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When Hair Drying was a Fun Social Event in the Salons Under the Hood

Sitting under those industrial hair dryers that seem to burn the scalps was probably the most challenging and most stressful fashion chore. Nowadays, the no-heat revolution, DIY hair stylers, and excellent products like the dryer bonnet make it pretty easy to transform our hair at home.

However, going to the salon used to be a social event that was a must. There were magazines to read and friends there to fill you in on the latest gossip, and you had to have the perfect roller set. As you can see from these historical photos, people enjoyed sitting under the hood of the hairdryer while it was still hot.

#2 Contestants for the upcoming Miss World beauty pageant seated under hairdryers at a hairdressing salon in London on 12th November 1964.

#3 Football fan Vidal Sassoon made a solemn promise that if Chelsea reached the final of the Football League Cup the player, 1972

#4 Vidal Sassoon dressed in Chelsea’s Football strip seen in the women’s hairdressing salon attending to some clients, 1972

#6 A group of men and women wearing the “Lady Braun” hover hood hair drying device, 1960s

A group of men and women wearing the "Lady Braun" hover hood hair drying device, 1960s

Fine streams of air make the hood hover over the hair with a fan system house in the peak of the hood and combs to hold it in place.

#7 A famous television hairdresser Raymond Bessone, known as ‘Teazy Weazy’, sitting under a hairdryer with a group of ladies at his salon, 1969

#8 A man and woman read magazines as they sit under hairdryers at the first unisex hairdressing salon in London, as music plays from a Wurlitzer jukebox, 1970

#9 A dog with its fur set in curlers at George Constantinides’ hairdressing salon on Hornsey Road, London, December 1968.

#10 The Singing Nun, born Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, she was a nun in the Dominican Fichermont Convent in Fichermont, 1966

#11 Two women rollers curler in their hair sitting under hair salon dryers talking gossiping, 1960s

#12 Young people in the beauty parlour of the ‘Caribbean Hotel’ which caters especially for teenagers on holiday in Bognor Regis, Sussex, 1965

#13 Russian women relax under the dryers in the Moscow Beauty Palace, 1965

#14 Russian hairdressers at work in the Moscow Beauty Palace, 1965

#16 Edda Vincenzi at the hairdresser’s; she is sat down and is reading a Russian newspaper. Moscow, September 1964.

#17 Edda Vincenzi’s hair is being arranged before she comes on stage; she is reading a Russian newspaper. Moscow, September 1964.

#18 Two women and a chimpanzee reading magazines under the dryers at a hairdressing salon, 1964.

#19 Two women and a chimpanzee reading magazines under the dryers at a hairdressing salon, 1964.

#20 Miss World Contestants visit a hairdresser before the big event, 1963

#21 Louise Crous, Miss South Africa 1963, drinks a cup of coffee as she gets her hair done in preparation for the Miss World beauty pageant, London, 1963

#22 A group of Miss World contestants line up under the hairdryers at La Belle hairdressing salon in Aldwych, London, 1963

A group of Miss World contestants line up under the hairdryers at La Belle hairdressing salon in Aldwych, London, 1963

They include Miss Finland, Miss Brazil, Miss Spain, Miss South Africa, Miss Israel and Miss Japan.

#24 A child joins the older ladies under the hairdryers at the hairdressers.

#25 Young people dancing at a hairdressing salon opened by John French at Egham, Surrey, which caters exclusively for teenagers, 1962

#26 European Lightweight boxing champion, Dave Charnley admiring his clientele at his hairdressing salon in Dartford, 1962

#27 The beauty salon is the scene for the TV show The Glamour Trap, second in the season’s Purex Specials for Women.

#29 Woman Under Hairdryer

Woman Under Hairdryer

Woman under hairdryer, reading magazine, in beauty salon, late 1950s

#31 At the hairdresser’s, some British women reading magazines under the hair dryer, London, 1960s.

#33 Women enjoy a manicure and hair treatment at the John Douglas School in Mayfair, London, 1959.

#34 Hairstyling for Tiny Tots, 1959

Hairstyling for Tiny Tots, 1959

In connection with National Hairdressing and Beauty Week a Liverpool hairdresser, Miss Jean Belle, is offering half-price hairstyling for tiny tots. Going through the 'mill' are Shirley Turner, aged 19 months, Brenda Calderhead, 2 years and Judith Oakee.

#35 Models Pamela Searle and Jean Binfield at Raymond’s Hairdresser’s of Grafton Street, London.

#36 Romy Schneider And Alain Delon at the Hairdresser Alexandre.

#37 Romy Schneider And Alain Delon at the Hairdresser Alexandre.

#38 Romy Schneider And Alain Delon at the Hairdresser Alexandre.

#39 Romy Schneider And Alain Delon at the Hairdresser Alexandre.

#40 Visitors sit beneath the dryers at an open air hairdressing salon overlooking the Mediterranean Sea during the Cannes Film Festival, 1958

#41 Women Under Hair Dryers, 1958

Women Under Hair Dryers, 1958

International News Service Women's Editor Olga Curtis explains an American fashion magazine to two Russian dancers as they sit under pink dryers at Lilly Dache's Salon in New York.

#42 A hairdresser drying wigs under the salon’s hairdryers.

#43 Three-year-old Jaqueline Power of Maida Vale sits under the hairdryer between two older customers at a Golders Green hairdressers, 1957

#44 Luncheon is served to ladies under the hairdryers at the hairdressers, 1957

#45 Hairdressing department, Barnsley Co-op, South Yorkshire, 1957.

#46 A solemn little girl sits under a hairdryer at the hairdressers which is equipped with a rocking horse for customer’s amusemnt, 1957

#47 Women relax underneath the hairdryers in a self-service hairdressing salon, 1956

#48 A woman drinking something under a hair drier, 1960s

#49 A woman with curlers under the hair dryer having a manicure, 1960s

#50 Spanish fashion model, Teresita Montes, sister of the film star Maria Montes, sitting under a Parisian beauty salon’s hairdryer smoking a cigarette, 1955

#51 English actress Joan Collins waits for her hair to dry in a film studio, 15th August 1955.

#53 A line of women sitting under professional hairdryers in an American hairstyling salon, 1955

#54 Women relax as they sit under hair dryers at the Valentino & Rita of Knightsbridge beauty salon in London.

#55 Frances Day and a group of women enjoying a cup of tea whilst sitting under the hairdryers at the Martin Douglas and Rene hair salon.

#56 Two women sitting under hairdryers as they wait for their ‘perms’ to set, 1954

#58 A row of British women sitting under hairdryers in a Paris salon, 1954

#59 Six women, with Gloria Nord (right), star of Tom Arnold’s Ice Circus in Brighton, under the driers at the hairdressers, 1952

#60 Old women sitting with their heads under a dryer as they get their hair styled, 1953s

#61 A line of models have their hair coiffured for the spring hair fashion competition.

#62 Five Japanese women read magazines as they sit under hair dryers in a beauty shop.

#63 Two women gossping under Hairdresser hair dryer, 1950s

#64 A man surrounded by women under the hairdryers at a new unisex hairdresser’s, 1950s

#65 A young girl sitting on a box under a hairdryer at the salon in the 1950’s.

#67 Young women in the National Youth Administration work in a beauty shop to learn beautician skills at Camp Roosevelt in Ocala.

Written by Orla Morris

Full-time dress and costume designer, Half Persian half Italian. I still don’t know how to write, but i'm writing and you are reading :)

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