Top 5 Vintage Hairstyles For Women

Amber Noelle - Vintage Hair Stylist in Long Beach CA

Flappers, Mods, and Greasers…Oh My!  Retro looks are coming back in a big way from celebrities like Dita Von Teese to hipsters on scooters. A good retro look can bring an air of cool sophistication, or make you look like a glamorous beauty straight off of the silver screen walking down the red carpet.

My name is Amber Noelle, and I am a vintage/retro hair stylist out of Long Beach California. If you live in the area I would love to set up a free consultation with you to design a unique hairstyle for you.  I’m going to show the different types of styles and methods used to give you that vintage look that will turn heads, and help you stand out against a crowd of bleach blonde highlighted tarts.

1.     Finger Waves

Finger waves are alternating waves which give you the authentic 1920’s flapper look.  The trick to a good finger wave is to wash the hair.  While the hair is still wet apply throughout the hair a good wet setting or stronghold gel like B&B Gelac.  Then part the hair for the look you want. The traditional side part is either on your left or your right side.  On the side of the part you put two fingers down with the palm resting on the back of the head (the crown) You then get the comb and line it up to your fingers, and push forward with the comb and start alternating the waves by going back on forth with the comb on the side of the head.

2.     Pin Curls

Pin curls are the same thing as a finger wave, but instead of waving with gel, you grab the hair with your two fingers, and wrap your hair around your finger as if it were a ribbon. Then when your hair is close to your scalp you clip it with a small hair clip, or bobby pin.  Then you alternate the pattern clockwise and counter-clockwise around your head.

3.     Wetsets

Back in the day people took their time to look good, and took pride in taking their time. Now with today’s modern lifestyles wet sets really almost disappeared.  A wetset will last until you wash your hair. Wetsets are important because it is a building block to a lot of vintage retro style.  The key to a good wetset is shampoo your hair and distribute setting lotion through-out the hair.  You then get the size of roller that you want to use. The size depends on the look you want to go far.  The smaller the roller the more volume and curl and the larger the roller the less volume and less curl. Set your hair with the rollers and go underneath a hooded dryer until hair is thoroughly dry then you take down the hair and style as desired.  The reason why this lasts so long is because when you wet your hair you are breaking down hydrogen bonds and you are now reforming them with heat which your style last longer.

4.     Blow Dry Sets

The Blow dry set is the same as a wetset but you use a blow dryer, a round brush and hair clips. Instead of using rollers you wrap your hair around the round brush to blow dry your hair. A blow dry set will give a nice retro look but its temporary. If you just want a quick style this will be your best option. A blow dry set will give you big sexy glamorous hair.

5.     Victory Rolls

A Victory Roll was really popular in the late 1930’s and in the 1940’s. The trick to a good victory roll is to part your hair in the middle, then you diagonally part your hair from your ear to the middle of your center part. You want to take that hair and back comb towards your scalp (backcombing is key to firm roll) then you are going to take your brush and smooth the front of the piece of hair.  Then you are going to take that piece of hair and roll It inwards towards the scalp and pin it with a bobby pin.

If you are interested in having a professional doll you up or you have any questions please feel free to email me at ambernoelle1@yahoo.com or call 562-987-1673. I currently work out of Trimmy’s Hair Salon located on 2750 Broadway Long Beach, California.