How did they keep their hair-do's from week to week?

chanteuseCarey · Apr 28, 2009

have to have a set last a week

I happened to see an Art Deco Society lady at the vintage hairstylist I was going to (she was finishing up her appt when I got there). She says hers lasts a week. She has servicewomen's length hair right now, previously when I saw her in March her hair was longer.

She swears by Aqua Net, saying she uses enough that her hair is like Lawn Sculpture (her words not mine). After the stylish finished spraying her set w/ AN, she added much more hairspray herself before she left the shop. She sleeps on a satin pillowcase. She is a Dr. in SF, and has this hairdresser set her hair every week.

Lindabelle · Mar 6, 2010

bump.

Deleted member 12480 · Mar 6, 2010

Lindabelle said:
bump.

fair enough!

Amy Jeanne · Mar 6, 2010

I wash and set my hair every single night. I guess they kept it set so long back in the day because they didn't have what was available to us today and probably had more time to maintain it.

Today I can't see leaving a set in for more than one day because it only takes me 20 minutes at night to pincurl and fingerwave and 5 minutes in the morning to brush and style. We have gel and hairspray today, which keeps it in place and can be replaced the very next day. I can't NOT wash my hair every night because of the spray and gel -- I feel gross with product buildup and dirty hair.

LizzieMaine · Mar 6, 2010

Amy Jeanne said:
I wash and set my hair every single night. I guess they kept it set so long back in the day because they didn't have what was available to us today and probably had more time to maintain it.

This is a good point -- 1930s-40s shampoos tended to be, basically, straight liquid soap with lanolin, olive oil, or other emollients mixed in. But even with the additives these products tended to be very harsh on the hair compared to what's used today, and using them daily would likely leave your hair the consistency of shredded wheat. It wasn't really until the '70s that "modern" gentle shampoos became popular, as part of the whole long-straight-hair trend.

Many women of the Era didn't use shampoo at all -- it was still very common to wash your hair with whatever bar of soap you were bathing with, or even the big old bar of Octagon from the kitchen sink.

Miss Sis · Mar 6, 2010

When I have an event where I need to keep my set going, here's what I do. For the record, I have fine, straight hair which doesn't hold a curl much unless I do the following:

Firstly, I do a wet set with setting lotion on sponge rollers after washing but not conditioning my hair. I rarely ever condition my hair anyway, as it makes it too greasy and slippery, even if I just do the ends. I might sit under a hood dryer for a bit (half to three quarters of an hour) then I sleep on it.

Next day, I take out the rollers and let the curls relax a little before I start on combing and brushing the hair into shape. Once it's all settled into the right style, I lightly hairspray it. Sometimes if it's a bit frizzy I use a tiny bit of a smoothing cream before the hairspray.

That evening after hair has been doing it's thing all day, I carefully pincurl it up, follwing the curls as much as possible. I use two pins in a X on each curl, then I wrap a slumber net tightly round my head and pin that on, usually at the front. Go to sleep.

Glamourous, no, but in the morning it is a very easy job to take all the net and pins off and gently smooth hair into place. I don't really comb it as such, just smooth the top hair. When I had a very loose perm, it held for days and days but now the perm has grown out it will only take about 3 days max then I will need to do another set.

I don't wear vintage hair every day. I'm afraid it is a bit too much effort for lazy old me! But I do a number of events where I do need it to last a number of days, so I understand where you're all coming from in trying to make it last.

Marla · Mar 7, 2010

My problem is that the curls get tangled in the back after I sleep on them for two nights, three nights. Now I know this is from the combination of Lottabody and hairspray, but if I don't use them than the back of my hair will be pretty much straight on the third day. Does anyone else with fine hair have this problem? I wonder if a satin pillowcase would stop the night-time tangling.

Miss Sis · Mar 7, 2010

Marla, pining the back in pincurls then smoothing each one round with a comb as you take it out in the morning should help?

I find it's more a question of the back getting squashed than anything when re-pining. [huh]

Marla · Mar 7, 2010

I find that tangling is a result of product build up. I'm going to try using less product on the back of my head and doing pin curls just in the back every night. I'll report back!

SweetieStarr · Mar 7, 2010

My grandmother is one of these women that gets a wash and set once a week. She does sometimes get a sleep spot, as some ladies here mentioned. She often sleeps carefully on her side, which may be to minimize hair mussing. She does have to touch it up in the morning, which involves adding a couple curlers and backcombing in a couple problem spots. She will re-spray her hair every day. All that spraying is like a fumigation, lol! But I would imagine all that spray added every day helps to keep the style in tact.

My mom also said that some women used to wrap their hair in toilet paper and that would help it stay a bit better with careful sleeping.

~Psycho Sue~ · Mar 8, 2010

you can use one of these: NOT!!!!!

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2975791650028298289ZLrMeM

I dunno how they can sleep like that! LOL I wear a sleep cap and that helps very much to preserve my wet sets. I also re-pincurl the front sections. It also helps to create HAIR STAGES to accommodate the curls becomming weaker....
this is how i can get 3 days out of a set...
DAY ONE:
full pincurl wet set with side part
DAY TWO:
same set, sweep the sides up, curling iron touchups if needed
DAY THREE:
same set, put in an updo

Smuterella · Mar 8, 2010

Ii'm on day two of a good sponge roller set. I used a new setting lotion (Black n' Sassy foamy lotion) and the sponge rollers for the first time Saturday night and brushed it out Sunday. Sunday night I re-rollered the sides in a few less rollers and slept in a sleep cap - it still looks great after brushing out this morning.

Tonight I'll try that again, with maybe a spritz of water all over once curled - but I'm confident it'll stay.

I think I might get a week out of this set...!

Cricket · Mar 8, 2010

~Psycho Sue~ said:
you can use one of these: NOT!!!!!

