In Photos: Bizarre Vintage Beauty Trends
The beauty industry is a big business and the evidence is all around us on a regular basis. From mechanical bulls and “portable” saunas to vibrating belts and “slimming” machines, these fads were utterly bizarre. Take a look at some of the most bizarre beauty trends!
Members of the Bluebell Dancing troop use “hip slimming” machines in a French beauty parlor in Paris, France. Jan. 23, 1965.
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Hollywood cosmetics expert Max Factor takes the measurements of a young woman’s head and face with a bizarre contraption which indicated those places on her face which needed to be enhanced or reduced by makeup. 1933.
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Alaskan model Terry Walker uses a “weight reducing” machine which encircles her hips and back while vibrating. 1935.
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A woman receives a facial from a machine using cotton pads over her eyes. 1950.
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Thin arched brows were the rage in the ’30s. Here a woman gets the signature look via a professional beauty therapist with an electric device. May 1934.
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A traveling beauty parlor in London, England. 1930.
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Beatle-mania in a can. The band’s likeness was used on all sorts of products, such as this generic hair spray from 1964.
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Beauty expert Helena Rubinstein illustrates where and how best to apply makeup to flatter her client’s contours. 1935.
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Bavarian actress Inge Marschall demonstrates the use of a shower-hood invented in Germany to protect hair and makeup from getting wet. Feb. 12, 1970. Munich, Germany.
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Margaret Waggoner Mitchell of Kansas City as she approaches 100 years of age gets her grey hair set in to a permanent wave with electrical heaters. 1926.
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A beautician paints a seam on a woman’s leg to create the illusion that she’s wearing stockings. This was during a shortage of nylons in World War II. U.K. May 23, 1940.
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A patient wears a flu mask during the flu epidemic that followed World War I. It was their main line of defense against the sickness. Feb. 27, 1919.
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An American woman reads a book while “working out.” New York, NY. 1947.
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A portable Finnish sauna bath in 1962. It could be folded up and brought virtually anywhere, some Finnish women even gave birth in them. You can actually still buy these.
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Members of the Arsenal soccer team get a sunlight treatment. It was thought sunlight treatments could combat diseases like tuberculosis. Jan. 16, 1931.
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American actress Lola Fischer sitting in a steam cabinet at a 24-hour Health Salon. New York, NY. 1955.
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Women take steam baths at the Roosevelt Baths in New York. 1938.
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