Men's Hair in the 1960s

Butch Wax and other stiffeners geared towards crew cuts.

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I was thinking Brill Cream but Ted's hair doesn't have that greasy look.

sploog at the glory holes

A little dab'll do ya!

Oh Zdonald!

Layering wasn't a thing until the '70s, so men's shorter styles that weren't crewcuts had that injection-molded look.

[quote]Brill Cream

Oh, dear.

I think Ted Bessell's cut above was stiffened with lots of hairspray after it was carefully combed into place.

Hairspray and a blow dryer. It was called the dry look.

Vitalis!

R11, Yes! Was just thinking of Vitalis..... Shit was like liquid parrafin.... Brylcreem is still a popular brand in UK.... They have different formulas, hair pomades, & gels too. The new stuff smells nice too. Alberto-VO5 hairdressing was quite popular back then too, and Wildroot.

I realize it was the fashion at the time, but the hairstyles back then looked so unnatural. Love R7's "injection-molded look".

It's an earlier era but I have the hots for the guy at the 12 second mark and especially the guy in the mirror at 34 seconds. Especially their hair. So damn cute and you know they both smelled good too.

(actually, it's the young 'un at the 10 second mark. so damn cute).

There were all sorts of hair dressings and pomades, but also, every man's grooming kit would normally include a boar-bristle brush, which would be used to help subdue any unruly hair.

I have noticed that many young boys/teens and adults had their hair straightened from their original curlier hair. I think a perfect example were the males on The Brady Bunch. Reed and the boys started out with that straight hair and a couple seasons later all of them had curly hair. In seeing them when they were older they still had curls. Ted Bessell also had curly hair in his subsequent tv roles.

One thing I have always wondered about was the slicked back hair seen on actors from the 30s/40s. Think Robert Taylor in Camille. In some movies the male lead has this hair and women would run their hands through their hair. How nasty must that have been. Running fingers through pomade.

OP, the 1960s was a looooooooooong decade and 1961 looked nothing like 1969, in almost every aspect of American life.

The perfect way to get that tight curl was to use Spoolies.

I still use Alberto VO-5 occasionally. It's a really good conditioner.

R17, I remember, in the early 60s, my Mom doing her best to keep my brother's hair and mine combed into a strict Kennedy-style side parts. My part wasn't really natural, eventually I found my natural part, and have combed my hair that way ever since. On the other hand, in the 70sm I can remember my older brother getting a curly perm, just like Robert Reed eventually did (I think). It was hideous.

For the first half of the 20th century and more, men's hair was slicked backed with pomades, Brillantine, and other dreadful greasy shit. The 1960s brought the invention of hair spray, and like any other new and exciting trend it was horribly overused.

I think male actors' hair was carefully lifted with curling tongs and touseled into place, and then sprayed until it was as hard as Kevlar. Put an actor with one of those 'dos into a hurricane scene, not a hair would be out of place.

[quote] I think a perfect example were the males on The Brady Bunch. Reed and the boys started out with that straight hair and a couple seasons later all of them had curly hair

And then they went berserk, and all of them except Bobby got terrible perms.

John Kennedy had that really bizarre helmet hair. It's like he was walking down the street and a wig fell on his head.

Kennedy was said to be obsessive about his hair, checking to make sure every single hair was standing straight up whenever he passed a mirror or saw a camera.

But I forget what means he used to keep it permanently erect.

Pics at R2 are cutting techniques and blow drys and product. Not grease. Grease was 50's.

This is a blown flat top

Ted's hair gets a mention in this old thread.

In the 80s my brother wasn't into feathering or layering or mullets or crew cuts or anything and ended up with a solid hair helmet in his senior picture (1986) which he later called a "hair patty".

My hair was fairly stiff and grew straight up. I had to wear part one of my mother's nylon stockings on my head when I slept to "train" it to grown flat so I could look like everyone else. (This was in the early '60s.)

This:

R31, knew people at school who used it to kill bugs, smelled like bug spray too!

I wore my hair the same as Ted Bessel in OP’s picture. Razor cut, blow dry, hair spray, finish by dragging a hairnet over the surface to flatten the surface into that smooth, perfect helmet look.

How do you wear it now?

there isn't any left.

R21 in this early pic of Reed (1960s) (with the great Joan Hackett) you can tell he had curly hair even though he had it cut short. If you zoom in on his forehead the curl is noticeable and he kept his hair curly throughout the post Brady period.

Just wanted to add that perhaps he never had a perm & when it grew out he just went natural. I have no idea and I'm no hair expert.

Robert Reed as a child.

Robert Reed had naturally curly hair. It wasn't permed.

Brylcreem and similar products were popular then. Guys had slicked back hair. But when the 1970s arrived, "the dry look" came into fashion. Also tons of guys had long hair in the early 1970s. In the mid-1970s perms became popular for men but that was short-lived.

Until the very end of the decade it was essential for men (and women!) to wear their hair in a style that had absolutely no movement. Truly, a helmet. Why that was the case, I've never understood. Finally, by the late 60s, with the influence of hippies, surfers and the Beatles (and other British rock groups), hair was allowed to flow and curl naturally.

R36, he's so much prettier than she is in your photo,

Robert Reed, dry look.