1970s Hair Care

[MsBubbles]

Glad I'm not the only one who was influenced/traumatized by the Timotei ads. When I posted about it here last night, late Eastern US time when all the UKers were nicely tucked up in bed, all I got was crickets . I posted a link to one of those confounded ads.

[ratgirldjh]

and carried my yellow plastic Goody wide-tooth comb in the back pocket of my flare corduroy jeans. If you had long hair back then, it was important to be able to flip it back over over your shoulder in one smooth, practiced move.

OMG I did this too! And then there was a phase where all the girls were using METAL dog brushes to brush their hair at my school! Can't remember if I had one - probably so lol and of course that roll on lip gloss that smelled like rotten strawberries! I still miss that stuff! lol

When I decided to cut my long hair short - the only 'beauty shop' I knew of (except my Grandma's lol) was the one my mom went to. My mom had mid back length BLEACHED to almost white hair and wore it in a style on top of her head with lots of hairspray, teasing, and hair pins. (However I didn't know this ) and so asked my Grandma to make me to my mom's beauty shop to get my hair cut.

Well it turned out to be a SALON and a BEAUTY SALON at that (read expensive...) and the owner recognized me and took me because she did my mom's hair.

She washed my hair and then just chopped it off at about shoulder level and then proceeded to put it on curlers, dry it under the dryer and then the teasing and the pins and when she finished I sat there looking like an old lady! I was sooo horrified!!! I was too shy to tell her that this was not the 'wedge style' I wanted - and then when my grandma went to pay (wondering why I wanted my hair like this anyway lol) it was $40.00!!! OMG This was in like 1972 or so and $40 was A LOT of money!!!

And so I was in the car crying and came home and immediately set out undoing my hair... and of course I had to wash it and sit and comb it out... and it was fried! The whole time I kept hoping that there was a Dorothy Hamil Wedge under there... but she had cut it uneven! and it hit my shoulders and stuck out like a triangle! OMG it was soooo awful! I still remember the feeling!!!

Finally, I cried so much and was so distraught that my Grandma took me to a beauty school where they actually knew what a 'Wedge' was and I got the hair cut of my dreams Whew! And for like $3.00 or something...

[DarkAlice]

can't believe people used an actual iron to make their hair straight..every strand must of been split and fly away

[spidermom]

I think that pictures from the 1970s look so good to us because there was no high definition, so the line between damaged/dry and perfect is blurred.

P.S. - I used an iron on a few occasions, and it did make my hair pretty fly-away, but I don't remember a lot of damage from it - probably because I kept getting it cut.

[GeoJ]

I remember that my mom used Breck, Flex, and Prell on me. She would rub mineral oil onto my scalp, scritch the crud off of my scalp with a fine toothed comb, and then wash with one of the aforementioned shampoos. After washing and towel drying she would apply detangler (I don't remember the type) and comb my hair.

[Carolyn]

I remember having hot rollers at the time my college roommate got married. That was June of 1972. I recall them being quite small. Too small really for the length of my hair, so they didn't work all that well. A couple years later, larger ones were available. My mom bought me a set of larger ones and I gave my small roller set to the daughter of one of my mom's friends. I got one of the first modern curling irons somewhere around 1976. It had a little thing on one end where you added water and it steamed. I remember it being bright green and white but I don't recall the brand.

[Wasabipea]

Deep conditioning with mayonnaise, obviously the full fat version!

[eezepeeze]

I got one of the first modern curling irons somewhere around 1976. It had a little thing on one end where you added water and it steamed. I remember it being bright green and white but I don't recall the brand.

I remember using one of these that my mom had! It was pretty cool the way it would steam your hair into shape...I used to be her to curl my bangs with it LOL

I remember longing after my aunt's Prell. My mom would never by it...we used a lot of White Rain and Suave, if I remember correctly...but I could be remembering the early 80s

This is such a fun thread! Does anybody remember Dippity-do hair gel? For years, this was the curly girl's only option for reducing frizz. When it dried, it crunched and looked wet LOl

[LaurelSpring]

Breck, Flex, Wella, Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific....gosh that brings back memories.

[Blond On Blond]

can't believe people used an actual iron to make their hair straight..every strand must of been split and fly away

Amazingly, not always the case. My Mom had butt-long hair that she used to bleach and iron, and it looked terrific. She was extremely careful not to use a very hot iron though, and never applied the iron directly to hair, using paper as a protectant.

After she had kids, she cut her hair to BSL and started curling it to get the "Farrah" look. She also stopped bleaching it, and "frosted" it instead. She still uses the term "frosting" for artificial highlights

My Mom mentions Wella Balsam as a revelation. Before, she used homemade masks made with egg yolks, lemon juice and oils. Also - the mayo mask