Women Over Fifty—Our Bad Hair Daze?!
If you’re a baby boomer, you’ve got a special relationship with your hair. Our moms may have created some pretty amazing styles with their bobs and hair combs in the forties, but we gals took ours to greater lengths (literally) and we started young. Who could forget the fashionable ringlets one could achieve with a jar of Dep and a handful of Spoolies? Even better, you could boast a whole head full of saucy curls once the Tonette Home Perm became available.
Later, we went from ratting and spraying our hair—mounting colossal beehives to grace the top our heads in the early sixties—to wearing long, stringy, unkempt locks—the definition of hippie chic in the latter part of the decade. Or, if you were in the Black Power Movement, you likely sported a pretty formidable Afro. In fact, hair proved the signature accessory of rebellion. We blared the song, Hair, from transistor radios, were in awe of the bare and busty wonders in the play of the same name, and sprouted a thatch of it under our arms, proudly exhibiting our feminine fuzz in sleeveless peasant blouses. There was no denying it—hair was everywhere!
So, now when we might complain of having a bad hair day, just remember the phrase I’m loving these days: “been there, done that.” And, if you really need some solace, just pull out an old photo of yourself from the eighties. Yes, in this case, there’s no denying it—we really have been there, done that!
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August 2nd, 2009 at 11:24 am
haha good one! The 60s hairstyle and the padded shoulders still make me laugh.
June 14th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Memories, Memories – I can’t imagine trying to sleep with my hair rolled on orange juice cans slathered with dippity doo these days – how on earth did we do it? And Toni Home Perms – it seemed that my mom had a special calendar that popped up Toni Home Perm Day a month before school began! No matter how hard I tried to get out of it she always won and I ended up looking like a brillo pad with “cute” bows stuck into it.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:09 am
I remember trying to tame my curly locks — while living in the humidity of Cape Cod. Straight hair in, curly hair out. No wonder I had hair issues. I looked like a chia pet.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Even though my mom was a beautician and I had professional help right in our basement beauty shop, I still did my own “creations.” I remember the time I went blonde without her help and literally broke my hair off, “double-processing” (strip then color) without knowing what I was doing. Of course, she 911-ed that mess! I actually looked surprisingly good as a blonde during its short shelf-life on my head. The few pics I took during that era are a fond memory of the fleeting thrill of what we sacrifice on the altar of beauty.
My girlfriend and I, circa 1958, created an all-pincurl “do” that we dubbed The Bush for its unpruned shrubbery and frizzy perm-without-chemicals look. But in the end, I’ve come full-circle back to my teenage and early college girl bob, an opposite smooth look. Now I worry about how much hair I’m shedding and whether or not my historically thick hair will survive my current rendition of The Sixties, LOL!
June 8th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Thanks Eileen! Took me back to the days when my first husband still had hair! Having a bad hair day still beats having a “no hair day”
I have more than my share for everyone and feel very blessed. Don’t talk about it much so I don’t jinx myself. Lets just say that in 33 years I have only let 2 people cut my hair (one being my first husband and the other my current hair stylist). Timmy, my last husband (I’m still married to him so he’s my last) would like me to cut it about a foot, so I don’t let him near me with scissors!
Love looking at the old photos of most of my friends. I have only changed my style once so its hard to gage the decade by me. Got bangs for the first time in my adulthood at 37. Still have them. *smile.
Maybe its time for a change???
Have a great day… and then some,
Heidi Richards Mooney, Publisher
WE Magazine for Women
June 8th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Welcome back, Eileen!!! I have missed you!! Okay, my style was the Dorthy Hamill wedge. Remember her hair? In fact, a couple people thought I WAS the Olympic gold winner. (And, no, they didn’t make those comments while watching me ice skate!) This has been a fun post, and I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s comments!
