Show us your hair do's....

[pigeon toe]

IslaLund, I know that in the Turudich book, 1940's Hairstyles there is a section with a few really nice military hairstyles and up-do's. I don't remember the thread that you're talking about, but if you can get the book from your library or through Interlibrary Loan (which I just did), there's some cute styles for you to check out!

Now I have a question of my own for you ladies!

I've never done an up-do on myself in my entire life, not even anything as simple as a French twist. I'm pretty clueless as to how to a vintage 40's up-do. I don't even know how I would get my hair to stay on my head! Bobby pins do nothing for me. Any tips?

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

snip!
1) Those of you with short (above the shoulder), layered hair: How do y'all do your hair? I can imagine that finger waves will still work (but they look more 20s than 40s with my hair this short), but I'm trying to find a solid WWII era look for this mop atop my head.
snip!
-IL

I have naturally curly hair at about chin length. I can let it air dry and it pretty much looks fingerwaved (which rules, incidentally). But! I still roll the front. My shortest hair in the front is about tip of nose length and it works. The rest is curled but the bottom is choppy so when I really want to look authentic I make sure to curl the ends under so they don't look too modern.

 

[RetroModelSari]

Okay, I picked up a tripple barrel curling iron at a thrift today that was still in the box! Anyhow, I have no idea how to use it. Does anyone use this and what kind of curl does it give?

I don't like to use a curling iron every day because I am afraid for my hair, but some nights I don't feel like putting my hair up in curlers and like to have an emergency backup.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Kimberly!

I just got me a tripple barrel iron myself not too long ago and can give you some advice. (Unless it is one of those vintage thingies).

It doesn¬¥t give a curl, but beautifull waves all?° Veronica Lake or cute fake water-waves.

You put some heat-protection spray on your dry hair, take the section of hair you want to be waved and put it between the barrels. You hold it there for a little while and than move the iron to the next section.

If you want to go for water-waves click them with waving clips right after you removed the barrel, so they will stay tight while they cool down and spray them with hairspray to fix. This is at least how I do it.

It gave me a cute look even the first time I did it so I totally recommend it since it is easy to do. It can just be time consuming at times if one has long hair to have an entire section curled.

 

[Kimberly]

Thanks Retro, I am going to play around w/ it this weekend!

 

[GoldLeaf]

Ilsa, I don't know about military hair styles, but I do what alot of the girls with short hair, do. I wear my hair with combs.

I wear a deep part, take the section, tease the back side a bit, and then twist once, toward the part. I then push the hair forward a little and slide the comb in. The comb will push the hair forward a little more. It looks quite a bit like a modified roll.

In my avatar I didn't curl my hair because we were hiking on a very windy day. But I usually use my hot air hair curler to put big, loose waves in my hair. Once I master the curlers, I will wear better curls

Pigeon: if you are having a hard time with bobby pins, you may want to try combs. Mine hold my hair super well. Combs can be used in many ways and can hold quite a bit of hair. I haven't had long hair in forever, so I am not the greatest at offering advice. However, I do know that a lady in my office has waist length hair that she wears in a large bun at the top of her head. She secures it with 4 combs and it stays all day

 

[pigeon toe]

Thanks for the advice on the combs! I'll definitely try to use them for an up-do. I love using them just to pull my hair back into faux rolls, it's so easy and cute.

Here's a photo of a sleeker, softer curled look I got last week after brushing out my curls after a long day at school:

 

[roots66]

Check out these finger waves--on a guy!!!

[Speaking of NY periodicals, check out this NY Times slideshow on Poiret-inspired fashion...the photos have a certain Beaton-esque quality to me.]

 

[Sweet Polly Purebred]

I was doing some research for a video project and came across this little gem in the Prellinger archives (other fantastic stuff in there if you're up to browsing, the anti-perversion films are hilarious!) ..

Combing out the pin curls is interesting to watch .. and that little girl is such a doll! Ah, refeshing to see 'normal' looking ladies doing the styling ..

http://www.archive.org/details/CarollsB1941

(If your connection is slow, there are download options on the left side menu.)