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2975791650028298289ZLrMeM

I dunno how they can sleep like that! LOL I wear a sleep cap and that helps very much to preserve my wet sets. I also re-pincurl the front sections. It also helps to create HAIR STAGES to accommodate the curls becomming weaker....
this is how i can get 3 days out of a set...
DAY ONE:
full pincurl wet set with side part
DAY TWO:
same set, sweep the sides up, curling iron touchups if needed
DAY THREE:
same set, put in an updo

My hair, which can't make up its mind if it is wavy or curly, works this way as well.

I start on my first night with a wet set, sleep on it and try to brush it out the next morning. Then the next day, I pin the sides up usually with a few touchups. The third day, its either hat time or updo.

Three days is about all my hair will take. Really, one two because my hair starts to look oily, hence covering it up with a hat.

Miss Sis · Mar 8, 2010

SweetieStarr said:
My mom also said that some women used to wrap their hair in toilet paper and that would help it stay a bit better with careful sleeping.

My Aunt told me about doing that in the 1960s! That and basically sleeping with a pillow under her neck and her head practically hanging over the end of the bed. I couldn't believe her but she swears she did. Her hair was quite short but I guess if you've worked on that beehive.... [huh]

My mother said she never did that, but she had waist length hair. She didn't have to do much backcombing to get high hair anyway!

I think the other thing to remember is that most women with straight hair had it permed, and that makes a huge difference in how a set holds. Not many women here have it permed, I'm thinking. I had a very light perm over a year ago and it held for a number of days when I set it, although I still pinned it up at night.

DaisieWilde · Mar 8, 2010

LizzieMaine said:
This is a good point -- 1930s-40s shampoos tended to be, basically, straight liquid soap with lanolin, olive oil, or other emollients mixed in. But even with the additives these products tended to be very harsh on the hair compared to what's used today, and using them daily would likely leave your hair the consistency of shredded wheat. It wasn't really until the '70s that "modern" gentle shampoos became popular, as part of the whole long-straight-hair trend.

Many women of the Era didn't use shampoo at all -- it was still very common to wash your hair with whatever bar of soap you were bathing with, or even the big old bar of Octagon from the kitchen sink.

I don't use shampoo...only conditioner to wash my hair. I still end up oily (not so much as with shampoo though). Although, I may have to resort back to shampoo when I start using more styling products. I'm going to try to avoid hairspray.

Lizzie...do you get oily at all? I'd love to only wash my hair once a week or twice a week. I'm sure it's a lot better for your hair!

crwritt · Mar 9, 2010

LizzieMaine said:
This is a good point -- 1930s-40s shampoos tended to be, basically, straight liquid soap with lanolin, olive oil, or other emollients mixed in. But even with the additives these products tended to be very harsh on the hair compared to what's used today, and using them daily would likely leave your hair the consistency of shredded wheat. It wasn't really until the '70s that "modern" gentle shampoos became popular, as part of the whole long-straight-hair trend.

Many women of the Era didn't use shampoo at all -- it was still very common to wash your hair with whatever bar of soap you were bathing with, or even the big old bar of Octagon from the kitchen sink.

My family used to use Octagon dish detergent when the shampoo ran out, and with six people including four teenagers in the house, that was pretty often!
I'd usually find we were out of shampoo as I had begun my shower, then have to put on a towel and drip my way to the kitchen to pour a teaspoon of Octagon in a dixie cup. Then to find out that it looked pretty thin, since we were nearly out of Octagon, and Mom had watered it down to have enough to wash dishes.

Viola · Mar 9, 2010

My mom told me when I was little that you could use Ivory or the kind of soft brown soap I don't know the brand but I'd know it if I saw it, to wash my hair with. She said you couldn't use all soap but you could use those.

She also said her dad (a cleanly man but a very impatient one) once washed his hair with Tide when he was in a hurry, and that it did terrible things to his hair and scalp.

LizzieMaine · Mar 9, 2010

The brown soap was probably Octagon bar soap -- it was a very popular dishwashing soap that often did double-duty as a shampoo. It also cures poison ivy and does an excellent job of drying up zits.

A very good soap for vintage-style shampooing is Kirk's Castile, which you'll find on the bottom shelf at the grocery store next to the Boraxo and the Lava. Don't be fooled -- it's actually a very gentle soap without a lot of junk in it, and does a very nice job on your hair.

My brother once washed his hair with Pine-Sol. *Once.*

LaMedicine · Mar 9, 2010

~Psycho Sue~ said:
you can use one of these: NOT!!!!!

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2975791650028298289ZLrMeM

I dunno how they can sleep like that!

lol lol lol It's a neck pillow. You place your neck on the pillow, as the Nihon-gami, the traditional Japanese hair style is large and heavy, and stiff. It does preserve the hair style

When I had my hair put up Nihon-gami style sans the camelia oil that makes it stiff and heavy, but rather with hair spray and lots of fillers to make the shape, I rolled up a couple of bath towels to make a pillow to support my neck.
I sometimes slept with my hair curlers as well, in my teens, and had a good laugh over that memory with my hair dresser a few days ago lol lol lol

LizzieMaine · Mar 9, 2010

DaisieWilde said:
Lizzie...do you get oily at all? I'd love to only wash my hair once a week or twice a week. I'm sure it's a lot better for your hair!

I really don't -- I used to, when I was younger, but washing my hair daily did it more harm than good, left it all dried up, so I figured washing less was the lesser of two evils. As I've gotten older, the oil problem has gotten less.

I think something that can also be an issue is how much you sweat: if it's hot weather, or if you get really physically active enough for your hair to get sweaty, a once a week wash might not be enough. So the best rule to follow is to use your best judgement rather than a calendar.

How did they keep their hair-do's from week to week?

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