History of hair - recent
By the 1950s, highlighting was the driving trend and so was Lucille
Ball's flaming mane. Doris Day's helmet-hair inspired her fans, and
Audrey Hepburn's role in Roman Holiday mobilized the modern pixie cut.
Brigitte Bardot's "sauerkraut" (a.k.a. choucroute), a structured yet wavy 'do,
was the one to emulate. Clairol's "Does She or Doesn't She?" advertising
campaign reassured women that it was acceptable to color their hair.
Housewives had a staid role in our 1950s and '6os society, and their hairstyles
revealed that fact. In the '5os, the homemaker's hairdo was conserva-
tive, and in the '6os, women wore stiff Dynel wigs and toyed with the idea
of wearing falls for Supremos-inspired styles. Toward the end of the era,
beehives and bouffants became popular with the availability of hair spray
and the trend toward a more carefree lifestyle.
The freedom of the 1960s was expressed even in popular hairstyles.
People let their hair down and there was a distinct movement toward trading
gender norms in hairstyles. British rock sensations the Beatles wore
their hair long, a style generally out of fashion since the i9th century.
Female model Twiggy wore hers short and boyish in a no-fuss fashion that
abruptly ended the harsher '50s styles.
In 1963, Vidal Sassoon started issuing easy, wash-and-dry looks. Nearing
the end of the decade, hair was also worn naturally long with little or
In the 1970s, the musical Hair hearkened back to the rebellious
lifestyle and sexual revolution of the late 1960s and early '70S, and Angel
Davis's Afro became a symbol of black pride. Extremes like Grace Jones's
forceful box cut and frosted wings defined the disco look, while Gloria
Steinem's simple straight hair with a center part offered an anti-style statement.
In 1974, the feathered hair of Charlie's Angels star Farrah Fawcett wasthe decade's most copied 'do. Variations of African-American braids were
popularized in 1975, and Dorothy Hamill's short, layered wedge became a
sporty trademark in 1976 after she won the Olympic gold medal for figure
skating. But even as Dorothy spun, punk rock brought purple, blue, green, and
orange Mohawks into focus. Cornrows were a "10" in 1979, a la Bo Derek.
Other Pages
History of Hair 1
History of Hair 2
History of Hair 3
History of Hair 4
History of Hair 5
