Big hair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big hair is a term that can refer to hairstyles that emphasize large volume or largely styled hair. Big hair was popular in the late 1970s, as popularized by Dolly Parton and Farrah Fawcett, a development from earlier bouffant styles. The term is also used in the punk, goth and alternative cultures and is particularly associated with alternative fashion of the 1980s, or inspired by the period. In either usage, big hair in modern times generally suggests an eye-catching, untidy, tangled, voluminous hairstyle, worn by conformist women in the 1970s, non-conformist of all sexes in the 1980s.
Less commonly, big hair can refer to any style that incorporates a lot of height and/or volume.
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[edit] History of big hair
Big hair has been a cultural trend and fashion icon throughout the span of centuries. Big hair can be achieved by the use of wigs, hair tools or hair products.
[edit] 17th and 18th centuries
Wigs were popular in high society during the 16th and 17th centuries. Royalty, judges and high level officials wore wigs. Aristocrats were also known for wearing wigs as wigs were expensive during those times and needed maintenance. Powdered wigs were also worn, starting from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the first half of the 17th century, especially in France, men of all classes wore their hair long and preferably curled. When Louis XIV of France started compensating for his receding hairline with long, curly wigs around the mid-1600s, they became fashionable amongst the aristocracy and further developed in colour and style over the next 150 years. Women started to embrace elaborate powdered wigs in the 18th century as well, and the excesses of these hairstyles, sometimes even carrying miniature constructions (such as boats, and castles, executed in expensive materials such as gems, precious metals and silks), were a favourite subject among caricaturists at the time.
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[edit] 20th century
Big hair became popular in Western culture during the 1950s and 1960s with bouffant hairstyles. The beehive hairstyle's popularity spanned the 1950s and 1960s. There are many iconic examples from popular culture, among them the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, the Star Trek character Janice Rand and, to a lesser extent, the I Dream of Jeannie television show.
The afro hairstyle became widely popular not long after the beehive's decline. Seen by many as a repudiation of the use of hair straighteners to mimic the straightness of Caucasian hair, the afro became culturally symbolic during the 1960s and 1970s in connection to the growth of the Black Pride and Black Power political movements and the emergence of blaxploitation films and disco music.
During the 1980s, big hair became a trend with styles such as the mullet, mohawk and "glam metal hair" (large hairstyle worn by Metal music groups). Large hairstyles were achieved with the use of hairspray, hair gel and hair mousse. Teased and permed hairstyles were not uncommon. Some music groups that promoted the big hair 1980s hairstyles included Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Poison, Guns N' Roses, and Twisted Sister. Alternative music groups also sported big hairstyles including the mohawk. Alternative musicians that wore big hair hairstyles include Robert Smith of The Cure, Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie & the Banshees, and Johnny Slut of Specimen. The characters in the 80s television show Dynasty also displayed large hairstyles. Many characters in the 1988 film Hairspray exhibit such coiffure.
The 1990s were not defined by big hair hairstyles but a short lived interest in afro hairstyles resurfaced.
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[edit] Big hair styles
[edit] Afro
An afro, sometimes called a "natural" or shortened to "'fro", is a hairstyle in which the hair extends out from the head like a halo or cloud which may be several times the diameter of the head. Afros gained popularity in the 1960s.
An afro requires tight curls and often, but not always, coarse hair, which typically only people of indigenous African descent naturally have, hence its name. Anyone of any ethnic background however, is capable of acquiring an afro by using curling tongs and hair gel. With naturally kinky hair, the spiralling, tightly coiled curls can be straightened out somewhat, giving the hair added volume and length, by first braiding the hair, then separating the coils using an afro pick, a narrow comb with long, widely spaced teeth.
Afros enjoyed a resurgence in the early 2000s, and have remained popular with many African Americans and by those who wear them as an edgy or retro fashion or simply because their hair naturally grows into a fro if not altered by chemicals or heat.
Similar round and voluminous hairstyles that are not worn by African Americans are sometimes referred to as white fros or "wafros", or sometimes, less commonly referring to Jewish members, as Jewfros. The long, oily, and hence naturally locking unshorn hair of a person of South Asian descent is sometimes referred to as an indo.
[edit] Mohawks
Mohawks are a hairstyle that was prominent in the early 1980s punk and hardcore music subcultures. The Mohawk style consist of shaved or buzzed sides of the head with a strip of longer hair in the centre of the head that is typically stiffened using hairspray and hair gel. Some individuals with Mohawks also colored the hair.
The deathhawk, a variation on the Mohawk, is generally thicker and looser than a traditional Mohawk, and may feature long tendrils. The deathhawk is associated with both the deathrock and goth scenes.
Liberty spikes, named for their resemblance to the spikes on the crown of the Statue of Liberty, are a style that incorporates long, thick, upright spikes all over the head. All varieties of Mohawks can be styled into liberty spikes.
[edit] Beehive
The beehive is a woman's hairstyle named for its resemblance to a beehive. It is also known as the B-52, for its similarity to the bulbous nose of the B-52 Stratofortress bomber.
A bouffant style, beehives originated in the USA in the 1950s. The peak of its popularity was in the 1960s, but is associated in modern times with the New Wave rock band The B-52's and with cartoon character Marge Simpson, whose usual hairdo is an extreme, two-foot high, blue beehive.
[edit] Glam metal hair
In the 1980's, male members of bands of the glam metal era, such as Poison and Whitesnake often had a big hair style that featured long, often dyed-blonde hair that was teased or permed and then given "body" by the use of hairspray and hair dryers. The big hair of the glam metal bands led to it being nicknamed "hair metal".
This style lost popularity in the early 1990s, with the arrival of grunge fashion.
[edit] Techniques
Depending on the specific style, hairstyles in the big hair categories may require a number of styling, cutting, or treatment techniques. Styling of punk and alternative big hair styles often requires backcombing (teasing) and the liberal application of styling aids such as hair spray and hair gel, often in combination with the use of hair dryers. Crimping irons, perms, hair rollers, or other techniques may also be required.
