Thursday's Unique Picks - I Dye

Rachel Zoe may say "I Die" but I say "I Dye".

"Does she..or Doesn't she?" 1960's ad for Miss Clairol Hair at home hair dye.

"Within six years of Miss Clairol’s launch (in 1956), 70% of women were coloring their hair."-wikipedia

In college I went blond...really blond, because they always said blonds had more fun. What wasn't fun...keeping up with my roots. So I decided a few years ago I would go back to my roots and dye my hair to actually match my roots, brown. Great in theory, but apparently hiding among my former sandy blond hair was some greys.

Lovely grey hair couple anniversary cake topper from VintageJewelsAndMore on etsy.

News Flash: Greys stand out more when you have dark hair.

So the answer to "Does she...or Doesn't she?" for me is..."Oh yeah, she do".

Grey hair can be quite distinguished but not for someone who is thirty-ish, like moi.

Antique Photograph of a little old lady with grey hair from KnitsandPics' etsy shop.

Oh what we girls have to go through...just to avoid a few greys...and wrinkles...and smooth legs...and...etc,etc. hence this weeks Unique Picks. Fantastic finds from great etsy sellers that help to illustrate how joyful it is being a girl (For the record, I am being sarcastic).

Search for Beauty 1934 film - image from Starlet Showcase blog.

Welcome to the Beauty salon

Fantastic vintage salon sign found in HopelessMeow's etsy shop.

Adorable 1950's doll sized beauty salon furniture from Wandering Creek Jewelry.

The truth is, a trip to the salon is nothing new. Even ancient civilizations partook in having their hair coiffed to be fashionable. In ancient Rome, "The upper classes were tended to by slave cosmetologists and there emerged many beauty salons..." - A Fun Filled Ancient History Of the Beauty Salon.

Awesome original Photo by Heather Evans Smith on etsy.

Then there is the desire for locks filled with curls. Speaking as someone that has poker straight hair, achieving said curls was never an easy task. When I was little, I remember how much it hurt to go to bed wearing curlers like these in my hair. Just because I thought curls were pretty. I would sleep in the curlers, take them out in the morning, and about two hours later my hair would go back to being flat. My mother always said you have to suffer to be beautiful.  I still can't believe that my Grandma Esther would wear curlers like these in her hair every night.

Set of vintage pink plastic curlers from Little Pink Trailer on etsy.

In 1906 the permanent wave was invented, and about 81 years later,
I was allowed to get a perm. Perms were all the rage in the 80's right? It was bad news on me. Even back then, I knew it looked like a disaster on me. Lesson learned. I suffered to look like a poodle.

More salon fun at your finger tips...

I love this original photograph from Jill Katherine Photography on etsy.

Once again we can thank ancient cultures for starting this. As early as 3000 B.C. Chinese royals were using natural substances like flower petals, beeswax, gold and silver to tint their nails.

Fresh and shiny, original printed artwork from Apfelstrudel on etsy.

Long painted the fingernails with bright red varnish became all the rage in the 1930's, but the toe nails were painted pale pink in contrast, according to this article on fashion-era. So, my beauty confession is that I have very tiny barely there pinkie toenails. I have been known to paint my skin so that I don't have freakish looking feet when wearing flip flops. My hubby pokes fun at me about this...boys just don't understand.

Fighting to be beautifuler.

Fighting wrinkles is a constant uphill battle.

When men get wrinkles they look rugged...for ladies...ugggh not so cute.

1918 original print about Facial plaster and Facial massage to fight wrinkles found in Paperink Vintage's etsy shop.

Fighting those unwanted hairs...

Yeah those Egyptians plucked their eyebrows too, but again in the thirties ladies started plucking their eyebrows into super thin lines. Sometimes they were completely plucked and then applied a pencil line substitute. Some women even shaved the eyebrows with disastrous end results because the brows never grew back, according to this article found on fashion-era.

For those poor ladies whose eyebrows didn't grow back. Handmade eyebrows on a stick from Maro Designs on etsy.

Hmmm makes me feel a bit better about that perm. At least I haven't shaved my eyebrows.
Thirties. Eyebrow hairs out...but long false lashes were in.
Check out these falsies...

Gigantic vintage comic false eyelashes found in Finders 4 Keepers etsy shop. 

She's got that look. The long false eyelash look. Awesome print of an original illustration by covergirl by trollyla.

We have tweezed the eyebrows and added some length to the lashes, what about all that other unsightly hair?
you know, in the pits and on the gams?
When did all of that start coming off?
According to my sources, from askville, ladies began shaving under their arms because sleeveless dresses became all the rage in 1915.
"The Woman of Fashion says the underarm must be as smooth as the face," read a typical pitch.

 and then a little later came the legs...
So you can wear short shorts or mini dresses and not look like a hairy ape.

Yes, you will need to shave for this sassy little vintage number from BriFoster's etsy shop.

Check out this very informative vintage "How to video, on hair removal".


Video from Glamour Daze blog.

So what you will need for proper removal of those pesky hairs seems to be a safety razor.

This great vintage razor set with its original box and instruction booklet, is from echoart on etsy. This razor is so shiny and pretty it almost makes me want to shave my legs. hmmm...nah, I will just keep my pants on for now.

When I was a young girly, there was a very popular commercial on TV, for Nair.

Nair hair removal cream. Image from Very Pink blog.

"Who wears short shorts? We Wear short shorts..."
Heck yeah, I want to wear short shorts.  I thought if I had silky smooth legs I would instantly transform into one of those long legged, feathered hair, ladies bopping their way across the TV screen, singing. Since my mom didn't have any Nair around I grabbed for her razor and went to work. A few minutes later, my legs were cut to bits. I am pretty sure I was singing the "short short" song the entire time I was "shaving". Obviously, I wasn't mortally wounded, because I am sitting here writing this, but I just felt I should share this story to emphasize the fact that just because it is a safety razor, doesn't make it stupid proof. Even though that video said that chemical hair removal creams could be harmful to the skin, I proved that razors were equally as harmful...for me.
Oh, the suffering to be beautiful continues...

The icing on the cake if you will...
Pucker up buttercup.

Image from Swing Fashionista blog.

We are talking about having the kind of lips guys want to kiss.

This is as pretty as your painted up lips. 1960's dresser top, lipstick tube holder from Vintagebutterfly94's etsy shop.

While useful in the 60's, this item would have been silly to use in the 1930's with the lady's one tube of red. The 1930's "it" gal applied her lipstick very thick and it was really red. According to this article from fashion-era, one daily paper commented that kissing had gone out of fashion due to the high cost of lipstick.
Talk about "a fine romance, with no kisses..."
For the sake of keeping fashionably red lips there were no smooches for you.

No kisses for you. Awesome print from an original painting titled, "Too sexy for my mouth" by backroomtreasures.

I favor flavored chap stick...more kisses for me.

So what have we learned today girls...
What is perceived as beauty has evolved over the years, and yet, we have many ancient cultures to thank for starting so many of these joyous beauty trends and treatments that still remain today. There will always be suffering to be beautiful...but another piece of advice my mother also told me,
"Beauty is Skin Deep".

1950's itch cream advertisement from MissUFO's etsy shop.

Apparently rashes and ringworm is what is on the inside.