1950's Hairstyles

Even more prominent than makeup in the 1950s was hair. With blow-dryers and curling irons yet to be the convenient household tools women use today, women had to find creative ways to achieve the gorgeous looks we see in era-movies today.

Pin curls were a popular style, as were rag curls. Women and girls alike used to wrap sections of their wet hair around rags and tie knots in them, or twirl them around bobby pins, overnight, to get the flowing waves that take us about 20 minutes to create with heat products.

Original ad for curlers from the 1950's

Poodle haircuts like Lucy’s were common, as was short hair, but long styles and simple cuts were popular, too. Many women got perms or used rollers every night to keep their hair in trend. Younger girls enjoyed ponytails and ribbons for an everyday style.

For special occasions, women could go to the beauty parlor and sit underneath loud and uncomfortable, stationary blow-dryers that created looks that can easily be created at home today.

Male Hairstyles

Men typically enjoyed crew cuts, though movies like Grease popularized the “Ducktail” and greased hairstyle. In reality, though, the fellows tended to stick to short and neat cuts that were more Ward and Wally Cleaver than Danny Zuko (John Travolta’s character in Grease).

Hugh Beaumont

1950's Makeup

1950’s makeup centered very much on a natural, yet seductive look. What we think of today as “classic” makeup was the everyday appeal for most women and teenage girls. Style icons such as Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe inspired regular women to wear cat-eyes and red lipstick, but more so, makeup was simple for everyday use. The vixen look was an evening style, as daytime makeup was much more muted in the decade than in the bright and spunky 1960s.

Pastels were a big deal in the 1950’s. Light, girly, and fun lip, cheek, and eye colors were an important part of the everyday ’50s look. Foundation was the base of all makeup looks, for both daytime and evening. A clean complexion was key to capturing the style of the era. Faces were made to look as flawless yet natural as possible. Max Factor’s Pan Cake foundation was a popular item, as were other liquid and pressed foundations. Topped with blush, the innocent and feminine facial look was complete.

Pastel Lipstick Ad

While young girls typically stuck to age appropriate looks, evening looks for women of age were dramatic and sensual. Winged, black eyeliner was a staple, along with earth toned and silvery eye shadows. Mascara was applied thickly, but because it was not of the stature and quality we know today, women often applied false eyelashes everyday. Thick lashes, a defined upper lid, and bright red lips created that 1950’s look that we see making a comeback in recent years.

Foundation Ad

Regardless of the sex appeal that makeup application brought to women of the era, all techniques were used to maintain and establish a look of femininity and womanhood. Eyes were made to look bigger and eyelashes to look longer, lips were made to appear fuller, and a blush gave a healthy, fertile flush. The basis behind makeup application of the era was no different than that of the popular 1950’s hair and fashion.

General Background on the 1950s

    The 1950s were a time when technology was important and just starting to take shape, but life was still simple. Television was becoming newly popular, and living rooms centered around the invention.

RCA Bristol Model Television: Photo from Illinois State Museum

Yet channels were at a minimum, and people still needed each other for entertainment. The internet was something that only government agencies used to monitor wars and other important issues.

Children and teenagers enjoyed the company of their families, or turned to movie theaters and local diners as hangout spots. Telephones were connected to spiral chords and were rotary style, with buttons on a circular pad requiring people to take extra time just to dial a number.

1950s General Electric Phone: Photo from 1950s Atomic Ranch House Blog

Cars were big, bulky, gas guzzlers that were more stylish than most vehicles we will ever encounter on the road today. And people who wanted to spend time together had to make an effort to actually see each other face to face.

Buddy Holly's restored 1958 Chevy Impala, photo by Barrett-Jackson Auction Co.

    Life had an appearance of family centeredness. Women wore dresses and skirts for the most part, and fashion consisted mainly on very classic patterns. Makeup was heavy but natural looking, with cat-eyes and peaches and cream complexions maintaining popularity.

Marilyn Monroe Classic image

Shows we deem innocent today, like I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver, challenged the status quo by portraying interracial couples, married-couple pregnancy, and toilets on television. Even the Brady Bunch a decade later housed nine people with no bathroom.

From Leave it to Beaver Episode 2: "Captain Jack", first bathroom on television

The era had its hidden secrets, however, with June Cleaver type-housewives relying heavily on alcohol to get through the day, and suicides skyrocketing to an all-time high.

Classic photo of the late Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver

Looking back at the era from a present-day perspective, rose-colored glasses seem to distort people’s visions of a time plagued by duck-and-cover drills and the Cold War into an appearance of innocent perfection that was nonexistent, but will forever be instilled in people’s minds and hearts as a more peaceful, simple state of life.

From I Love Lucy Episode 30: "Lucy Does a TV Commercial"