In my pursuit of the accuracy of vintage hair I am discovering something, the hair wasn't necessarily "big" until the 1960s. The "modern pin-up" styles we see today are a little bit larger than tradition would dictate. I am finding that by looking through the old photos from the '40s,'50s, and '60s I can see that the focus was on sculpture, less about height. The '40s style needed to have room at the crown for a hat of some variety. The '50s had shorter hair styles that had a big emphasis on wave, still a bit flat in the crown. The '60s is really where big hair became the most popular. Height was the word. Perhaps, I shall find in my searching some styles that were a little larger, but the more I see, the less I think I will find that.
I have also found that hair was cut to a particular style. Whatever the stylist felt would be the most flattering styling would be how the hair was cut. Both for ease of styling and ease of maintenance of style at home. I see that the stylists of the day were well versed in adapting cuts to match each person individually. The ladies would wear the same style day in and day out so as to make it easier to get prepared each day. The ladies might also visit the stylist once a week for a set that would last for the entire week, until their next visit to the salon.
With the advent of the electric hair dryer and curling iron, there came the ability to style hair at home and daily. The cut didn't matter quite as much to a style, as you could change it daily, should you choose.
I would like to see some more people come in with vintage tastes and elevate hair dressing to the art it is. Return to the magic time of the wet set.
