When I was in school (2 year college) our caps had burgundy stripes. That was the school color. One stripe was for finsihing the first year and the second stripe when we graduated. Of course we never got the hat until right before graduation and we glued both stripes on at the same time with hot glue.

30+  years ago, stripes were black on a nursing cap meant diploma based school.  Blue on a nursing cap meant a collegiant based school.  Now, it designates school colors.  Also it all depends on what state you're in.  There really is no set rule, particularly now, no one wears caps (YAY) since they have been declared unsafe and harmful both to the nurse and the patients.

When I was a student nurse, in my hospital-based Diploma program, we had 1, 2 or 3 strips (green) on our caps, depending on which year we were in in the program. Graduation brought about the most coveted stripe of them all...the single black band. I even have posted my graduation photo in my profile album here for your amusement, education, or ridicule.

Bear in mind that I was in nursing school from 1970-1973, so this isn't recent whatsoever. When I completed my BSN a few years back, there was no such discussion of caps in any way other than a relic of the past.  I'm looking to go for my Master's degree and I'm willing to bet the topic never comes up!

Oh, and I still have my cap - it's a little crumpled and getting a bit yellowed, but it's still a treasure to me. 

Dwolf: thanks for that lesson. I should have been in classes with you. Instead, I was a late bloomer.

Wow, Ginny, I hadn't heard of anyplace with a red stripe. I find it fascinating to learn of the various practices from school to school, all the types of programs, and different geographical locations.

I went to nursing school immediately after high school (1970) because, except for a 6 month period where I considered being a circus trapeze artist, I always wanted to be a nurse!

WoW, Thanks for all of the feedback. The information was interesting and helpful.I graduated 4 years ago and we didn't have caps. When I was a little girl I was in the hospital quite a bit and fell in love with the nurses. They treated me so special. When I grew up I wanted to be a nurse and be able to treat others special. I was very sad that nurses no longer "looked" like nurses, so I decided that I could "look" like a nurse if I wanted to, so decided to buy a cap and start wearing it. (Yes, I spend my free time watching Andy Griffin too!) I just didn't want to be"out of uniform" with the wrong color or kind of stripe. Thanks again.

??about sign of oppression.........more men entered the field and they do not wear caps
main reason was a focus on detecting and preventing nosocomial infection and our caps were a source that could readily be removed

starlightrn is CORRECT!!! The color is of your school.  1 line is LPN, 2 Lines is RN.   It can be across the top or on the sides depending on the school you grad from so go back and ask. 

Someone mentioned that hats aren't worn anymore because they are dangerous to the nurse and the patient. Can someone explain this?

I graduated in  1974, and things were different then. The cap itself varies from school to school. Each school had their own.  Where I went, we got our student caps at a capping ceremony at the end of 6 weeks. There were stripes to indicate what year you were in, because that would let the RNs and MDs know what they could and could not assign you to do. At graduation, we received the official school cap that had one black stripe. The cap needed to be starched in cook starch, folded carefully so as not to break and was held together in the back by a gold cross.  I never heard that the stripes distinguished RN/LPN status or level of degree, but then again that might be because when I graduated, there was no BSN!  I graduated just before the first program opened.

I was the last nurse in my unit to stop wearing my cap. It was in 1988. I can remember a set of drawers at the nurses station where you could leave your cap for the next shift rather than take it home.  I loved it, but it was no longer considered safe to wear due to germs and a breeding ground for infection! Mine was accidentally knocked off my head so many times! Not to mention the times it fell in the hopper, or the sink or the floor!  I took mine home to wash and starch it and had it sitting on my sofa. My 3 year old nephew sat on it, squishing it beyond recognition. My sister was all set to punish him, but I stopped her and told her it was a sign to give it up. So it sits in a hat box just the way my nephew left it!

If you look at various nursing history books and websites, the cap actually came from a utility standpoint. Lice, scabies and a multitude of other infestations were commonplace in the late 1800s, when the first actual nurse training programs began (Bellevue, New Haven, Mass General). Women were the majority of students then and most of them had the traditionally long hair of the day. To keep their hair from becoming infested, they placed it in a bun and covered it with a "cap" to keep it clean. As nursing and hairstyles evolved, so did the caps. Shorter and more easily washable hairstyles dictated that the caps be less utility and more "looks" oriented...they even became more of an authority symbol, NOT an opression symbol as some crazy nurse cap haters put it. Most nurses were PROUD of their caps, not OPPRESSED by it (heavens!). Schools and graduates took great pride in developing different styles of caps and graduation pins that identified and showed the pride of their graduates.

