Long Straight Hair
Long hair had been in vogue since the late 1960s and it’s popularity continued right through the 1970s. It is a very commonly seen style in photographs, especially with younger women.
Really straight hair that was parted in the centre was a popular way to wear long hair, as seen on actresses Ali MacGraw in the movie Love Story (1970) and Peggy Liptonin hit TV series Mod Squad (1968-1973).
A popular style with UK schoolgirls was straight hair enhanced with a flicked fringe, also known as “wings“, but more on these later.
To get hair really straight it could be ironed under a brown paper bag, but luckily there was a new breed of styler available – essentially a hair dryer with various attachments that could be used to create a myriad of styles. More on those below.
School girl with flicked fringe (1976)
The Ape
An early ’70s style that consisted of shorter hair on top combined with longer hair at the back, and lots of layering throughout the hair. The hair could be straight or curly, but always had a shaggy look to it.
The Shag
Hairdresser Paul McGregor is credited as having created the shag haircut for Jane Fonda’s character Bree Daniels (as pictured) in the film Klute (1971).
It is a unisex, no frills cut that involved evenly-progressing layers with graduated sides and a full fringe. A much longer version of the shag, often with waves, was called the gypsy cut.
It was a popular ’70s hairstyle for both sexes and was worn by many including Joan Jett, David Cassidy and Gillian Blake (from a UK TV show for children calledFollyfoot).
The Wedge
The wedge was created by Vidal Sassoon protégé Trevor Sorbie in 1974.
Consisting of short hair with steep-angled layers cut all around the sides and back, creating a triangular shape that was longer on top, going into a heavily-layered aspect at the back and sides with lots of movement.
One famous wearer of a wedge was American figure skater Dorothy Hamill (pictured).
In 1976, she won a gold at the Winter Olympics and women across America wanted a haircut just like the sweetheart of skating.
The Afro
Hairstyles that encouraged the black community to embrace their natural hair structure, as opposed to being “society correct” with straightened hair, continued to be popular in the 1970s after emerging in the ’60s, predominantly as part of the black pride movement.
The ’70s Afro was as much about being fashionable as it was politics, and was worn by both sexes throughout the decade, largely by African-Americans and the black community.
It was also worn by other ethnic groups and people with very curly hair as an alternative to the uniform long, straight hair.
Perming allowed European hair to be tightly curled and from the mid-’70s to the end of the decade, the Afro was worn by various people (men and women) including the famous e.g. Barbara Streisand and Bette Midler.
Cornrows
The hair is plaited tight to the scalp, either in straight rows (hence the name) or intricate patterns. It’s a style that requires no relaxes or other harsh chemicals. The ends can be secured with elastic bands and/or decorated with beads.
An ancient and traditional way of styling hair in Africa and for African-descended people worldwide, cornrows became fashionable again in the 60's and 70's due to the black pride movement.
Cornrows also became somewhat popular in the white community when bikini-clad beauty Bo Derek wore long braided hair, decorated with beads in the 1979 film 10.
Not all black women had cornrows or an Afro – wigs were still a popular alternative, found in a variety of short and long fashionable styles.
The Purdey and the Pageboy
British actress Joanna Lumley (pictured left) wore this bowl-like version of a pageboy in her role as Purdey for TV show The New Avengers (1976-77). Hence it was known, in the UK at least, as a “Purdey”.
The popular sleek, rounded hairstyle was also worn on slightly longer hair, known as a pageboy – just as it had been in the previous two decades.
Flicks and Wings
Classic 70's flicks going around the head (1975)
Flicks were seen on both short and long hairstyles. They emerged in the early 70's before Charlie’s Angels (1976) brought the ultimate flicked hair to our attention in the shape of Farrah Fawcett and her “Farrah flicks”.
Flicks on a fringe (often centre-parted) were referred to as “wings” due to the shape made by the flicks at the side of the face.
Flicks could also go all the way round the bottom of shorter hair, creating a mass of body. The crown area and top of the hair was always straight.
To create a splendid flick, the new breed of heated styling tools were used, as well as rollers or tongs. Some women opted for a perm to create the curl needed, which could then be styled really easily. Perms were used to create the lift and shape needed to curl and flick the hair.
Asymmetrical Styles
A high fashion look in the late 1970's was to wear longer hair dressed to one side, often in a pony tail, The pony could be either high up by the top of the ear – or low down at jaw level or even lower on the shoulder.
Stack Perms
Perming became more popular later in the decade, from tight curls to more bubble-like creations. One perm that was so 1970's was the stack perm.A stack perm involved perming the middle and lower parts of long hair in lots of small perm rods that were then stacked away from the head and crown area on things like chopsticks.It resulted in a mass of tight, smallish curls around the ends and length of the hair while remaining straight on top around the crown area – creating a halo of curls!
Permed wig in 1970's
Mohicans and all things Punk
While not worn by the masses, punk has its rightful place in ’70s hair history. Generally short, spiked and unkempt, punk hairstyles were the opposite of long “hippie hair” and was a look created by the younger generation. Clipping or shaving areas of the head was incorporated into some designs, like mohicans and horns, or wearers went for a full-on skinhead (a revival of a fifties style), though girls often left a fringe and side sections longer. Mohicans were fixed upright, defying gravity, by using everyday household products like eggs, sugar water, soap or gelatine, as well as gels and hair sprays.
Punk brought bright coloured hair to the street and anything went, from a rainbow of colour to jet black or bleached blonde. Colours were created using Crazy Color, a range of neon colours in a tub launched in 1977, as well as everyday products like food colourings and even Kool-Aid and Kia-Ora.Punk hair didn’t stop at colour, text and patterns were also put into hair, like leopard print. You could also opt for jet black hair (like Siouxsie Sioux), or the other end of the scale with bleaching hair white blonde (like Debbie Harry from Blondie)
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.
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