:For the subject of page boys, see: Page (servant)
The pageboy (or page boy) is a hairstyle named after what was believed to be the haircut of an English page boy. It involves straight hair hanging to below the ear where it usually turns under. Often there is a fringe (bangs) in the front. This style was very popular in the 50s and 60s.

Design / style

The pageboy hairstyle was developed and popularized in the 1950s. Its most notable feature were the Bangs (US) or Fringe (UK) made famous by the iconic fifties glamor and fetish model Betty Page. As this association was not acceptable to women's magazine editors it was sold to the general public as the hairstyles worn historically by English pageboys. Several major film actresses in the 1950s sported pageboys, quickly catapulting the hairstyle into the popular imagination, and many fashionable women adopted it. A well cut pageboy is relatively easy to maintain, and in the 1950s it was an edgy, stylish look which appealed to many women. The pageboy is similar to a long bob hairstyle.
A pageboy hairstyle is a haircut which is designed for straight, medium to short length hair. In the fifties the pageboy generally stopped above the shoulders but later renditions saw the hair cut to just below the ear, where it curls under; in a reverse pageboy, the hair is curled outwards. Many hairstylists are capable of making a pageboy and explaining how it should be maintained, and this look suits a wide variety of face and body types. A pageboy flip has the bottom reversed to curl outward.

Pageboys in popular media

In the early 1950s, the New York City hairdresser M. Lewis popularized this style. In the film Pulp Fiction the character of Mia Wallace, played by actress Uma Thurman and based entirely on the look of the fifties glamor model Betty Page, sports a pageboy, as does AnnaSophia Robb as Violet Beauregarde in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the award-winning film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the villainous Nurse Ratched is known for her pageboy. Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion also wears a pageboy. Although it is currently a women's hairstyle, some men have worn it such as the fictional characters He-Man (in his original 1980s incarnation), Willy Wonka (In the 2005 film), and Prince Valiant. It has also been a fashion in the 1960s for people who had straight hair.