Dippity-Do Part Two

I was so lucky to come across not one, but three jars of vintage Dippity-do on Ebay at prices much lower than you sometimes see empty vintage Dippity-do jars going for. Perhaps the nicest thing about  having some vintage Dippity-do is  the  absolutely authentic 1960s wetset experience (after all any modern setting lotion can be used for hold). With a much more ample supply I had the luxury of useing it as it would have been in 60s and 70s without the need to skimp. 


A Typical Vintage Dippity-Do Wetset

So what was a typical vintage Dippity-Do set like? In the 60s and 70s brush rollers were the most common, with the almost iconic black wire brush rollers being used first and plastic ones becoming more popular later on. Most instructions in books and magazines at the time suggest hair be stretched and rolled as tightly as possible, and this does seem to produce the nicest results. The instructions on the vintage jars say "apply a generous teaspoonful to damp hair - comb through - then set".  This actually makes the hair a little more slippery that just dabbing the gel on to a few strands, but it does cling to the rollers well as long as you can wind the hair around the roller at least  once. Plastic piks (aka picks or pins) were used to secure the rollers. If you look closely on vintage photos of rollersets from the 60s or 70s you can usually see the piks as one or two little pink or white dots on each roller (see photo above). 



Regular and Extra-Holding

One thing I have been wanting to do is try both regular (pink) and extra-holding (green)  to see how they compare. I did try them both by setting one side with regular and one side with extra strength. Regular produce more fluffy curls while while extra-holding, the hair almost perfectly retains the shape of the roller so there really was a difference. Extra-hold would have been perfect for some of the really set-looking styles of the 60s. 


Oh that smell
 

Perhaps the most iconic and nicest thing about vintage Dippity-Do  is the smell which is often fondly remembered (look at the comments here https://www.facebook.com/107.3TheEagle/photos/a.10150114276233663.273093.124890363662/10152891346728663/?type=1&fref=nf&pnref=story ).  Its hard to describe, and about the best I can do is say it is a sweet smell that is quite unique. If you ever used it, you'll know what I mean. Its quite noticeable when you hair is first set, but then fades away as you air dry or use a dryer.


Days or nights in curlers

So whats wearing Dippity-Do set curlers all day or all night like as was so common? (So common the practice was even shown in advertisements like the Kodak one above!)   Brush rollers tightened with piks  are prickly, but you quickly get used to it if you do it regularly and know what a well done set should feel like.  Depending on how tight your rollers are you can almost forget you are in curlers or be constantly aware your set. As anyone who often wears curlers can tell you, you do sometimes end up with a set that is too tight. Faced with taking your rollers out and starting from scratch, you generally just put up with the tight, prickly and even painful curlers, and look forward to the relief of when they come out. But luckily that doesn't happen too often and most well set curlers are quite pleasant to wear,  and with the occasional whiff of Dippity-Do smell, its actually quite nice to spend all day or night in curlers. 


"You'll catch cold if you don't dry your curlers before bed"

Apparently that was a common belief, and drying before sleeping in rollers was often done if you had the luxury of a dryer (which few did until the 70s).  A more practical reason was that very long hair would dry to slowly to be ready in the morning, and its also much easier to go to sleep in curlers after some soothing time under a warm dryer.

 Commercials

Thanks to YouTube, there are many vintage Dippity-Do commecials  and 'll cheat and copy the links from a previous post in case you haven't read it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxTunPvi5pY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtKzTv9Opzo    
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi4PPFXNL5Y
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_djo3iKfgjs 

One amusing aspect of some of the ads was apparently to claim is was so stiff  that you could hold the jar upside down and nothing would happen. Apparently that wasn't quite true and more than one user tried this with  "unfortunate" results and a slimy mess to clean up. It apparently also had the ability to seep though varnish or paint of a drop fell on a dresser or other piece of furniture.


Sadly my vintage Dippity-Do is almost used up

With the luxury of so much vintage Dippity-Do I have been using it for my nighty sets for the last month or so. To keep things as authentic as possible and take full advantage of the opportunity,  I have been using vintage Wil-hold plastic brush rollers set neat and tight in the true tradition of the 1960s or 70s (much like the image above taken from the Wil-hold  roller package) . Being so used to overnights sets, its been really wonderful to get a whiff of the wonderful Dippity-Do aroma when waking up during the night, or in the morning the breakfast table. Sadly, I'm close to the end of my last jar and will really miss it when I (ugh) go back to more modern replacements (and sadly the modern Dippity-Do is not really the same).  Of course I'm always hoping a case of the stuff will appear on Ebay real cheap!