1970AD – 1979AD
As the Hippy and other social movements had come about in the 60’s, the 70’s was more of a free-spirited approach to beauty. Women tended to go for a natural look in the day and more glamorous in the evening, especially if they were going to a disco. They didn’t believe in wearing make-up to make a man happy, they were now independent women and brands recognised this so steered away from the woman being the “home-maker” and a “sex object”.
Skincare:
Skincare was a growing industry and new products were targeted for anti-aging, teenagers, men and people of colour. People were more aware of ingredients too, so companies introduced organic products.
People were using the multi-step skincare regime of cleanse, tone and moisturise.
Make-up:
The 1970’s bought back some revivals of past make-up trends, such as the 1920’s look after the film ‘The Great Gatsby’ came out in 1974. Also a nod to the 1940’s make-up style came about.
The main styles in make-up were the Disco era which was bright pigments and glitter, then Punk, where literally anything goes.
Hippy and other social movements had come about in the 60’s, the 70’s was more of a free-spirited approach to beauty. It started with music and fashion for expression, the make-up was avant-garde and involved very pale skin, dramatic eyes, brows and cheeks.
For those not involved with the punk lifestyle, it was fashionable to have dewy, natural skin, the opposite of the past matte looks. Foundations were marketed as “invisible” and “barely there”. Tanned skin was highly fashionable and a sign for wealth and being well travelled. Tanning beds were used a lot, even when the links to skin cancer where made. People would sunbathe with baby oil and foil reflectors. Also, the first black supermodel, Iman, encouraged the beauty industry to make cosmetics especially for women of colour.
Blusher tended to be light in colour and application, until the disco era in the mid-70’s, when they were replaced with bright pinks and oranges in strong stripes from the temples down onto the cheeks. Bronzer was used to give more of a tanned complexion.
Eye shadows came in purples, greens and earthy tones, with pastel blue being very popular. They could be matte, pearlescent or iridescent and formulas came in powder, liquid and creams. It was popular to add a pale colour to just under the eyebrow, and then the lid colour would be blended into a cat-eye shape or almond shape. Sometimes eye shadow was finished by adding glitter! Eyeliner could be worn on the upper and lower lash line and came in pencil or liquid forms with an applicator. There were many colours to choose from: black, blue, grey, brown… It was popular to wear white eyeliner behind the black or blue eyeliner.
Mascara was now in liquid form with a wand applicator and came in colours such as black, brown, blue, turquoise and raspberry. It would be worn on the upper and lower lashes. False eyelashes were also sometimes worn, though more subtly than the 60’s.
Eyebrows would be plucked quite thin into a curve, or those who preferred thicker eyebrows would shape them with an arch.
In the early 1970’s, red lipstick made a comeback, this time with a glossy shine. Women liked to wear red lipstick with smokey eyes to break “fashion rules”. In the daytime lips would be glossy pink, brown or nude shades, with pastels being popular throughout the decade for more of a natural look. Glosses came in pots and tubes with an applicator lid, also a rollerball application.
Hair:
Women’s hair in the 1970’s was a lot more adventurous than previous years, with many hairstyles to choose from. They ranged from long and feminine to short and edgy.
As music, TV and film were still massive influences on style, when ‘Charlie’s Angles’ came out in the late 70’s, the actress Farrah Fawcett-Majors’ hair was a big hit, it was named “The Farrah Flick” and was highly feathered and flicked out around the face.
Jane Fonda’s hair from the film ‘Klute’ introduced people the “The Shag” haircut, created by hairdresser Paul McGregor. It was a full fringe with lots of layers and could be worn by men too. A longer, and wavier, version of this cut was “The Gypsy Cut” which was worn by singer Stevie Nicks. Also, “The Wedge” cut was created in 1974, which was a bowl shaped, short angled and layered style, then the “Pageboy” was still highly fashionable still.
Long and mid-length hair would be set in rollers or permed to make large bouncy curls, with the volume starting about half way down the hair, with a centre parting.
As the “Black Pride Movement” had started in the 1960’s, black people were embracing their natural hair, the Afro was highly fashionable. Corn-rows became very fashionable too; the small plaits have been worn since ancient times and are a traditional way of styling hair.
Punks emerged in 1976; they wore their hair in all sorts of ways and all sorts of colours. Hair would be shaven off fully, for a ‘skinhead’ or some women would shave theirs off and just leave the fringe (Chelsea cut), others would create “Mohawks” or “Liberty Spikes” by sticking up their hair using homemade mixtures, such as eggs, sugar water, soap and gelatine, or shop bought gels and hairspray.
Hair styling tools were branching out from the simple curling tong and blow-dryer. Multi-purpose hairdryers came with various attachments to create different styles. The first rinse off conditioner was introduced and started to replace the old “crème rinse’s” that had been about since the 1930’s.
Hair colouring was getting more popular, home hair dyes were big business and even included highlighting kits. Highlights were fashionable and could be professionally achieved with woven foils, and then a flat iron would be run over them to speed up development time. Natural henna was still popular to use for red tints, especially as people were more concerned with toxic ingredients in hair dyes. In 1977, ‘Crazy Color’ bought out a range of neon hair dyes, these were especially popular with the punks to achieve their brightly coloured hair, however some would use cheaper options such as brightly coloured drinks ‘Kool-aid’ or ‘Kia-Ora’ to stain hair.
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