Hair care of movie stars from the past - oil-shampoo

[ktani]

Wow! He had it spot on!! That's awesome!

The stylist's name was Loretta Francel. Not only male movie studio stylists took care of stars' hair in those days, in spite of a lot of articles from that time referring and quoting male make-up specialists and stylists. This stylist was not only wonderful from my viewing of her finished work, she was creative and inventive too. She would have made a great LHC member!

[pennyroyal]

My favorite star of the past is Marilyn Monroe but she would not be a good LHCer with all the bleaching & whatnot. I think she was truly gorgeous with her natural hair as well as with it blonde.

[TinaDenali]

The stylist's name was Loretta Francel. Not only male movie studio stylists took care of stars' hair in those days, in spite of a lot of articles from that time referring and quoting male make-up specialists and stylists. This stylist was not only wonderful from my viewing of her finished work, she was creative and inventive too. She would have made a great LHC member!

I'm sorry - my internet wasn't allowing me to click on the blue text link, so I didn't see she was female. I edited my original posting.

[ktani]

That was a very interesting and informative article ktani.

I was actually taken aback when I read that Lombard's hairstylist recommended that you should wash your hair frequently, especially if you want to get those 'shining waves' that Lombard was known for. This goes against what many members here on LHC strive to do which is to stretch out and limit the amount of washings so that they leave more of their natural sebum to coat their hair.

I'm also amazed that in the article, it never mentioned that she used any oils in her hair. I suppose the special coconut oil & castile soap that her stylist used to wash her hair would have been very gentle, but would it have been conditioning enough? Wouldn't anything, even coconut oil combined with something alkaline like a soap be naturally drying to your hair? I'm thinking that its very fortunate that such a routine happened to work for Carole Lombard, but for the vast majority of people they would definitely need to include a conditioner, an SMT, some oils, catnip, henna or some kind,of conditioning agent into their haircare routine. What is your professional opinion ktani?

From the article again,
“Even when Carole isn’t working. I shampoo her hair at least twice a week. Providing you rinse it thoroughly, frequent shampoos never hurt your hair—rather are they necessary for a healthy scalp, shining waves. ”

That is standard and recommended by many dermatologists for maintaining a healthy scalp. The daily shampooing was for the cameras or movie that was being made only. Ms. Lombard's hair was not particulary long for that era or ours and was layered.

Also, from many reports here, a number of members do not need to oil or condition their hair. The lemon or vinegar rinse would counter the alkaline soap base of the "shampoo" the stylist created and is what many members also do here, after using shampoo bars for example.

[ktani]

I'm sorry - my internet wasn't allowing me to click on the blue text link, so I didn't see she was female. I edited my original posting.

No worries. The authors of most of the articles I have read from that era who were stylists were male.

[ktani]

Oh, this is neat . I love Eva Longoria, especially her role in Desperate Housewives (now I want to watch it ), and her hair is just so nice looking.

According to the internet (eheh), she uses all of Ken Paves' products. I've never seen any of them around here, though :/.

ETA: She isn't from the past, but she's a star with pretty hair . I don't know many past stars.

She still counts for the purposes of this thread though. I think the thread should be flexible. Thank you!

[ktani]

A link to information on Jean Harlow.
"Hair color: Although a natural ashe blonde, her trademark platinum tresses were achieved through weekly bleaching sessions using a mixture of peroxide, ammonia, Clorox and Lux Flakes -- an extremely painful and harsh process.
Jean wore a wig for the title role of Red-Headed Woman and, in an effort to save her bleach-damaged hair, she was transformed into a brownette for Riffraff. She wore a platinum blonde wig over damaged hair in China Seas."

I have read this before in an article by the stylist who worked on her hair. I cannot find that link now. The proceess badly damaged her hair and she wore wigs afterward. Do not try this at home or anywhere else, lol.

[ktani]

My favorite star of the past is Marilyn Monroe but she would not be a good LHCer with all the bleaching & whatnot. I think she was truly gorgeous with her natural hair as well as with it blonde.

That is not so much of the point I had in mind about this thread, as much as finding out what was done to the hair to get it to appear so well on the big screen.

I was surprised to find such simple hair care for Carole Lombard, that is in keeping with what some members do here now, and it was hair friendly.

[Kyaatje]

this is what I found on Marilyns haircare (??) :

""There are several problems with doing Marilyn's hair; it's very fine and therefore hard to manage. It gets oily if it isn't shampooed every day and her hair is naturally so curly that to build a coiffure for her I have to first give her a straight permanent. The way we got her shade of platinum is with my own secret blend of Sparkling Silver bleach plus 20 volume peroxide and a secret formula of silver platinum rinse to take the yellow out" - Gladys Rasmussen, Marilyn's long time hairdresser

Can you imagine doing a perm (straightner) and dye in one go ?!

[orbiting]

20vol peroxide isn't that bad. Nothing to scoff at, but not that bad.

And ericthegreat - I have very fine hair. I have to wash it daily or every-other. Less than that and my hair is disgusting. I also don't necessarily need conditioner, and a shampoo made with coconut oil would definitely be enough to make my hair look nice, and it might even weigh it down! ACV rinses also make my hair very manageable (when I used them) without conditioner. My hair is a tad fly-away too... sounds like me and Ms. Lombard probably had very similar hair

and I agree - I think it's neat, especially with old-time actresses