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Thanks for that link Thora!! That was great! I especially liked seeing the contraption the first woman was hooked up to! The little girl was so cute. What I wouldn't do to have such perfect curl!!
I've actually got my routine down now, and have been able to wear my hair down and curly which in the past I couldn't do because it always ended up too puffy. But, I wish that my curls would end up a little bigger. It doesn't matter how much hair I put in the curler, when I take it out the next morning it all separates[huh] I really like the curls I'm getting from the sassy curlers. But I think for bigger curls I'm gonna have to use my big size sponge curlers. The sassy curlers are great for most all styles I do and they are the most comfortable things to sleep in. But I think that if I want to go for a bigger sized curl I have to use a wider roller. I thought that I could get a bigger curl if I just added more hair to the sassy curler, but as I said they keep separating when I take them out. I'm gonna try the big sponge curlers tonight and see if this happens with them. The other day I did the front in big pin curls to see if this would make a difference, but I had a lot of product in my hair from playing with it all day and I think this weighted them down. I'm gonna see what happens when I do them tonight with clean hair and concentrated setting lotion.

By the way, I do like the purple lottabody. I haven't decided if I like it better than the other kind I was using. I think I get better curls out of the other stuff. But, Lottabody makes this product in a white bottle with purple writing. It's supposedly extra body setting lotion that doesn't need to be mixed with any water. Don't use this stuff, it's terrible and very sticky and made my hair feel awful and my curls flopped. I don't mix my setting lotion with water I use it straight up, so maybe this other stuff, since it wasn't concentrated wasn't strong enough. But, it was just too sticky and my hair ended up very crunchy and hard to brush out.....

 

[mysterygal]

In this photo I used a triple barrel iron on my hair (by this time though it did lose a little curl)...you use it just like a crimper...extremely easy to use!
There's also a double barrel out (which I can't wait to try) which gives you even more curl.

 

[pretty faythe]

I use the purple Lottabody and haven't had a prob with crunchy hair. Usually I use it after my shower and apply it like I would gel. Keeps the curls all day. But also take into consederation that my hair is on the short end.

 

[pigeon toe]

I think I'm just gonna come to terms with the fact that hot rollers just work loads better with my hair. Whenever I do a wet set my curls aren't nearly as bouncy, and they end up falling out half way through the day.

But, oddly enough, with a set of hot curlers or hot sticks (I leave them in for only 10 min on average), I can sometimes get 2 days out of it!

I guess if I condition enough it won't wreck my hair THAT badly?

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I use the purple Lottabody and haven't had a prob with crunchy hair. Usually I use it after my shower and apply it like I would gel. Keeps the curls all day. But also take into consederation that my hair is on the short end.

I actually don't mind the purple lottabody that comes in the clear bottle, although I think I might be getting better curl out of the other setting lotion that I had been using. My curls seem tighter and less frizzy with the other stuff (can't remember the name at the moment, it's mentioned a few pages prior to this one).
The Lottabody that I absolutely don't like and wouldn't recommend to anybody comes in a white bottle with purple writing. I happened to see it at Brooks pharmacy, so I grabbed some to tide me over until the large bottle of the purple lottabody showed up. It is pre-prepared, not concentrated, this is supposed to make it easier to use because the purple in the clear bottle is concentrated and supposed to mixed with water. I don't do this anyway, with either of the setting lotions I use I've been using it straight up. I get the best curl when my hair is mostly dry and I just dampen it with the setting lotion. If I curled my hair completely wet it would never be dry in the morning. The purple lottabody also seems to dry a bit too fast. I don't know if this makes any difference with the curl I'm getting but it seems that when I put some on the section that I'm about to curl by the time the curler is completely wrapped it has already dried. I think this lessens my ability to curl, so I end up adding more lotion, which in turn is why my hair is a bit more crunchy. If I brush it out it's nice and soft, not crunchy at all. However I have the problems of the bigger sections that I want to be big curls separating once I brush them. But if I leave them as is they are just too stiff looking.

