Trying 50s Hairstyles

I love fifties hair styles - soft and curly rather than straight. Short hair was fine and still feminine, and long hair was either tied back in a ponytail for daytime, maybe tied with a pretty chiffon scarf, or put up in an elegant chignon.   Most ladies curled their hair, sometimes just for volume rather than to make it curly. Curls were achieved by a lengthy process of pin curling and rolling, letting the hair set all day, or overnight - no blow dryers or hot rollers (or straightners apart from a real iron) in the 50s.

Even with all the curling sometimes a perm (permanent wave) was required. Usually this required a trip to the hair salon, but home perm kits were also available. My grandmother had her hair permed in the fifties, and continued the same style for the next fifty years. In between perms she would use her old rollers to keep the style, and in the fifties ladies would still roll and curl their hair even with a perm, as the curls had to be controlled. As I have got older, and especially since having children, my hair has gone from blonde, dead straight, and fast growing , to wavy and brown and hard to grow. My hair is now great for the ‘Roman Style’- short, dark and curly, as popularised in the film ‘Roman Holiday’ in 1953, with Audrey Hepburn. She also had her short ‘pixie-cut’ in many of her movies, but in this it was slightly longer and rolled.

The Italian women in the movie who also had the Roman look, so different to the American pageboys and flips, more like Elizabeth Taylor in movies such as ‘A place in the Sun’ (1951).

 

The Roman Style           

The curls were not quite as tight as the ‘poodle’, a style made famous by Lucille Ball.

I have been experimenting with a set of hot rollers I picked up a few weeks ago. They give my waves better definition. After years of using a straightening iron every day I am now going with the curl! I have a natural front kink that defies straightening, especially here during our humid summer. I’m no Elizabeth Taylor, but here is the result.

Today I have tried the old 50s rollers (found at an op shop for a dollar). They have been in my hair all morning, three at the front and pin-curls at the back – very messy as I did them myself. I was trying to copy a style out of one of my 50s magazines.  I can’t imagine how people slept in them, as only a few on top would be uncomfortable!

  

Yes, I need lots of practice.

All this sitting around has given me time to watch another 50s movie - ‘The Constant Husband’ with Rex Harrison and a string of beautiful ladies, including Kay Kendall.  Well worth watching for the variety of hairstyles, clothes and hats.  Lots of inspiration - I think I’ll try a centre parting next time!

Have a little 50s in your day…Vintage Mama