The Battle of Long Hair Styles Vs Short Hair Styles
 Unlike the forties when children were seen but not heard, the youth
of the fifties really came into their own with more money, independence
and, with the huge influence of music, TV and film. Youth and adults
alike wanted to imitate the look of their idols. Thus, the battle
between Long hair styles vs short hair styles began. Elvis Lives
Rock ‘n’ Roll changed a generation allowing teenagers to rebel against
the conservatism of the forties. Elvis popularised the greasy Duck Ass
(D.A.) style, also known as the Pompadour, for the men, adopted by the
Teddy Boys in Britain. Brylcreem sales soared with the popularity of
these styles. Those who chose not to follow these adventurous styles
sported the more conservative crew/butch cut or flat top. This was the
first time men had taken a strong interest in their hair. Marilyn
Styles for Women For women, TV and film still had a huge influence
on hairstyles. Women imitated the lavish perfection of the legendary
Marilyn Monroe, the cutting edge chic of Audrey Hepburn and the
freshness of Doris Day. With the reconstruction of the typical women
after the war, glamour was a must to impress the men. The difference was
now there was a lot more choice. Hairstyles were constantly changed;
back combed, dyed, teased, razored, curled and dressed up. With the
introduction of home dyeing and new spray-in colours, came excitement as
women could change their hair whenever they liked, although the
colouring solutions did not do the hair much good. Bleach blonde became
the popular look and born was the phrase ‘men prefer blondes’.
 Structured Hair Although at the beginning of the fifties
hairstyles were still fairly structured they were softer, more informal
and therefore did not suit the formal hats of the forties. Hats were
small and disc shaped and mostly only worn with a formal suit.
Hairpieces were still popular and for the wig manufacturers, business
was booming. Cuts n Curls Hair in the fifties was cut short
with the most popular looks being the intellectual gamine / urchin style
of Audrey Hepburn, the sexy Italian boy cut made popular by the Italian
screen siren Gina Lollabrigida, the half Italian set worn by the lovely
Marilyn Monroe and the more conservative poodle cut sported by Lucille
Ball. For those who kept their hair long, it was put up into a high
ponytail and circled with pretty chiffon.
Glamour at Work In the mid fifties Vidal Sassoon introduced
the Torro cuts which allowed movement away from the processed and
constricted styling
 towards a more natural and flexible style; the
opposite of the Hollywood glamour styles. Towards the late fifties the
heavily lacquered Bouffant became popular and was to completely take
over as it developed into the Beehive of the swinging sixties.
Hair Sprayed Hair In the early sixties the voluminous,
heavily hair sprayed bouffant was still very popular, along with similar
big styles such as the flicked out and flicked under baby doll look. The
revolutionary Vidal Sassoon bob soon overtook these styles. Fashion
designer Mary Quant asked Vidal Sassoon to create a new hairstyle for
her models that kept hair off the clothes. Sassoon tested the cut on
Quant and she loved it. It was exposed to the world on her models during
her fashion show in 1963. This thick cut, geometric style complemented
the sharp, space age fashion of the time. The bob, worn with false
eyelashes and frosty colours, took the world by storm. From this point
until the end of the sixties there were many variations of this style,
including the longer A-line version.
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