Well, tonight I've done all pin curls in the front some bigger sections and the rest is in the big pink sponge curlers. I'm gonna have to take a few valium to help me sleep (having a chronic illness has a few small benefits) because I have enough trouble sleeping without uncomfortable curlers in. So, I hope this is worht it!! I think that I will ask Hemingway Jones if he will take some pics tomorrow. I think over the past few weeks my hair has been coming out much better than in did in the past. I've got my night routine down now and can curl my entire head in about 10 minutes. I do have hair that is about 3 inches from the middle of my back, so it's pretty long t the moment, so curling all of it in that time I think is pretty good.
I've been wearing it down mostly every day with a flower clip in one side. But now that the heat is here I'm gonna have to start practicing my up do's. It's gonna be way too hot having all that hot heavy hair on my neck in the heat I love doing rolls, but it seems that for a long time that was all I did. I'm gonna have to really watch a bunch of movies from the golden era, get print outs of screen grabs of hairstyles that I like from these movies and try to recreate the ones that I like.
It's really hard not to go to the salon and chop it off. I have to resist this urge every summer. But at the length it's at right now I can do a few things with it which is nice, although I do need to get at least 2 inches of dry ends cut off.
I got my soft bonnet hair dryer but I have yet to try it. If my hair doesn't come out right tonight I will wash it out tomorrow and give the bonnet dryer a try.
UGH!! All of these crazy routines we put ourselves through!! I wish hair dressers today really knew how to do these styles. I mean, a few of them say they can, but they know just the basics, nothing like the intricate styles I see in the old movies. Basics aren't gonna help me, I know them already. I did find a hairdresser down the street from my house, around the corner from JBD's soon to be new apartment, who claims that he knows all about vintage hairstyles. I'm gonna make an appointment with him for a trim and see if he will set my hair for me. I hope he is as great as he claims to be.

Mystergal, that's a great group shot. How wonderful that you all got together You all look so wonderful!! I wish we had more gatherings around here. (All you New Englanders there's a thread in the events section!! Come on you know you want to get together!)
I saw a great triple barrel curling iron at Sally the other day. It looked like a wave iron or crimper but it had 2 round barrels on the bottom, and the top was one curved piece that laid across the bottom. It was different than the other triple barrels that I had seen. I thought of buying it, but I have so many darn contraptions that I use once and then never use again. I figured that setting my hair at night is becoming second nature and I only use the curling iron to fix up a couple of loose curls and this does the job just fine, so I didn't really need it. I saw the double barrel too. Does this just give a bigger curl than the triple??

 

[RaasAlHayya]

Ulta has the Revlon triple-barrel curling iron on sale for $17.99!

http://www.ulta.com/control/product/~product_id=2127495

--Leslie

 

[mysterygal]

I plan on buying the double barrel iron this week, so as soon as I get it, I'll take a pic and post it in here! I did however see a picture of the difference between the curl of using both irons and the double does seem to give more of a pronounce curl.
As far as being hard on hair; With mine, since I've bleached it blonde, I've got to be kind of careful as far as how much stuff I do to it! So, hot irons I do occasionally but I use foam curlers more often. To set curls, I love the sebastian and nexus products.

 

[LolitaHaze]

60's sex kitten hair

I know this is a bit later than most of us like, but I also know there are a few of us in here who appreciate 60's hair just the same. Here is me getting ready for my show and right before I hit the stage wearing my fabulous 60's sex kitten hair!! After I saw video of me performing that night... I realized why everyone thinks my hair is fake... it's so big and thick! Hehehe I swear people only the color is fake... er I mean... it's all naturale!

 

[Pink Dahlia]

I envy your hair.

 

[LolitaHaze]

Hey thanks... It is a lot of work though!! I need to take more vitamins, but the shampoo and conditioner I use have really worked well at fixing my hair!!!

 

[BegintheBeguine]

I love the sixties hair, LolitaHaze! It looks fab on you. One of my biggest complements is when someone nicely asks me if I'm wearing a fall and I'm not! Big hair, thick hair, yes! Big roll of bills, woohoo! Oh, what is the shampoo and conditioner, please?
Ashley

 

[goldwyn girl]

As always Lolita I am envious of your hair, which by the way looks wonderful in 60's sex kitten. Funny you mention the fake hair, when I saw you in Vegas in January my hubby asked me if you had a piece mixed in and I replied that No it was all yours.......while turning green