Hairstyling Tools and Products

Hair Colouring

The use of hair colour had grown over the decades. By the 1970s, around a third of American women coloured their hair, either at home or via a salon.

Home dyes were big business, even techniques like highlighting were available to do at home with kits like Clairol’s Quiet Touch (pictured).

Clairol advert for its DIY highlighting kit Quiet Touch (1975)

Highlighting was popular, and could be achieved by several techniques, including using a tail comb to weave the hair onto foils – a recent development in hairdressing technique.A heated double-sided flat iron could then be used on the foil packets to speed up the activation time. Frosting was used to create a natural sun-kissed highlighted look on brown and blonde hair, created by either simply painting on the highlighter using a narrow brush, or by using a few foils.

Concerns over the ingredients used in hair colours and links to cancer emerged in the seventies. Colours that were more “natural”, using vegetable dyes as opposed to coal tar dyes, were introduced to the market. Revlon had Colorsilk, the first hair colour without ammonia, and the all natural henna was being used more in the Western world, especially as red tints were popular.

Hairstyling Tools and Products

An advert for Supermax and the attachments to do it all (1973)

Flicks, wings and curls, as well as straightening wavy hair, needed the right hair tools, and hair tool brands were branching out from the simple curling iron or blow dryer to answer the hairstyling needs of the decade.Multi-purpose hairdryers could do it all, including the super orange Supermax made by Gillette. It came with various comb and brush attachments to create all those ’70s styles.

Perming was used throughout the decade, mainly to enable various looks to be easily styled.Perms included everything from a root perm in short hair to create lift, the curl needed to flick hair, and soft bouncy curls on longer hair. Perms also created the tight, frizzy curls on European hair for an Afro look.

The variety and number of hair care products in the ’70s increased dramatically, and there was something for all hairstyles and hair types.The number of shampoo products available also increased tremendously in the ’70s, and products were now targeted at specific hair types (e.g. oily, dry, fine, Afro)  or conditions (e.g. brittle, split ends).

There was often an emphasis on “natural“, e.g. Clairol’s Herbal Essences (founded 1972). The two-step process of using a shampoo then a separate conditioner also increased during the decade.

A selection of ’70s styles from magazines: Flicks (1975); Pageboy-influenced (1973); Something for the older woman (1973); Mid-length soft curls (1975); Short and flicked (1976); A sleek pageboy style (1973).

References:

H&MUA Team. (Jan 2013). http://hair-and-makeup-artist.com/womens-1970s-hairstyles/. Available: http://hair-and-makeup-artist.com/womens-1970s-hairstyles/. Last accessed October 2015.