A new Dublin City Council project has been looking at the history of hairdressing in the city, and how it relates to women’s lives.
The study is the brainchild of historian-in-residence Katie Blackwood, who has been working on it for about a year.
“At first, I was just reading and researching, but I now have a talk called Perms, Updos, Bobs and Shaved Heads: A History of Women’s Hairstyles in Ireland, which I have been doing in libraries and for community groups around Dublin,” she explained. “The talk explores how women’s hairstyles have changed over time, alongside 20th century women’s political and social history. I hope to continue the project by talking to hairdressers about their working lives, and to ordinary women about their past hairstyles.”
Blackwood says she was inspired by the writings of Emma Dabiri, author of Don’t Touch My Hair and Disobedient Bodies, and the historian Caitriona Clear, who writes about ordinary women and their interests. “Hair is fascinating to me because, as part of our bodies, it is very personal and intimate, but it is also a very public and visible. It can communicate information about our identity, gender, beliefs and social status, and it is fundamental to how we present ourselves to the world.”
For her research, Blackwood’s primary sources have been women’s magazines and women’s pages in newspapers, along with photographs, and women’s writing in the form of autobiographies. “I have also looked at the folklore around hair in the National Folklore Collection. And I have spoken to people, particularly older women, about their memories of hairdressing and hairstyles.”
Century of change
Blackwood believes that the biggest impacts on hairdressing over the last century have been technology, advertising and the increase in women’s employment. “In the early 20th century, women’s hair was dressed and styled at home in domestic spaces. Compare this to today, when most women visit the hairdresser regularly to have their hair washed, cut, coloured, blow-dried, straightened or curled, along with a host of other beauty treatments. All of these services were made possible by new technologies.
“Another change has been the employment of women. Hairdressers in the early 20th century were almost exclusively men, but over time more and more women joined the profession, and today more women work as hairdressers than men. It was a job that women in Ireland could do despite the Marriage Bar, and many women set up their own salons and businesses in their homes and local areas, working around childcare and other domestic duties.
“Advertising has also become widespread over the past century and haircare products were heavily advertised. There was a stigma against colouring hair in the past, but advertising helped to transform it into something glamorous and then something necessary for women.”
The story of women
Blackwood says that we can learn a lot about women’s lives and experiences by examining the hairdressing industry. “It is a profession that combines design skills and care work, both of which are central to many women’s lives. And hairdressers work with fashion and the prevailing ideas of a time period. New hairstyles often mark wider cultural shifts.
“A good example is the Bob, which was radical when it first appeared in the 1920s. Previously women wore their long hair up, and long hair was a sign of femininity. The bob was androgynous, easy to maintain and suitable for pastimes such as cycling and dancing. It was the preferred style of flappers and modern girls who were interested in having fun after a long period of war and conflict.”
Blackwood, whose next talk is in Coolock Library on 24 April, is interested in talking to hairdressers about their working lives and hairstyles they remember. Any documentation such as old magazines or hairdressing notes that could shed light on past practices would also be welcome. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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