Going to the beauty salon in the 1960s and 1970s wasn’t a quick stop squeezed between errands. It could take up an entire morning or afternoon. There were coats hung by the door, magazines passed from chair to chair, rollers everywhere, and plenty of time to hear what had been happening around the neighborhood since the last appointment.
The salon had its own sounds and smells, too. Hair dryers hummed in the background, phones rang at the front desk, hairspray hung in the air, and someone was almost always waiting for a curl to set. Many of the things that seemed completely ordinary inside those salons would look surprisingly unfamiliar today.
1. Spending an Hour Under a Hooded Hair Dryer
Once the rollers were in, there was nowhere to rush off to. Women settled beneath enormous dryers with magazines in their laps while warm air hummed around their heads. Conversation continued from beneath the hoods, occasionally a little louder than necessary.
2. Arriving With Your Own Hair Rollers
Some regular customers didn’t come empty-handed. A favorite set of rollers might arrive tucked inside a little bag because everyone knew exactly which size produced the right curl. They were as personal as a comb or lipstick.
3. Getting a Shampoo at a Sink With Almost No Neck Support
The shampoo chair tipped backward, the porcelain basin felt cold, and finding a comfortable position could be surprisingly difficult. Still, having someone else work shampoo through your hair was part of the pleasure of salon day.
4. Having Hair Set in Rows of Rollers
Before blowouts became routine, wet hair disappeared beneath perfectly organized rows of rollers held together with pins and clips. Seeing half the salon sitting like this wasn’t unusual at all. It was simply the middle stage between arriving and leaving with finished hair.
5. Perm Solution With a Smell Everyone Recognized
The smell could reach you before you were even through the door. Perm solution had a sharp, unmistakable scent that mixed with shampoo, hairspray, and cigarette smoke to create something that belonged specifically to the beauty shop.
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6. Smoking While Getting Your Hair Done
An ashtray could sit right beside the rollers, combs, and coffee cups. A customer might smoke while waiting for her color to process or sitting beneath the dryer, something so ordinary at the time that few people in the room would have given it a second thought.
7. Reading the Same Stack of Magazines for Months
The magazines on the little table were rarely new. Someone picked up the same celebrity issue she’d already flipped through during her last appointment, while another customer reached for a dog-eared fashion magazine with a corner missing from the cover.
8. Keeping a Standing Weekly Appointment
For some women, the salon wasn’t somewhere they went only before a special occasion. Thursday morning or Saturday afternoon simply belonged to their hairdresser. The appointment barely needed to be written down because everyone already knew when the regulars were coming.
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9. Teasing Hair Until It Was Twice Its Natural Size
The stylist lifted a section, combed toward the scalp, sprayed it, and repeated. Watching perfectly smooth hair turn into a cloud of backcombing could look alarming halfway through, but somehow it all came together by the end.
10. Using Enough Hairspray to Hold a Style for Days
The final cloud of hairspray wasn’t subtle. Customers sometimes closed their eyes while the stylist circled the chair, spraying until every curl seemed firmly committed to staying exactly where it had been placed.
11. Protecting the Finished Hairdo From the Weather
Leaving the salon wasn’t the end of the process. If rain or wind threatened the freshly set style, out came a plastic rain bonnet or scarf. After spending hours getting the hair just right, nobody was going to let the weather ruin it on the walk to the car.
12. Getting Frosted Highlights Through a Rubber Cap
Before foils became familiar, a tight cap covered the head while small strands of hair were pulled through tiny holes with a hook. It wasn’t particularly glamorous to look at during the process, but those pale frosted streaks were worth it.
13. Watching the Stylist Work From a Giant Wall Mirror
Long mirrors made the salon feel like one continuous room. Customers could see their own transformation, watch the woman three chairs down, and catch nearly every conversation happening behind them without ever turning around.
14. Sitting in a Vinyl Chair With a Chrome Footrest
The chairs were heavy, shiny, and built to stay put for decades. Their vinyl seats squeaked when someone shifted position, while the chrome footrest carried years of scuffs from shoes. Many salons had rows of nearly identical ones facing the mirrors.
15. Having the Stylist Know the Whole Family
She didn’t just know how you wore your hair. She knew your mother’s appointment time, where your daughter was going to school, who had gotten married, and who had moved away. The beauty shop doubled as a small neighborhood information network.
16. Paying at a Tiny Front Counter With a Paper Appointment Book
There was no text reminder waiting on anyone’s phone. The next appointment went into a thick paper book at the front desk, usually written in pencil beside a surname and a time. The telephone nearby handled everything else.
17. Walking Out With Hair That Wasn’t Supposed to Move
The finished style could survive dinner, errands, a night’s sleep, and sometimes several more days. Women learned how to sleep carefully, wrap their hair, and avoid disturbing the shape because the goal wasn’t to recreate it the next morning. It was to preserve what the stylist had already done.
18. Treating the Salon as a Place to Spend the Afternoon
Nobody seemed surprised when an appointment stretched on. Between washing, setting, drying, teasing, spraying, and talking, hours could disappear inside the salon. Women came and went, coffee appeared, conversations crossed the room, and eventually someone emerged with freshly styled hair.
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