Many of everyday tasks a women had to carry out were detrimental to good grooming. From February 1942, even shampoo joined to ever growing list of hard to get products. Soap was the obvious alternative, but you had to do several lathers and rinses.There was a special shredded soap, made for using as shampoo: it had to be added to hot water, then the two boiled, until became thick liquid. At this point you could you could add some form of scent- perfume or more likely lemon verbena or the essence of some other scented herb.
1940's soap advertisement
The next part of the ritual that was hair care in the 1940's was setting, many did this themselves. If you could afford it, you would go to hairdresser for a shampoo and set , but even then, you couldn't relax .
1940's hairdresser salon
The Perm
The perm- permanent wave had been popular for over thirty years by 1939 and by then it was the very core of women's hair styles. Everyone who could afford to got a perm , its bubbly, curly style become the target of those who, on the outbreak of war wanted everyone to act with restraint. There were a problems once the perm started to work its way out home companion was at hand with the solution. Alternatives to a ribbon were and old stocking tied around, or the top of stocking, cut off, which made an excellent hair band. Not everyone went to the hairdresser for perm, There were proprietary home-perm outfits.
1940's home-perm
1940's Advertisement of Home Perm
Ribbon in the Hair early 1940's
At the beginning of the war, shorter hair styles become more popular as women entered the services, where the rule that hair should not touch the back of the collar was strictly enforced. Of November 1939, recommended short hair for women of all ages. "Eternal Youth"- a euphemism for those aged 40 and over - was an age where the secret was to keep your hair short and perfectly groomed.
Over the next year, hair styles become longer, but hair was kept strictly under control, with the black drawn up during the day, and only worn long for parties or other social occasions. The main inspiration for this style was the film actress, Veronica Lake, famous for her "peak a boo" style , so called because her long hair fell rather impractically over one eye.
Veronica Lake in 1940's
1943's knotted snood and ribbons for hair
"Pompadour curls "
Pompadour curls was introduced in late 1940's , were one variation - for this the long hair was drawn back from the ears, then swept upwards and fixed into big formal curls high on the top of the head, with the hair from the back being tucked underneath the side curls, where it was held in place with the hair clips. Variation of this style - long hair was worn short by pinning it up on top- where fashionable for the next couple of years.
Pompadour hair style in 1940's
Another popular style was the page-boy, one variation being with the hair rolled in curls and brushed sleekly under. However, in mid-1943, short-ages most notably of shampoo and hair grips, and the dangers of factory work led to the creation of new, shorter styles. There was also party version - brushed sleekly up at the sides and back and let loose in a soft bang over the forehead.
Page-boy hair style in 1940's
Rita Hayworth in 1940's with classic updo
The next big innovation was the flat-top, the centre parted flat-top was a good style for anyone with an oval or square face and regular features. Elaborate hair styles often required a creative approach to accessories like coloured ribbons, snoods-nets, flowers, bows.
Hair products changed and as with all else, many become difficult or impossible to get hold of. Reckitt's blue, a clothes dye, was one of the alternatives to proprietary products, in this case used by women with grey hair.
Image from 1940's
Hair curlers were used by all ages, as were hair nets. Many women routinely slept in curlers and hair nets. Women working in factories, catering or other environments where hair had to be kept off the face could wear their curlers during the day, covering the hair completely with a turban or scarf.
After war
After the war ended, there was a shift away from utility clothing and sometimes practical hairstyling of the war. New more luxurious fabrics, hair products and make-up slowly became available, though rationing was still firmly in place in the UK. People wanted to leave drabness of war behind them, and new products and fashions were heartily taken up.
Christian Dior's revolutionary "New Look" in 1947 embraced the new fabrics and ignored rationing in favour of a desire to move away from wartime skimping. His fabric - hungry designs influenced fashion and designer for years to come.
Hair tint advert ( Vogue, 1947)
References:
H&MUA Team. (January 2012). Women’s 1940's Hairstyles: An Overview. Available: http://hair-and-makeup-artist.com/womens-1940s-hairstyles/. Last accessed November 2015
Baker, P (1991). Fashions of a decade: the 1940's. London: Batsford . 64p
Brown, Mike (2006). The 1940s look : recreating the fashions, hair styles and make-up of the Second World War. Sevenoaks : Sabrestorm. 133p.
Howell, Geraldine (2012). Wartime fashion : from haute couture to homemade, 1939-1945. London: Berg. 249p
Arnold, Rebecca (2009). The American looks : fashion, sportswear and the image of women in 1930s and 1940s New York. London: I. B. Tauris . 237p
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