What I Learned About Hair From The Movies

Grease was my favorite movie when I was in grammar school. I could recite all of the lyrics to the songs and I even knew all the moves to “Greased Lightnin’”. Grease was not only a very fun musical about working-class kids in the late 1950s, it was also a movie about hair and how important it was to the kids at Rydell High School. For example, Danny Zuko (John Travolta) would comb his hair on the sides and grease it back to get his cool look. This was very popular off-screen and gave birth to the term “greaser”.

The Pink Ladies had puffed up and curly hair, which was influenced by the of hair styels of popular public figures of the time. Some of these public “boufant” wearing women were Marylin Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. Girls would spend time together and have pajama parties and tint each others hair black or red in an effort to achieve these classic looks. In the movie Grease, Frenchie’s hair dying disaster made her hair bubblegum pink. Grease also had moments of transformation. I loved the finale when Sandy (Olivia Newton John) and Danny Zuko (John Travolta) finally become a couple. I was even more intrigued to Sandy came on screen with her curled and teased tresses. Personally, I felt that Danny loved her even with her straight hair.

Fast forward a few years and the movie “Hair” brought the life of the Hippie to the movie screen. Based on a much more serious topic, Hair is the story about a very clean shaven Vietnam war draftee who encounters a group of long-haired hippies on his journey to the army induction center. Some of my favorite characters with “long beautiful hair” from the movie Hair included Dave Berger and I just love the song “Hair”. This was an issue in the late 1960s, as the Hippie movement really took off and men wore their hair long as an expression of freedom and anti-establishment. This was such an issue that Eugene McCarthy’s short lived presidential campaign had persuaded a significant amount of young adults to “get clean for Gene” by cleaning up their tresses, but that only went so far. Is there a movie that taught you something about hair styles from a certain time period?

This entry was written by Esti, posted on June 11, 2010 at 12:40 am, . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

54 Comments Post a comment

On June 13, 2010 at 10:40 am
Lunachique said,

I tried to replicate the hairstyles in the Drew Barrymore movie, Ever After without much success, but those styles are so pretty and romantic!
On June 13, 2010 at 10:41 am
rachel said,

Pride and Prejudice has some great period hairstyles!
On June 13, 2010 at 10:41 am
Dorothy said,

I couldn’t stand the ending to “Grease.” I loved Sandy’s regular hair and I could never understand why her teased hair at the end was supposed to be better.

I could also never understand why the pink hair was such a disaster. I would have loved pink hair.
On June 13, 2010 at 10:44 am
Soha Molina said,

Of course, “The Rachel” bob was all the rage for a while. I could never get it to look the same.
On June 13, 2010 at 10:45 am
Soha Molina said,

http://twitter.com/sohamolina/status/16075751861

1
On June 13, 2010 at 10:45 am
Soha Molina said,

http://twitter.com/sohamolina/status/16075751861

2
On June 13, 2010 at 10:45 am
Shari said,

I don’t think a movie did, but I have to saw I was one of the girls who got the “rachael” from Friends.
On June 13, 2010 at 10:46 am
Kai said,

I just love all the hippie movies and the girls with their long, long hair. One I saw most recently was Taking Woodstock.
On June 13, 2010 at 10:48 am
Vickie Couturier said,

I thought they did a number on Chers hair in the movie Mask,ive always admired her long beautiful hair an she had it all fuzzed up in that movie,I guess it was a sign of the times then
vlbelk(at)Hotmail.com
On June 13, 2010 at 10:48 am
Nicole Socolov said,

I love your stuff!
On June 13, 2010 at 10:49 am
Nicole Socolov said,

I would love to win !
On June 13, 2010 at 11:03 am
Ria said,

I actually thought about something like that the other day.When in the 80′s they made futuristic movies the hair were 80′s style(mostly), but in futuristic colors!
On June 13, 2010 at 11:05 am
Beth said,

I like the scene in the movie Forever Young with Mel Gibson and Isabel Glassor where they are driving in a convertible and she is singing while he’s teasing her and covering her mouth. I believe it is also in this scene that she’s wearing a scarf and trying to keep it on and she eventually loses the battle and the scarf flys away… It’s a sweet scene. I guess I learned you should wear a scarf while in a convertible, And I just love pretty scarves.
On June 13, 2010 at 11:09 am
Chayala said,

anyone remember ‘the Farrah’?? (Farrah Fawcett from tv’s ‘Charlie’s Angels’). My wig stylist just did my wig layered & winged like that, altho’ I remember wearing my real hair like that in the ’70s, lol. as far as ‘Woodstock’ days, we did ABSOLUTELY nothing to our hair… just wore it natural
On June 13, 2010 at 11:17 am
alison said,

I always loved the short pixie cuts of the early 90′s – I think I may be a little too old to pull of my teen years bleach blonde pixie cut, but I do miss it dearly.
On June 13, 2010 at 11:21 am
Sarah said,

Another movie with interesting hairstyles is the BBC’s latest version of Emma.
On June 13, 2010 at 11:24 am
Sarah S. said,

Looooove Grease!!!!
On June 13, 2010 at 11:24 am
Heather Kozak-Lundquist said,

Oh I love the midevil hairdo’s of the women in Braveheart or Robin Hood (the one with Kevin Costner in it). Soooo beautiful! Wish I could have long hair…

