The Hair Guide

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to OMG the seventies. Today, we're
going to talk about everything seventies hair, hair cuts, hair styles,
and all the things that make the seventies unique. So

(00:21):
now let's dive into a topic is wild and wooly
as the decade itself. Hair. Oh, the hair of the
nineteen seventies, a glorious gravity define, often baffling, and sometimes
a downright terrifying landscape of follicles. Forget sleek bobs and

(00:43):
subtle waves. The nineteen seventies were all about a volume, texture,
and a healthy dose of well, let's just call it
creative license. Think about it. The decade that birth disco all.
They also birthed hairstyles so big they could practically qualify

(01:05):
as their own separate tax bracket. We're talking farra fawcet flips,
volumeous avros that defied the laws of physics, and shag
haircuts so shaggy they could rival a particularly unruly sheep dog.
These weren't just hairstyles. They were statements, declarations of independence,

(01:28):
defiant cries against the mundane. They were an essence, wearable
sculptures crafted from lots of hairspray teasing combs and a
whole lot of hope. The Faara Fawcet flip, that iconic
feathered cascade, was the ultimate nineteen seventies symbol of glamour.

(01:51):
My uncle Bruce had a picture of Fara Fawcet in
his basement by his pool table, and I had to
stare at it, probably once or twice a month for
my entire childhood into my adulthood, and she was amazing.
It promised effortlessly cool, a carefree air of California sunshine.

(02:16):
The reality, however, was often a bit more challenging. Achieving
that perfectly tousled yet precisely placed wave required a degree
of skill and a quantity of hairspray that could probably
fill a small swimming pool or blow up a stadium.
Many a bathroom mirror bore witness to the frustrated attempts

(02:40):
to recreate that legendary look, attempts often ending in a tangled,
snarled mess that resembled less a mute movie stars main
and more a startled bird's nest. And let's not even
talk about the teasing. Those combs, Oh, those teasing combs,
pulled and tugged at delicate scalps, leaving behind a trail

(03:04):
of temporary bald spots and a distinct feeling of regret.
Yet we perceived persevered, driven by the irresistible allure of
Farah's effortless chikh. It was the hair equivalent of submitting
a submit, submitting everest, I'm sorry, summoning everest, a grueling climb,

(03:26):
ultimately rewarded by a breath taking view, even if only
momentarily before gravity took its inevitable toll. Then there were
the afros. Majestic, powerful, and undeniably bold. The afro was
a symbol of Black pride and cultural identity. It was

(03:47):
a statement of self acceptance and a celebration of natural beauty.
It demanded respect and commanded attention, unlike any hairstyle before
or since. Picture if you will, the sheer volume, the
impossible height, the effortless bounce. Creating the perfect afro was

(04:08):
an art form, a meticulous process, requiring an arsenal of
specialized products and a whole lot of patience. It's not
simply about letting your hair grow. It involved carefully combing,
meticulously shaping, and a healthy respect for the power of moisture.

(04:28):
Yet achieving the ideal afro wasn't always smooth. Smooth sailing.
Humidity can be a formidable foe, transforming a magnificent crown
into a frizzy, unruly beast, and let's be honest, keeping
that level of volume under control while navigating a crowded

(04:49):
nightclub or simply sitting in a car was a feat
of engineering itself. I think there's a theme here, volume keeping,
and let's not forget the shag. The shag haircut, with
its deliberately unkempt layers and tousled texture, epitomized the nineteen

(05:10):
seventies bohemian bohemian spirit. It was the hairstyle for the
free spirit, the rebel, the soul searching for meaning amidst
the backdrop of somewhat chaotic world. It was a rebellious
and decidedly casual, a style that perfectly captured the decades

(05:31):
laid back, unconventional vibe. The shag demanded very little in
terms of maintenance, which was a welcome boom for a
generation that prized ease and low key cool over meticulous grooming.
But don't let that fool you. Achieving the effortlessly undone

(05:51):
look was actually surprisingly difficult there was a fine line
between chic shag and something resembling a poorly executed sheep shearing,
a line that was often unfortunately crossed. But the hairstyles
themselves are often only off only half the story. Let's

(06:13):
talk about the products. Oh, the glorious, pungent, often questionable products.
Hair spray alone deserves an entire chapter of its own.
This wasn't your grandma's delicate hair spray. This was a powerful,
industrial strength adhesive capable of holding a hairstyle in place

(06:34):
through hurricane force winds. We're talking about aerosol cans that
could rival a small scale chemical weapon in terms of
their ability to immobilize the hair. The scent, let's just
say it was distinct, a unique blend of chemicals, often
reminiscent of nail polished remover and freshly cut grass. Then

(06:59):
the were the teasing combs, designed to inflict maximum damage
on the hair follicles while simultaneously attempting to create maximum height.
And let's not forget the curling irons and hot rollers,
ancient torture devices that inflicted considerable pain yet somehow created

(07:20):
the enviable waves we all so desperately craved. The pursuit
of the perfect seventies hairstyle was a relentless, often painful,
but ultimately rewarding endeavor. Endeavour. It was a testament to
human ingenuity, perseverance, and of course, a healthy dose of delusion.

(07:44):
It was a time when the hairspray could actually hold
a wig in place, when the comb could leave temporary
bald patches that no amount of hair product could fix,
and when the pursuit of the perfect hairstyle was something
that could literally occupy an entire Saturday afternoon. But hey,
it was a fun ride, and wouldn't you know it,

(08:06):
those disastrously, gloriously wonderful, weird seventies hairstyles remain iconic even now.
They serve as a potent reminder of the decade's spirit
of self expression, a playful yet powerful testament to a
generation daring to be different and defiant, a generation which,

(08:30):
let's be honest, was also heavily reliant on industrial strength
hairspray to keep it all in place, and somehow, miraculously
it worked most of the time unleased, at least until
the ring came. Let's talk a little bit about what

(08:50):
our parents' hair looked like. So I remember as a kid,
this beautiful self portrait of some woman over the fireplace
at my grandparents' house. It stood there, or hung there,
I should say, just majestically, until one day I asked me, Mom,

(09:13):
who is that woman with the updo and the bleached hair. Well,
I found out that was my mother. She had a
perfectly quaffed updo bleach blonde hair, and it was weird.

(09:35):
And then there's my father with the pompadour. Does anybody
remember the pompadour? That might not be so much the
seventies as it was the late sixties, but I remember
looking at pictures of my relatives in the seventies and thinking,
oh my gosh, what did they do to their hair?
But then I think maybe the next decade, in the eighties,

(10:00):
we outdid the hair, because then we started getting permanence
and teasing the hair and spraying the front with that
industrial hairspray that they used in the seventies. So I
guess we shouldn't really look back at those hair styles
and judge, because there were some other decades that were

(10:22):
just as shocking. So until next time, when we talk
some more about OMG, the seventies,