The placing of a velvet or other material band on the cap is a little more elusive. History texts tell us that it could have been a military or religious influence. There is one reference about the use of a black band indicating the memory of Florence Nightingale also. A black band horizontally on the cuff of the cap indicated a "gradute" nurse and bands placed at other angles on caps indicated various levels of student nurses as discussed. As time went on, schools started placing different colors of stripes that may or may not correspond to their school colors. Some had one stripe, some had two and others had three...some schools had no stripes on their graduate caps. Some schools also had one style cap for student nurses and then another completely different style as their graduate nurse cap to distinguish the difference. The traditional color for a registered nurse cap stripe is black...the BSN never did have a separate blue stripe to distinguish a BSN but some collegiate schools may well have used blue or other colors instead of black.

LPN caps have different colors of stripes also, but never black...only RN cap stripes were black. Some of the LPN schools in this area have navy blue, pink, red, gray, and turquoise. Usually the LPN caps have more pastel or brighter colors and the RN caps have darker colors, but again, that is usually school dependent. My school had rounded corners on the cap cuff, 2 buttons in back, and a hunter green stripe horizontally on the cap at graduation...before graduation there was one green stripe vertically at the edge of the cuff for each year in the program...4 by the time you were a senior! Another BSN program in the area had a completely round cuff that looked like a bowl, one button in back, and a wide dark brown stripe with a narrow orange stripe over the brown one...again, school colors. An ADN school in the area has a very wide pointed cuff, six buttons in back, and a wide black stripe with a red stripe over top of the black one...it is really variable today...if the school even has a cap. Some only wear them for graduation or pinning.

As someone mentioned, even though the caps look nice and appear professional and will ALWAYS be a symbol of Nursing, they are unfortunately impractical today. They have been studied and found to be a source of infection ( which is ironic as they were developed to deter infestation originally) with some peolpe who are less than hygenic with them and they can be uncomfortable for some people to wear also. But ask most graduates from 1990 or before... they were mostly viewed as a source of pride by their wearers and were not a sign of oppression by any means...I feel that point is something invented by nurses who really want to be physicians and do anything they can to ruin the history of our great profession. Our great Armed Forces of the US stand ready to serve and protect while wearing very rigid uniforms...I don't think any of them feel anything but pride in their uniforms!

Google "history of the nurse's cap" sometime and read some of the fascinating history behind them and their schools. They are a fading relic of the past today....the school pin is becoming less and less important today too...sad but true.

Interesting thoughts and stories from everyone!

Yes, it all depends on the school, how many stripes and what color.

I graduated in 1991 - the guys were also given caps as souvenirs, but in reality the women never wore them either, except for photos. They didn't have to wear them at school or in the hospital, but the LPN students did  - it was a school rule.

Our stripes were green, and each year you were given a new stripe - to sew on a cap no one ever wore!

Stripe on nurses cap is good.l will say that both the colour and the type of stripe on the nurses cap matters because the way you look matter. There are some colours that do not mix well. On the stripe matter,it suppose to differenciate or be a form of identification of nurses either student or staff nurse and let people know your area of specialty.

The first nurses were nuns and prostitutes because sick people were unclean no lady of status and no good girl would be found near the sick unless they were in a religious order.  The cap is a vestige of the nuns veil and did serve the purpose to keep the hair up and out of the way etc.

Yep, My Grandma, always wanted to be a nurse.  She said her parents threw a fit, and said no daughter of theirs was going to be a nurse.  She begged to go to nursing school, and it was seen as an unfit activity by her parents (this was circa WW 1)

I graduated from diploma school in Ohio 1967. We got our caps at ceremony a few wks into program. At end of 1st year, we added 1 thin black velvet stripe,  end of 2nd year replaced with wider black velvet. When we graduated, cap was always wider black velvet band only. Now the school pin is only means of identification.