The 1950s was a time of a soft feminine look. Short or long with a gentle curl was just the look. "Simple" you say! Ha! and a HaHa. Not so simple. In the 1950s women couldn't simple jump out of the shower, blow their hair dry and curl it. No no! Hair dryers did not exist in this part of our history so air dry was the only way. Instead to create this perfect 1950s 'do you would have to either perm or sleep in rollers and pins. Ponytails were pretty popular back then. But it's not like today when someone jumps out of the shower and brushes their hair back into a hair tie and they're off to the races. Girls still slept in their torturous curlers and suffered through perming experiences to get the perfect looking, bouncy curl they so desired. They often went to get their hair "set" (they would probably go once a week or so) to keep this look and probably washed their hair as little as possible so they would only have to suffer as little as possible.
1950's hairstyle
Then the groovy '60s rolled around. Many of the same fates lay for the hair of girls in this decade as they did in the '40s and '50s, till the end of the era came. But while many girls strove for the perfect look the hippies were happy to let their hair go and do absolutely nothing with it. This was to show that they simply didn't care and they were free spirits, and so was their hair. The end of the decade rolled around and the 70s and the look was now long and straight, and often times bleached (actually bleaching your hair has been pretty popular since the 40s).
Popular 1960's 'dos
Hippie hair
I have an amazing book (it's actually a download - I'm not actually sure where you can buy the book...) about 1940's hairstyles. It's really wonderful because it's actually mostly compiled from period sources, so it's not a modern twist on a 40s hairstyle, but the original method for getting those perfect curls or rolls. Also, it goes that little bit further than other books and gives detailed instructions for haircuts. If you're interested I can try to find the link - however, it was over three years ago that I downloaded it, so I can't promise anything! (:
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in finding out the link! I would love to read that, I enjoy all that sort of stuff. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteI did a google search just after I posted on this yesterday, and found that you /can/ buy a physical copy of the book on Amazon...for $85!!! That was only a very quick search though. But, I just remembered that a couple of years ago, I photocopied the entire book for a friend, and although I deleted the photocopies and I still have the email floating around. I think it has all of the pages in it, but I'm not sure. At the moment I can't get to a photocopier, but I'm quite happy to forward you the email with the files on, and when I'm able to photocopy the rest, I'll send you those. (:
ReplyDeleteThat's just fine! You can email me at greatoldthings@gmail.com, if you'd like. $85! That's rather insane... Thanks, though. :)
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