Imagine getting kicked out of school just for how you combed your hair. In the 1950s, that actually happened to real kids all across America. And the reason? Elvis Presley.
Today, when people look at old pictures of the famous singer Elvis Presley, they notice his cool clothes, his shiny guitar, and his long sideburns. To us, it just looks like a fun, old-fashioned style. But back then, those little strips of hair on the side of his face started a massive nationwide fight between kids and adults.
Long before Elvis was a rich and famous star, he was just a teenager trying to figure out his look. He grew his hair long because he thought it looked good on his face, and he even copied the long sideburns he saw on local truck drivers. When he sang, he moved around with so much energy that his hair tumbled everywhere. Teenagers loved it! They thought Elvis looked brave, exciting, and cool. To them, growing sideburns became a fun way to say, “I want to be my own person.”
Parents, teachers, and judges, however, were completely terrified. Back in the 1950s, adults expected young boys to keep their hair super short and neat. They worried that kids who copied Elvis were becoming wild, rude, and messy.
Elvis’ 1970s Sideburns
Soon, principals began suspending students from school just for having long sideburns! In Michigan, a brave sixteen-year-old boy named Robert Phernetton even took his school to court after he was sent home for refusing to cut his hair. Adults blamed the haircut for bad behavior, even though it was just hair.
The madness over Elvis’s hair did not stop at the school gates. Judges in courtrooms actually ordered young men to go straight to the barbershop. One county jail even shaved the sideburns off over one hundred prisoners! People became so obsessed with the trend that a man in Chicago invented a funny machine with ruler parts and a spirit level to measure sideburns and make sure they were even.
The Power Of Elvis Presley’s Mismatched Sideburns
There was even a nine-year-old girl who called her local newspaper to report that her pet cat had black markings that looked just like Elvis’s face!
Elvis’s sideburns were so famous that fans treated them like magic. Thousands of people sent angry letters to Hollywood movie studios, begging them not to cut his hair for film roles. But when Elvis was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1958, everyone knew the military rules were strict. Barbers finally shaved his head, but here is a secret: Elvis had actually cut his long sideburns off privately a few months earlier for a movie!
Elvis Presley did not invent sideburns, but he changed what they meant forever. Before Elvis, sideburns were just facial hair. After Elvis, they became a powerful symbol of teenage freedom!