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Wednesday 22 April 2015

Sepia Saturday - Down the Decades with Hair

Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity to share their family history and memories  through photographs.

My focus this week is on hairstyles down the decades. 
Not quite as luxurious a head as in the prompt photograph, but here is Annie Bailey of Blackpool - an ancestor of my third cousin. Taken in the 1880's-00's perhaps? 
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The impact on the First World War on the changing role of  women saw an abandonment of the  traditional long hair styles of the Victorian period to the new short styles of the bob, finger-wave, Marvel wave, shingle and Eton crop, with their popularity continuing well into the 1930's. 

An elegant unidentified portrait in my husband's collection - thought to be a relation of his aunt Annette.  

My great aunt Jennie Danson  who sacrificed her long plait for the new look.

My mother Kathleen Danson -Jennie's niece, though there was only 11 years difference in their ages.  

My mother again - with more waves this time


My mother's second cousin Elsie Oldham - hairdresser "Elise".

In the 1930''s and 1940's  a  softer look crept in, with curls and waves all the rage, and during the war the "roll" was the defining style.  This was the age of trying to emulate  Hollywood glamour, despite the realities  of life during the  depression and war

My mother  - Kathleen Danson
My aunt - Edith Danson
           




Another new look for my mother who seems to have adopted an Austrian style, with what looks like  braids over  her head.  She was always very proud of her distinctive widow's peak.  

Below some typical 1940s looks from my aunt Peggy Danson (in WAAF uniform), my mother and finally  my husband's elegant aunt Annette.



 On some decades  - with my student look of the 1960's,  and the heavy glasses of the 1970's (now back in style), though I wish I had hair like that now! 


 




 
The nearest I came to big hair  with the permed look and big shoulder pads for this photograph taken for a work Annual Report c.1991.   With owlish glasses to match, there were comments that I looked like  Deidre out of soap opera  "Coronation Street"!!

Copyright © 2015 · Susan Donaldson.  All Rights Reserved

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15 comments:

  1. I enjoyed seeing your family pictures. I don't have many, but I have always been fascinated by the hairdo's of the 30's and 40's. I so remember all of your styles of eyeglasses - I've worn glasses since the late 1950's and have probably worn every style ever manufactured since then. Visiting from A to Z.

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  2. A nice cavalcade of family hair photos. I'm off to the hairdresser shortly, but I 'll be asking her to smooth away my wavy curls as much as possible. A natural Marcel style wave has always been the bane of my life!

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  3. Some lovely ladies in your family tree...thank you for sharing the hairstyles. - Fawn

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  4. Such pretty ladies with lovely hair styles, thank you for sharing all the photos. Barbara

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  5. although none of your ladies have as much hair as the prompt, there is a lot of hair in this post!

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  6. I've always thought the softer hairstyles from the 60s-on were so much more flattering to a woman's face. I've often tried to imagine what our great grandmothers & etc. might have looked like, had the styles back then allowed softer, fluffier 'dos. The 1890s Gibson Girl hairdos came close.

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  7. The Sally Jessy Raphael glasses -- aka "birth control glasses"
    I love the parade of hairstyles. Great take on the theme!

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  8. I have always admired the 1930s/1940s hairstyles. Do we even have a style now? I don't think so........but may be proven wrong in 20 years?

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  9. Now that was fun -- following all the shifts in hairstyles! I recall a few disasters from my own life...including a perm that just kept me in misery until it grew out.

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  10. Ah yes, the age of the perm - who hasn’t been there? Thank goodness we don’t have to do that any more. These days you and I have similar, easy-care hair-dos.

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  11. I like Jo's word - cavalcade. Will 21st century hair styles ever be as memorable?

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  12. Now this was a treat, in so many ways! Yes our hair styles can date us, can't they. I know a few women that still have the same hairdo that they had years ago, always the same. Perhaps a bit grey, but still cut and styled as it was all these adult years!

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  13. An excellent series of hairstyle photos, thank you.

    Augustus Kenderdine was in business from three different locations in Blackpool from 1898 to 1905, and the size of Annie Bailey's leg-of-mutton sleeves confirms that portrait to have been taken in the late 1890s.

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  14. Thank You to everyone for their comments on what was a fun post to write. Many thanks, too, Brett, for giving me details on the Blackpool photographer and for clarifying the date of the first photograph.

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  15. A great history in hair styles. Looks like your family purposefully provided you with a tour, decade by decade. On another note, I was fascinated by the detail of the dress worn by Anne Baily. Looks like crocheted inset, or perhaps tatting?? Very interesting.

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