Hair Styles Of The 1950's

I can still remember the putrid stench I encountered seemingly on a weekly basis as a kid, that encompassed our house and made eyes tear, throats choke, and nostrils scream for oxygen. No, we didn't live on a pig farm or have a gas leak in the house - it was one of the many various chemical solutions that my Mother and Sisters used to achieve a permanent wave in their hair. This was way before blow dryers, super hot curling irons and the like. They result never seemed to turn out the way the women wanted, and the stink lingered like death and put a taste in your mouth that was tough to remove. It was the hair styles of the 1950's, and to simply comb hair was considered poor hygiene -if a women wasn't personally suffering and tormenting those around her with a chemical cloud, she could not possibly look good.

Short, soft looking and curly hair was the fashion for women in the 1950's, and it wasn't an easy look to obtain. Applying pin curlers and rollers before bedtime was a nightly ritual, followed by hearing beds creak all night from the tossing, turning and moaning of attempting to sleep with lumps on ones head. In the morning, there was usually a considerable wait to gain access to a mirror for any male in the house, because all of those curlers had to come out, complete with a bobby-pin count made with surgical precision. Some of the more popular hair styles were the beehive (singer Dusty Springfield) the bouffant (First Lady Jackie Kennedy) and the poodle cut (Comedian Lucille Ball). Most young teenage girls had it easy for everyday hair styles - a ponytail wrapped in a scarf binding was acceptable.

Hair styles for men and boys in the 1950's were a little less complicated for the most part, and at least men's style gave the option of going simple. The kill a widespread misconception, a crew cut and a flat top are not the same hair style. A crew cut is like a military cut - every hair on the head is the same length. A flat top is a crew cut length on the sides and longer hair on top, cut to a flat level appearance. A duck tail was very popular for bad boy wannabes (like the Fonz on Happy Days). A pompadour was an elaborate sweeping man's style (like Steve Van Zandt on the Sopranos). Both of these took some time for a man to create, and were held in place with some mens hair gunk. Some of the most popular mens hair products of the 1950's were Vitalis, Brylcreem, Butch Wax, and Pomade (most of these could make flies stick to you head).

Luckily, most of us who can remember those hair styles don't have too much hair left to worry about.