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1960's Hairstyles
The Beatles invaded America with their long hair and the music began to change into a sound with British accents and Ringo Starr
became a household word. The new look for rock bands was flowing tresses, but that didn’t stop Chubby Checker, Jackie Wilson or
Stevie Wonder from still doing their own thing.
President John Kennedy and wife Jacqueline were loved by all; as Jackie set the trend for fashion. Most of the time, she wore her
hair touching her shoulders and flipping up with a pill box hat. Conservatively dressed, she wore skirts about an inch below the
knees with a matching dressed top that came to the waist. Gloves would complete this class act image. Those who weren’t complete
rebels of that era, would follow her lead and wear their hair in the stylish flip.
The bubble came into fashion or otherwise known as the bouffant hairstyle. The hair was clipped shorter on the bottom and became
longer as you worked your way up. The longest section was in the crown and top area for height. Everyone wanted height, thinking;
that the more height they would have on the top of their head, the slimmer their body would look and there was only one way to
accomplish this; and it was to backcomb the hair until all of the hair was like a birds nest close to the scalp. The term backcomb
developed a slang name known as teasing, those who were in the profession would never say such a forbidden and unprofessional word.
Beehives were seen at dances, as little ornaments of birds, bees, flowers or jewels were placed into the hive to bedeck this
extravagant hairstyle. Kim Novak brought the French twist bouffant into being as we watched her on screen; with her smoky lavender
hued blonde color. So sexy. The style was quite simple to do, if you knew how to do it. If you are curious, here is some easy
instructions for you: After rolling the hair all under in the back and on the sides, make a small part if desired and roll the
top toward one side in the direction, you would like the hair to go, dry and brush out vigorously. Section off the top, sides and
the crown. Begin on the bottom and backcomb the hair until most of the hair is setting close to the head. The proper way to
backcomb is to take about an inch of hair while using your rattail comb. Hold the very top of this section out and slide your
comb on the top and push gently down toward your scalp. Repeat this until all you have on top are a few fine strands. Spray with
pure lacquer to make stiff. Take your brush and begin to smooth out the top hair shaft while brushing the hair over to the left of
the head in the back. Place bobby pins up and down the center of that section and wind the hair over into a vertical roll and secure
with hairpins. Spray again and go over with your hand to smooth the hair shaft. Now, you have all of the crown to do something with
and you are going to begin taking one inch sections and backcombing just like you did the previous section. After you are done, take
one layer at a time smoothing it over with your brush and begin placing it over about one-half or two inches of the French twist. The
amount you decide to cover is a matter of personal preference. This also depends upon the length of the hair. Shorter hair will be
more like a bubble(like Kim‘s), longer hair will be like a large roll. Fasten with hairpins. Follow this through as you lay each
section over the other. When the hair is extra long, you can fashion a large roll and secure around the twist with the pins. Take
the sides and backcomb the same way, smooth out and turn the hair under making a roll as you place in back to lay on the twist or
above and securing with pins. Backcomb the top, smooth into the direction that it has been rolled into, hopefully a wave. Lift with
a rattail comb or a large hairpin for that height.
That is just one style that was so prominent during that time and there are so many more. With the bubble, strong backcombing had to
be done to get that rounded effect and then, some would use a comb, others a brush and still others would use a large hairpin to
gently bring over each layer on top of each other lightly to keep the volume they made. Sometimes, the sides would be coming toward
the face in c curls as a bow would be placed on the top of the head between the bangs and the side of the hair that went back. Other
times, there would be one large c curl on each side for a dramatic effect.
Enter: Sonny and Cher. Once a week America would tune into watching Cher’s antic’s as she would extend laughable remarks toward her
husband that would rally on the feminist movement. No doubt about it, the ultra super long haired look was in; and on the other side
of the railroad tracks a movement formed to encourage the growth of hair and many were actually ironing it; literally on an ironing
board. The hip huggers worn looked cute and only revealed the belly button. We sometimes tripped over our bell bottom jeans. Everyone
headed to Woodstock in California to experiment in free love, try LSD, smoke pot and protest the Viet Nam war. By this time,
President Kennedy had been assassinated and it was President Johnson who led the country into that worthless war. The hippies were
the ones who would be against the establishment and let everyone know exactly how they felt with their many protests. They marched
against the war holding signs, wearing their peace symbols; and their angry voices were definitely heard. Yes, they wore their hair
super long and parted in the middle. Scissors were taboo to these guys. Everything was natural about them, some lived in communes,
other’s just seemed to float around. Although, in New York, they were in Greenwich Village with the artists and beatniks
philosophizing together about world affairs while wearing their small round glasses, they were everywhere to be seen, in parks
on the benches, on the lawns and always piled together in a Volkswagen bus that had different colored daisies painted all over it,
proclaiming “Woodstock or bust“; after all, they were known as the flower children or flower generation. They made their own soap,
candles and strung beads on hemp and worked on macramé and bought their clothes at second hand stores or Army Surplus stores and tied
a scarf around their foreheads. Materialism was out, and naturalism was in! Ah yes, I can remember those days. Was it possible to be
a hairdresser in those flowery days and still retain your sanity? My answer: of course not. But then, no one was really sane.
Everyone was casting their whims to the wind, not thinking about the many tomorrows which were sure to come. I wouldn’t trade it
for all, and I mean all, for all the tea in China. Besides, tea can only go so far. Actually, so can China.
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