{{Short description|Lock of hair curled flatly onto the face}} [[File:Joséphine Baker par Jean Chassaing.jpg|thumb|1931 French poster showing Josephine Baker with a kiss curl]] A '''kiss curl''' describes a lock of hair curling onto the face and usually plastered down. Although the curl could be flattened with saliva (hence its alternative name '''spit curl'''), soap or hair lotion is more typically used.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherrow |first1=Victoria |title=Encyclopedia of hair : a cultural history|date=2006|publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=9780313331459 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofha0000sher/page/64 64] |edition=1. publ.|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofha0000sher|url-access=registration }}</ref>
==Pre-20th century== In the late seventeenth century, there was a fashion for fringes composed of curls described as ''fripons'', ''guigne-galants'', or 'kiss-curls', sometimes augmented with false hair.<ref name=condra>{{cite book |last1=Harvey |first1=Sara M. |editor1-last=Condra |editor1-first=Jill |title=The Greenwood encyclopedia of clothing through world history |date=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Press| location=Westport, Conn. [u.a.] |isbn=9780313336645 |page=150 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8bTzilz1BMC&pg=PA150 |chapter=The Seventeenth Century}}</ref>
==20th-century onwards== The kiss curl style was worn by both men and women.
It became a trademark of the singer Bill Haley, who wore a large kiss curl over his right eye to divert attention from his left eye, which was blind.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lyons|first1=John F.|title=America in the British imagination : 1945 to the present|date=2013|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=Basingstoke|isbn=9781137376800|page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzOwAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Mitchell K.|title=The Emergence of Rock and Roll Music and the Rise of American Youth Culture|date=2014|publisher=Taylor and Francis|location=Hoboken|isbn=9781135053581|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gA2LAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA15}}</ref> Other people known for their kiss curls included Josephine Baker,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherrow |first1=Victoria |title=Encyclopedia of hair : a cultural history|date=2006|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=9780313331459 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofha0000sher/page/41 41] |edition=1. publ.|chapter=Josephine Baker |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofha0000sher|url-access=registration }}</ref> Diana Ross,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ribowsky|first1=Mark|title=The Supremes : a saga of motown dreams, success, and betrayal|date=2010|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=9780306818738|page=373|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0fIGoFtdVIC&pg=PA373}}</ref> and the fictional character Superman.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beatty |first1=Scott |title=The Superman handbook : the ultimate guide to saving the day |date=2006|publisher=Quirk Books |location=Philadelphia |isbn=9781594741135 |page=162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ULPCNBRQZcC&pg=PA162}}</ref>
In early episodes of the TV drama series ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', Poirot's assistant, Miss Lemon, portrayed by Pauline Moran, appears with five kiss curls across her forehead.<ref>{{cite news | last =Conroy | first =Sarah Booth | title = 'Poirot' PBS's Nifty Christie| newspaper =Washington Post | location = | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = January 18, 1990| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/01/18/poirot-pbss-nifty-christie/881e8cd4-5760-458d-916e-403e80b56042/ | accessdate =August 16, 2023 }}</ref>
In the 1990s, kiss curls inspired the trend of laid edges, notably worn by Chilli in the girl group TLC.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-02 |title=History Behind the Slayed Edges Hairstyle and How to Pull it Off |url=https://www.tricociuniversity.edu/beauty-blog/history-behind-the-slayed-edges-hairstyle-and-how-to-pull-it-off/ |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=Tricoci University}}</ref>
==See also== *List of hairstyles *Lovelock (hair) braided hair to the side, sometimes on the forehead
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons-inline}} * {{Wiktionary-inline}}
{{Human hair}}
Category:Human hair Category:Hairstyles Category:1920s fashion Category:1930s fashion Category:African-American hair
{{fashion-stub}}