20 Vintage Beauty Salon Photos That Capture Style in Another Era

These vintage photos show what beauty salons once looked like, from towering hair dryers to timeless style. Step back to a time when a trip to the salon meant curlers, gossip, and a little glamour. This nostalgic collection reveals how fashion, friendship, and self-care all came together under one perfectly teased roof.
1. A Stylist Blows a Bubble While Perfecting a Towering ‘Do in a Busy Hair Salon in New York, 1970s

2. ‘The First Licensed Female Hair Stylist, Jeanne Devereux, Photographed While Shaving a Customer, 1927’

3. Two Women Sit Under Hair Dryers While One Reads a Magazine

4. ‘Getting a Manicure While Drying Hair at Francois de Paris, a Hairdresser on West Eighth Street, in New York City, 1942’

5. ‘Ladies Under the Dryers in a Hair Salon in the 1960s’

6. A Young Woman Gets Her Hair Dried by What Looks Like a Pretty Intimidating Machine, 1925

7. Women Sit Beneath a Row of Early Dryers in a Beauty Parlor, 1920s

8. Because Why Not Give Fido a Perm as Well?

9. Getting a Trim at Mrs. Wheeler’s Barber Shop in Colorado, 1950s

10. Perm Machine or Brain Scan? Getting a Perm in the ’50s Was No Joke

11. ‘Barber in Tijuana, Mexico, 1978’

12. ‘Woman and Poodle in a Beauty Parlor in New York City, 1964’

13. Just More Terrifying Contraptions Seen at Your Average Beauty Parlor in the ’40s

14. ‘Young Woman Getting Her Hair Done, 1960s’

15. That’s One Way To Straighten Hair at the Home Salon, 1960s

16. ‘A Traveling Beauty Parlor in London, England, 1930’

17. James Dean Pictured at a Barber Shop in New York, 1955

18. Multi-Tasking Goals: A Row of Ladies Sit Under Hair Dryers While They Sip Coffee, Read Magazines, and Get Their Nails Done

19. You Can Almost Hear the Gossip if You Look Close Enough

20. Elvis Presley Getting a Fresh Cut at Jim’s Barber Shop in Memphis, Tennessee, 1956

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