Sunday, May 8, 2016

The Good Old Days (1 of 2)


If you search Facebook, there are a number of  huge comment streams under photos with questions like "Do you remember brush rollers" . Here are some of those comments which give a wonderful window into 1950s, 60s and 70s hairdressing at home.

 (Note: photos here are unrelated to the comments and are from various places on the net. If they are yours and you would prefer them to be removed, please send an email. I have also removed commenters last names since they commented on other boards). 

What really surprised me is there is so much material that its really too much for one posting. So here is part 1. Enjoy!


I lived in curlers ...





OMG that's only one of many  "Ì lived in them" comments. And some really did ...





As cool as it would have been to wear curlers almost all the time, this was much more common:






And on the weekends:


Or all weekend:

 

Of course curlers can also remove curl ...



Two sets a day must really have been lovely if you had a dryer or just like air drying:



Daytime sets with scarfs were in ...



 It was important to "hide" your rollers under a scarf:


And that was cool too!


 It must have been hard to concentrate at school with a head full of rollers!


And then it became fashionable ...



And it was important to be seen in curlers on Saturdays ...



At first wearing curlers on Saturdays was just about nice hair that evening:



It then really became fashionable to wear your curlers on Saturday. How cool was that?




In fact you really had to be seen in curlers ...





Sure hope nobody found you weren't in curlers on Saturday!



Sleeping in rollers really was the way to do your hair ...





Wow yes, the `do I` is in reference to do you remember sleeping in rollers. Something you wont forget if you ever did it.

The flip inspired many an overnight set:


 Nothing worse than one roller out of place  - who hasn't experienced that:


 And it does take practice but you can learn how sleep in almost any type of roller:




 Kind of neat to set overnight just because ...



OMG! Maybe she just wanted to be sure her hair would be in good shape if the wig`s hairdo got messed up during the day.

 Or how about this:


You even had a choice of rollers:



And the bigger the better for volume and no curl!




Rollers  were even good way to keep a hairdo in shape without wetsetting:

 

 Oh my curlers are sooo tight and prickly! 







It isn't all fun and games. Anyone who sets overnight usually has a love-hate relationship with roller piks ....


I never thought about `breaking in` piks buts she`s right. With a bit of use they get more comfortable. Or not if they are too tight ...




Tight sets were certainly common in the days of brush rollers, not only helping to keep the rollers neatly set all night, but also producing the best results.  Mom's were apparently meticulous about tight sets:



If you were setting your own hair and wanted the best set, you made sure it was tight as well:



 If you use brush rollers, then you'll know what a tight set is like ...


But its not really that bad - you get used to it! And setting with even tension really is the way to do it:


 When I came across that comment it immediately stood out - even for the tightest sets carefully wound even tension can can make them comfortable and easy to sleep in once your used to it.


But if wast enough to make it more comfortable, you didn't there was a trick to get a better nights sleep!











Or if you really wanted to get fancy ...


 

Well maybe they didn't work so well after all ...


  
After a while it hard to sleep without being set ...



If you haven't slept nighty in rollers it might be hard to imagine sleeping so well in curlers that its hard to sleep without them, but its true!




 (Thats bigger rollers.)






Whatever you do, don't stop using rollers ...







Stay tuned for part two! Including dryers, favorite rollers, hairdressers, setting hair and still using rollers today. Happy setting :)





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