Vidal Sassoon, hairstylist for the 1960s

Vidal Sassoon (1928-2012) was a British hairdresser who made hairstyling history in the 1960s by freeing women from beehive hairdos and hot rollers.

He opened his first salon in 1954, when hair was high and heavy, set on rollers, then teased (backcombed) and sprayed into place. In the 1960s, Sassoon shocked the fashion world with his geometric cuts which required little styling and fell into place perfectly with little effort on the part of the wearer.

The styles were perfect for the fledgling women's liberation movement. Allure magazine editor-in-chief Linda Wells said, "His timing was perfect. As women's hair was liberated, so were their lives."

Sassoon changed the world of hairstyling and beauty and became the most famous hairdresser in history.

He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to advance his line of hairstyling products and made the city his home. He sold his business interests in the 1980s to become a philanthropist.

From pressherald.com

elle.com

pressherald.com

telegraph.co.uk

My 1960s Sassoon haircut

youtube.com

Uploaded by Flint Whincop on Oct 14, 2011

Toby Day

If you’re the inquisitive type, you may be thinking, “What is Toby Day? Am I missing out on something?” I’ll explain: I drive 300 miles round trip for Toby, the Vernay of Jacques & Vernay Hairdressing, to do my hair. You’d think I could find someone closer who does hair as well, and God knows I’ve tried, but to no avail.

So to answer your questions, Toby Day (as in "OMG, your hair looks fantastic. It must have been Toby Day," or "Seriously, have you taken a look at your roots? When is Toby Day?") is my every-other-month all-day trek to get my hair colored and styled…and, yes, you’re missing out on something if he’s never done your hair.

On the two-and-a-half hour drive there, I started thinking about this blog and about hairstyles of the 50s and 60s, particularly the ones I had back then, and I decided to make that the topic of today’s post. One thing led to another, and I found myself matching my old coifs to those of vintage Barbie dolls. It was amazing...in an embarrassing sort of way...how much alike they were. And to think that by the late Sixties I had long, straight hippie hair and was a raging feminist! (The Jane Fonda shag and the Stevie Nicks do of the Seventies deserve posts all their own...LOL)

Poodle Barbie
hubpages.com

It just wouldn't be the Fifties without a ponytail.  And what

you can't see is my red felt poodle skirt or the sheer red scarf

tied around my hair in the back.  The black thing peeking out 

from under the cardigan is a chenille applique of a 45 record 

with music notes around it.  Ultimate coolness!

Bubble Barbie
alldolledup.com

And, oh, what a boufy bubble I had in the early Sixties.  I don't know

which looks goofier, the immensely tall hair which made me look at 

least 6" taller than I am or the uber girly voile shirt.  I'm so not into 

ruffles today!

"Bewitched" Flip Barbie
momlogic.com

Yes, I was the undisputed Queen of the Flips, as evidenced by this 1965 

yearbook photo. According to my cousins, I had a much better flip than 

Shelley Fabares, who played the daughter on the Donna Reed Show or 

Elizabeth Montgomery, who played Samantha the housewife/witch on

Bewitched...and, trust me, that was the pinnacle of flipdom.

Bubble Barbie Redux
vintagebarbiedolls.net

The bubble, or a variation thereof, was the hairstyle that wouldn't die.  It

just kept getting smoother and sleeker, like everything else back then.

This photo of me was taken in 1968. Another of my claims to fame was that you 

never, ever saw one of my "rats," which we also called back-combing or 

teasing.  Smoooooooooth as glass, baby.