This weekend a dear friend of mine was out doing some vintage/antique shopping and stumbled upon a bunch of Hairdressing magazines from the 1940’s that he knew I would just adore and want to scoop up. The magazine was “American Hairdresser” and the 3 copies he got for me were from 1947 & 1948 (seen below).

1940's hairdressing magazine - American Hairdresser featuring a 1948 hairstyle

1940's hairdressing magazine - American Hairdresser featuring a 1948 hairstyles for kids

1940's hairdressing magazine - American Hairdresser featuring a 1947 hairstyle for women

Now I’m no expert in the vintage hairstyle world, I have mastered like 2 styles and that is pretty much where I’m at right now. I can honestly only ever dream of being able to have hairstyles like my fav vintage ladies online. I do adore though, looking at beautiful vintage hairstyles and giving props to the ladies (and their stylists) who took the time to make those styles look so fantastic. So this magazine is really great for doing just that…looking at cool and super technical vintage hairstyles. The magazines even show you how to do some of the sets to achieve the looks shown but it’s seriously way to complicated for my “2 styles only” skills lol!

For my hairdressing friends the magazines also have great ads on tools you could have purchased for your business, tips on working in salons etc. So if you ever see them, I would totally advise to grab some for your collection.

For today’s blog I really wanted to share some of the fantastic images that were in the magazines, the hairstyles and some of the fun ads.

(note: due to the magazines being somewhat fragile I had to take pictures of the images instead of scanning to protect it from bending and such. I apologize if some of the images are not super super clear).

So here we go….

American Hairdresser Magazine-1947 and 1948

The Vintage Advertising

Get that perfect perm with…”Supertest for Supercurl with RAYette deb-u-curl supertest, the speed waves that features the JUMBO ROD”.

A 1940's Hairdressing Magazine Ad for deb-u-curl perm curlers featuring an image of women with curly hair and perm roller.

I know the below seats from ‘Dixie Chrome Products’ are for your hair salon but I would not mind a couple just for my apartment, they are so cool.

A 1940s vintage advertisement for Dixie Chrome Products featuring chairs for the hair salon as seen in a 1940s vintage hairstyling magazine.

“For short hair! The new original Grip-Tuth “Shorty””

Grip-Tuth is still around today and in fact I use my combs on a regular basis.

1940s Grip-Tuth ad- 1940s Vintage Hairstyle tool for 1940s Hairstyles as seen in a 1940s vintage hairstyling magazine.

Create the perfect waves, with a “Fleetwave”. This ad made me giggle on how “HAPPY” she is to own this item..almost stunned I would say.

1940s vintage hairdressing ad for Fleetwave by Nestle. Create the perfect 1940s waves for your 1940s hairstyle as seen in a 1940s vintage hairstyling magazine.

Ahhh what we do for beauty. 1940s Heating Cap to get those curl dried quick!

1940s vintage ad for a heating cap that will get your curls dried quick as seen ina 1940s vintage hairstyling magazine.

The Late 1940s Women’s Hairstyles

First lets just take in the beauty that is “Jacqueline White” who was on the cover of the first 1948 magazine shown above and is modelling here. Stunning is probably the only word I can use right now, her hair is unbelievable gorgeous. I also am madly in love with her dresses in these images and I will take 2 or 3 of each in multiple colours.

The 1940s hair with all those shiny curls are just wonderful!

1940's vintage hairstyle from 1948 for women featuring actress Jacqueline White modeling the stylish hairstyle and wearing a pretty 1940s dress.

1940's vdress as seen in a 1948 American Hairdresser magazine. 1940's vintage hairstyle from 1948 for women featuring actress Jacqueline White modeling the stylish hairstyle.

This updo hairstyle is incredible and way out of my league but there is the set if someone is willing to give it a go.

1940's vintage hairstyle for women as seen in a 1948 vintage hairstyle magazine called "American hairdresser".

“Parisienne Mood”. The side swiped hair with the headband reminds me more of a Grecian look then Paris but either way another outstanding hairstyle.

1940s vintage hairstyle from a 1948 vintage hairdressing magazine, "American Hairdresser" -The side swiped hair with the headband reminds me more of a Grecian look then Paris but either way another outstanding hairstyle.

“Careerist”. For the Career Girl you can go with this style. Setting patterns are so helpful!

1940's vintage hairstyle called the Careerist as seen in a 1948 Hairdressing magazine called "American hairdresser". Cute short haired curls.

Looking for a style to wear with that Easter Parade hat? Here you go, fun stylish up do’s.

1940's vintage hairstyles for when your wearing a hat. Seen in a 1948 American hairdresser magazine.

“Colanite Curl Clips”. This is actually an information piece on how to set the curl clips professionally and correctly. I adore how her hair looks at the end.

1940's vintage hairstyle inspiration as seen in a vintage ad from a 1948 American Hairdresser magazine for "Colanite Curl Clips".

Beautiful! There was no description on how to achieve this look but I’m sure you needed at least 10 hands.

1940's vintage hairstyle inspiration for women as seen in a 1948 American Hairdresser magazine

There is a little peak into my hairdressing magazines, I hope you enjoyed browsing and maybe you will run off to try one of the sets. If you do, please please share you pictures!

On a funny side note, I opened up one of the magazines and in the middle, flat as a pancake were two dead flies..from the 1940s! Not what I was expecting to see that is for sure.

FURTHER READING:

Vintage Hairstyle Archive of Blog Posts from the Vintage Inn

Liz 🙂

“What is Montgomery Ward“?

Montgomery Ward was created by “Aaron Montgomery Ward” in 1872 as the first every dry goods mail-order catalog business in Chicago Illinois. After several years of working as a traveling salesman among rural customers. He observed that rural customers often wanted “city” goods but their only access to them was through rural retailers who had little competition and offered no guarantee of quality. Ward also believed that by eliminating intermediaries, he could cut costs and make a wide variety of goods available to rural customers, who could purchase goods by mail and pick them up at the nearest train station (Wikipedia-Montgomery Ward).

Montgomery Ward Firsts and Highlights

The Slogan “satisfaction guaranteed or your money back”, Ward began using in 1875 (he created it)

In 1883, the company’s catalog, which became popularly known as the “Wish Book”, had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items

By 1904, the company had grown such that three million catalogs, weighing 4 pounds each, were mailed to customers

1926 the first Retail store is opened

1929 saw Montgomery Ward Double its stores to 531 across the United States

In 1939, as part of a Christmas promotional campaign, staff copywriter Robert L. May created the character and illustrated poem of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Six million copies of the storybook were distributed in 1946. The song was popularized nationally by the actor and singer Gene Autry

1950’s saw the store fall into its eventual downfall as the company was slow to respond to the general movement of the American middle class to suburbia. It’s competitors (like Sears) built stores where the customers where, Montgomery Ward chose to stay in City Centers and Main streets where the customers no longer shopped like they used too

1985 the catalog portion of the business closes

December 28th, 2000 Montgomery Ward makes the announcement that it will shut its doors for good (Wikipedia-Montgomery Ward).

Wow that is some history, terribly sad that the business ended up closing its doors in the end though 🙁

All that sad part aside, lets take a look at some of the pictures from the Catalogue shall we? (Note: You will be seeing more of this book in future posts as I plan to use it as reference for blog posts to come).