/Heather
On June 13, 2010 at 11:31 am
Malka said,

Hair goes in, it goes out, it goes up, it goes down, but we all pray it doesn’t go OFF.
On June 13, 2010 at 11:36 am
Shoshana Marshak said,

I could never get my hair to look like it did in the movies!
On June 13, 2010 at 11:37 am
Shoshana Marshak said,

I enjoyed reading others’ comments on their hair and movies!
On June 13, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Tziona S. said,

Love the beehive and hair styles and clothing from the original “harispray.” Who knew you could use a beehive to hide a bomb?
On June 13, 2010 at 12:48 pm
rachel f said,

hmm… for a little while there i wanted my hair pink just like strawberry shotcakes. im glad i grew out of that stage before i hit grade school…
On June 13, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Tziona S. said,

One of my favorite movies is “Dirty Dancing.” The women take a wig course and try on all sorts of accessories. You can definitely have fun with hair coverings.
On June 13, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Crystal Allen said,

I loved Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I learned that nice hair can get your far! thanks
On June 13, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Michelle jadaa said,

I love the period hairstyles too,growing my hair long so we’ll see:)
I used to have one of those loop things to put your hair through and then pull it though ponytails etc for a fancy look,cant remember what it was called now.
On June 13, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Tziona S. said,

How about Star Wars? That movie impacted several generations letting us women know what our hairstyles would have looked like in the past in a “galaxy far far away.” Plus so many movies and shows since then (such as Friends) have told us that many men have the Princess Leia fantasy which included her famous “danish” hairstyle.
On June 13, 2010 at 1:01 pm
malka said,

I would have to agree about the Grease comment about Sandy’s hair. I like it when it was straight!!
On June 13, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Kai said,

http://twitter.com/thecatinthetree/status/16081376437
On June 13, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Esther said,

I love watching Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility. I can never make my hair look like their’s.
On June 13, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Stephanie Ragland said,

I loved Grease! The hair styles were great in it. And the transformation of Sandy’s hair was the best at the end. I’m glad I don’t live back in those days, I can’t stand hairspray! I could only imagine how much I would go through in a weeks for that hairdo.
On June 13, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Stephanie Ragland said,

http://twitter.com/stephifrsweeps/status/16087883384

Tweeted 1
On June 13, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Stephanie Ragland said,

http://twitter.com/stephifrsweeps/status/16087883384

Tweeted 2
On June 13, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Sarah said,

I also loved Grease and saw it many many times and knew all the songs too!
On June 13, 2010 at 3:35 pm
rachel said,

i tweeted this! love your stuff!
On June 13, 2010 at 3:41 pm
rachel said,

what i learned about hair from the movies is…I tweeted
On June 13, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Marissa Allen said,

i learned what not to do in the movie hairspray! haha.
On June 13, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Rivkah said,

Even though my hair is naturally curly, frizzy and VERY thick I always thought that I could pull off the haircuts I saw in the movies. Boy, did it stink when I tried short Bobs or a pixie haircut!!
On June 13, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Mary C. said,

I love all the old beach movies like Beach Blanket Bingo…….with Annette Funicello’s hairstyle! Cute……….. They knew how to do the “do!” lol
On June 13, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Carolyn G said,

I Love old movies and went on a Rita “GIlda” Hayworth kick with my hair. For a while I wanted to be like Ann Margaret so I had the big sixties hair. Loved it
On June 13, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Shayna Levine-Hefetz said,

Loved the “Rachel” (from Friends) way back when…
On June 13, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Miri said,

unless i have my own hair team I don’t think my hair will ever look like anyone’s in the movies…..
On June 13, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Goldie said,

I love movies that are set in Victorian times. The hairstyles are always so interesting!
On June 13, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Goldie said,

Oh yeah — I also love old English up-dos!
On June 13, 2010 at 8:29 pm
michalatx said,

Most movies taught me that my crazy, curly, untamed hair would never be anything other than that without the makeover of a popular girl and that just never happened. LOL My hair never morphed into any of the lovely styles worn in movies and shorter cuts were impossible for me so I remained my nerdy self.

“Hair” came out just a year after “Grease.” They seem like such different periods of time but I guess the world changed a lot from 1978 to 1979!
On June 13, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Batyah said,

The Jane Austin movies. I not only get to see how they were there how but also dress and the language they used and I think it is awesome.
On June 13, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Tova Swanson said,

I was a teenager when freinds was on and everyone wanted Jennifer Aniston’s haircut
On June 13, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Abigail said,

I’ve always liked the long natural look….on women! The first movie that popped into my head that has a similar style is Princess Bride. Medieval style.
On June 13, 2010 at 10:10 pm
dena said,

To Michelle J. I think it was called a topsy tail. I always admired my frieds who wore them, but my hair was always too thin or too short for it. Thanks for the reminder!
On June 13, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Erika said,

Enjoying as always
On June 13, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Erika said,

Re-tweeted this.
On June 13, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Shira Berliant said,

I like the more traditional look of hair that is long and straight… not into 80′s hairstyle!! I enjoyed reading everyone’s posts about hair and movies!
On June 14, 2010 at 2:08 am
Batya from Shiloh said,

Audrey Hepburn’s haircut in that great movie where she plays a princess and escapes. Roman Holiday
On June 14, 2010 at 8:32 am
Rachel said,

interesting article