Diana
http://www.WoofersClub.blogspot.com
http://www.WendelWordsworth.com
June 8th, 2009 at 2:45 am
Don’t forget the red henna, or the peroxide blonde. In the 80’s I remember going to a hair dresser for a long perm. He told me to lean forward. He put my hair in an elastic band at the top of my forehead and cut the resulting ponytail off. That was how he cut layers. Then he put in the perm. The end result – an amazing lions mane style perm. I loved it.
June 7th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I had the old home perms, quite the smell! then while a senior in high school, got a real short cut instead.
June 6th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Oh Eileen..first of all..WELCOME back! You were missed! I remember the spoolies. Do you remember Dippity Doo?We used to iron our hair to make it straight. Now we have flat irons that do the same thing. The good old Tonette home perms…frizz from the moment you took the curlers out. And…the teased hair. We would wrap ours in toilet paper at night to hold the style. When we got up in the morning, we looked like Marge Simpson!! LOL
I remember the first blow-dry hair cut I got. I was thrilled..couldn’t belive you could wash and dry, and wouldn’t have to sleep in curlers, sit under a hairdryer, or use hot curlers. It was the best!
Thanks for the look back into the really bad hair days! LOL
June 6th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
The afro was huge when i was a teen–the bigger—the better. I also bought wig afro-puffs to have that kinky pig tail look
June 6th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I loved my Sassoon cut! But hated sleeping on the soup cans after trying to grow it out. My Twiggy cut was great since I didn’t have to do anything with it except wash it
June 6th, 2009 at 5:41 am
I loved my “Fro”! I even brought a wig to keep the memories of those tangled, yet golden, days. Just hated it when folks would pat it and say, “I didn’t know it would be so soft.” I should have charged a fee. Ha!
Thanks for this engaging post.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Far out! My hair has ALWAYS been my best-friend…unless it misbehaved! I can relate to a few of these’do’s’, especially the ringlets & the perms! lol Having natural curls as a child, often drove me crazy, more so when my Grandmother insisted that I look like Shirley Temple!
Every Sunday [church] morning, for as long as I can remember, Nanna would patiently sit and wrap brown paper around strands of my hair, or if we were out of paper, the good old bobby-pin!
My Sunday school photo’s are proof of my grandmother’s obsession!
For the years as a teenager, curls were OUT & long lifeless hair was IN! Spending hours with my hairdryer & brushing out any sign of a wave. Then, Linda Rondstadt inspired me to race out and spend my wages on a long perm!! I absolutely loved that look, wish I had a photo for every change my hair underwent
Thanks for reminding me!
June 5th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Oh, I remember the home perms. My mom fried my hair to a ball of frizz. Oh, not a happy day.
I was the late 60’s, early 70’s teen. I had long straight hair, parted in the middle with leather head bands tied about my forehead – with the little peace sign hanging from of it of course.
But, it wasn’t straight enough so we ironed it. I burned my head on more than one occasions. Then the “freaked out” stage came and we were braiding our entire head in tiny braids while wet and taking it out after it dried for an interesting look.
I used to be very wrapped up in my hair. Now my hair is wrapped up in me. I’m loving it gray more than any other time.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:38 am
OMG, I could not stop laughing, I can totally totally relate to the Spoolies, Tonette Home Perms and I had curly hair and the Barbara Streisand look alike look. For Christmas I made my 30 something sons scrapbooks of all our old pictures and I thought, why didn’t someone tell me to tame that curly hair or get those bangs out of my face. I actually like my hair today more than I have in a decade because I am not up tight about going to the right stylist every 6 weeks, I think I’m more comfortable with me because you are so right, we have been there, done that! Thank you for the great laugh!
June 5th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Two favorite hairstyles I recall:
Hair parted down the middle and long!
The Farrah Fawcett look from the 70s.
June 5th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Thanks for the memories, Eileen. I remember trying to sleep with my hair wrapped around orange juice cans in the 60’s to get that Carnaby Street look!
Yes, I can look at my hair in some of those old photos and laugh/cringe, but I don’t want to see how skinny I was.