problem Shall Our American Women Lose Their Crowning Glory? * Opinion Is Divided, Say Some, While Others Think Coolidge Looks Like a Good Bet. THE KU KLUX KUT THE HARD-BOILED EGG HIE craze for bobbed hair is sweeping the country like hot cakes. Despite criticism, protest and continued humidity all along the Middle Atlantic coast, the thing rages on. It is estimated that quite a large percentage of the girls in this country have already bobbed their hair, or have at least heard about the new fashion. What will it lead to? Has bobbed hair come to stay, or’ is it just a passing fancy? What will be the favorite bobs of to-morrow? How’s your uncle? These questions, and a great many others that we could ask if we wanted to, are to be heard everywhere. And as yet, no one has been able to think up any quick answers. It is high time that the nation-wide conspiracy of silence on the subject of bobbed hair be ended, and somebody be coaxed to come right out in print with an opinion upon whether “to bob or not to bob,” as some wit has amusingly, albeit a trifle daringly, paraphrased the old song. On the opposite page we reproduce some views gathered from various of our leading thinkers who were stopped as they entered the Public Library to get a shine and some picture postcards. Surrounding the text are a number of interesting diagrams by Mr. Goldberg which show the most popular styles in bobs as Dame Fashion is now decreeing them. We feel confident that this symposium will clear up the problem one way or the other, or both. THE CAT’S WHISKERS THE DUMBBELL comicbooks.com