There was a documentary on TV some years ago about old inventions, or obscure history, or something like that, and one segment of the show was about a family of travelling singers with five or six daughters who all had hair that hung far below their waists. This was in the US in the late 1800s or early 1900s. They would travel from church to church singing gospel songs and hymns, with their hair pinned up for most of the performance and then dramatically let their hair down to the admirous gasps of the audience--apparently, this long hair was very much in fashion at that time. After their singing performance ended the manager/father would then start selling his hair tonic and shampoo inventions to the crowd.
I'm sure I have some of the details mixed up, but that photo reminded me of the photos of that family of singers in the TV show.