Trendy Hairstyles of the 60's, 70's & 80's

If you want to have a good laugh, take a look at some of the trendy hairstyles from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. It's a great way to make fun of your elders! There's just one thing to keep in mind, though. Your turn is coming. Mine already has. I have lived through the 60's, 70's, and 80's, and I am now the brunt of the jokes that I used to dish out. I can't imagine why so many trendy hairstyles from decades past seemed so cool!

The Sixties

A good place to see trendy hairstyles from the 60's is a high school yearbook. You'll see lots of big hair piled high on top of the head. It stays put thanks to lots of "ratting" and plenty of hairspray.

Swing cuts, short in the back and longer in the front, were actually quite attractive. The swing cut is one of today's trendy hairstyles. Younger girls wore long, straight hair with bangs topping the bridge of their noses. Ratted or teased hair combed straight back and flipped at the ends was popular. The pageboy haircut is still popular today.

60's women spent hours in salons. Hair, wound on rollers, dried under heavy dryers for an hour or two, brushed out, ratted, and styled, took work. Tons of hairspray, scarves, and rain bonnets kept those trendy hairstyles in place. Many women went to the salon once a week. Her fresh style didn't dare budge until the next week's appointment!

The Seventies

The hippie movement influenced trendy hairstyles of the 60's and 70's. Long, straight hair, parted in the middle, was the norm for young women. It still is today.
Hair was tied back with leather laces, ribbons, thick yarn, clips and accentuated with flowers.

Actress Farrah Fawcett made a huge impact on trendy hairstyles of the 70's. Her long hair with "wings" became the standard for many women. Most any haircut in the 70's had some sort of wings, or a flipped back effect.

Short, short haircuts also became popular. The fashion model, Twiggy, influenced girls to rush to the salon and have long locks chopped off. The mullet haircut, short in the front and long in the back, was popular with both men and women during the seventies.

A brand new product in the 70's, Clairol's hot rollers, spared women from sleeping on brush rollers held with picks. Hot rollers seemed like a miracle after so many long nights consoling oneself with the phrase "it hurts to be beautiful." Hair shiners and streaking (highlighting) products became available and enhanced trendy hairstyles.

The Eighties

Revisiting hairstyles from the 80's is humiliating! The eighties is the decade of the curly perm. I can't imagine what we were thinking! Women all over America, and probably elsewhere, paid good money to look like toy poodles. The curlier hair became the better. Women loved ease of maintenance, but it didn't last long. Many women ended up with dry, brittle hair from too many perms and over-processing.

Overblown-long hairstyles of celebrities became popular and spread to the public. Television shows like "Dynasty" and "Charlie's Angels" influenced women to abandon the perms in hopes of looking like the stars. Trendy hairstyles are often born from celebrities' newest looks.

Short hairstyles, styled to look big, added inches to a women's height. Princess Dianna's "bob" became popular, with hair short in the back and combed forward in the front. Her bangs were heavy and long.

Anyone wanting attention in the eighties could have hair dyed in bright colors. Why choose plain brown or blonde when you could have bright pink, purple, or any other color imaginable? Many a parent experienced sleepless nights over kids' colorful departure from the norm.

Isn't it great to have reached the millennium and to have grown into better hairstyles? I feel enlightened, but it won't last. What looks good today could be laughing stock tomorrow. No telling what jokes future generations will make about the trendy hairstyles from 2008!