MYTHBUSTER : Hairstyles in the Golden Era

[brylcreem boy]

Bump! For newer Loungers. Since we're talking about haircuts and brillantine these days ...

This was a great thread about hairstyles of the golden era... Hope you didn't mind Marc- Bump again!, I think it's worth visiting again... it sure makes me wanna grow my hair back again.

 

[fishmeok]

I've been trying to get something like that going, but recently cut it all into what the barber called a "fade" which is that short on the sides military cut from the '40's. he cut it too short on top tough, going to have to let it grow again.

This is somewhat of a natural wave, but I like it shorter, fits under a hat or motorcycle helmet better. plus for some reason the shorter it is the younger I look.
Cheers
Mark

 

[Edward]

fftopic: Fishmoek, what's that sweater you're wearing? Great colour - looks fantastic with the russett A2.

Regarding hair - or, more to the point, a lack thereof - I have a question.... Was there ever anyone back in the day who shaved it off entirely? I always had very fine hair, and by the time I was 28, it was thinning noticeably. There followed several years of shorter and shorterf buzzcuts, until finally a coupel of years ago I started to shave it completely as even a number 1 all over wasn't hiding the thinning on top any more. Looking back ,there seem to have been some historical precedents for this - there's the stereotypical Drill Sargeant image, of course, and then there was always Yul Brynner.... Shaving your head has, I think, become much less of a radical statement than once it was (probably the lieks of David Beckham helped to mainstream it a bit, and take it away - for a white guy - from the "Nazi skinhead" stereotype), but was it something that anyone really did back in the 30s and 40s? Military types, maybe?

 

[Edward]

I still prefear the look of the shaved sides, or well, I love it actually!

Naama

How about shaved over the top as well? ;

 

[Mary]

He's dreamy!

My grandfather still waves his hair. I think it's fairly easy if you don't have thick hear. Please post more pics if you have given it a try. And I'd love to see pics of other hairstyles!

M

 

[jamespowers]

fftopic: Fishmoek, what's that sweater you're wearing? Great colour - looks fantastic with the russett A2.

Regarding hair - or, more to the point, a lack thereof - I have a question.... Was there ever anyone back in the day who shaved it off entirely? I always had very fine hair, and by the time I was 28, it was thinning noticeably. There followed several years of shorter and shorterf buzzcuts, until finally a coupel of years ago I started to shave it completely as even a number 1 all over wasn't hiding the thinning on top any more. Looking back ,there seem to have been some historical precedents for this - there's the stereotypical Drill Sargeant image, of course, and then there was always Yul Brynner.... Shaving your head has, I think, become much less of a radical statement than once it was (probably the lieks of David Beckham helped to mainstream it a bit, and take it away - for a white guy - from the "Nazi skinhead" stereotype), but was it something that anyone really did back in the 30s and 40s? Military types, maybe?

I don't know about the 30s-40s but soon after there was Yul Brynner.
By the way, how do you shave around the horns so closely?

 

[Griemersma]

Here's how I was wearing my hair about a year ago. The closest it has probably ever been to a 1930's style-- not super long on the sides, but definitely not whitewalls either. The waves are just from how my hair grows and how I combed it. Now it is a bit shorter everywhere.

side:

In regard to the topic:

Period pictures of adults with really short hair do pop up quite a bit in the WPA pics from the depression era-- most of them of normal working class type folks. But I agree that in what we see from hollywood of the time are almost all very full heads of hair.

And talking about waves, here's one of my favorite pics of Cagney. Check out his hair--very wavy and it appears to be dry/undressed:

And-- you can't really see it very well, but my grandfather has got some serious whitewalls going on in my avatar pic.

 

[Leili]

Hm i have wondered about the same thing. But i guess its natural.
My hairdresser taught me to "press down" on both sides of the the front part so it makes the bang go up sort of like a hilltop.

Sure men did get permanent waves! I'd bet quite a few of the men in the modelling pictures had permanent waves!
Men who greatly cared about their hair also slept in hairnets (especially made for men of course) and sleeping caps to prevent messing up their hair!
I have several pictures of men in waving-machines and night caps but I'm just a wee bit too lazy to find them. Even seen men in hairnets in a few silents and precode movies!

 

[cherry lips]

Hellooo Handsome! :whistling*drool*

P.S. Leili, I didn't know that! Thanks for sharing. (I live in Sweden too!)

 

[Fatdutchman]

My hair is thick and wavy....except on the very front where it needs it most. It's always been about half as thick there as on the rest of my head. I have tried SO hard to do a pompadour, even back in high school, but I simply never had enough volume of hair to do it.

I do my hair long on top/front (well about 2" long at most) tapering down and real short, but definitely not "shaved" on the sides and back. The longer my hair is, the thinner it looks right on the front, so shorter is better.

Actually, I need to get a haircut right now.

 

[Fatdutchman]

Pa

Here's my grandfather from sometime in the '30's (the second photo shows him in his uniform, I'll presume at the end of the war, along with an unknown friend/relative). Long on top, short and tapered on the sides.

 

[donCarlos]

My hair do these curls by nature. I´m not always sure I like it, but as I see how appreciated it is around here... (No, my hair is not so greasy, that´s just a lot of pomade)

I´ll have to think about what to do with the rear of my head, it never looks right to me.

And one question - The original photos... How did they combed their hair to look so smooth? Mine always do what you see on the photo. I find it a bit disgusting and I really need that advice

 

[Lillemor]

I do wish that we'd see more of these styles on men who have full hair rather than that unruly stuff I see on top of many young male heads. Yes; I'm an old grump.

However, with short, fine hair like hub's that's thinning on top, I prefer a really short regulation cut. I love it when he's just had a cut and I'll hang up the phone if I catch my FIL telling his son to let his hair grow longer.lol That's easy enough for my FIL to say because he still has a full head of thick hair at 76.

Not all barbers are good though and we only sent hub to our local one once because he came home with a bloody scalp. My hairdresser does as good a job with hub's hair as she does with mine. She has other assistants who cut our boys but we only let her near our hair!

There's a youtube clip some where of men with rollers in their hair and hair nets over. They're getting their hair set or permed and set. I can't remember the link or what the clip was called.

 

[Fatdutchman]

I may end up having to do the Bruce Willis cut....