| The Cutting Edge |
| Written by Nicola Hyland | |
Whether you're a blonde, a brunette or an in-between, you really can tell a woman by the way she wears her hair. Ask Bronny cuts through the slick and the sleek of infamous hairstyles.
Forget the ubiquitous Bad Hair Day; I am currently in the midst of a bad hair year. The repercussions of a regrettable fringe decision have left me incapable of anything better than 'disaster' in the hairstyle department. Every day I wake up with morning hair that looks only slightly worse than what I leave the house with. The effects of a poorly judged hair make-over can last a whole lot longer then that one time you teamed a white dress with black knickers. Short of wearing a hat, [or paper bag], bad hair is there for the whole world to see for as long as it takes to grow, or fade, or fall out. The fundamental fact is that your hairstyle is as much part of an outfit as your shoes – bad hair can bring an outfit down just as swiftly as drastically mismatched footwear. The flipside is that a great hairdo can change a person's life. We've all seen extreme makeovers – nothing takes off ten years like a quick snip. Finding a great hairdresser is like hitting the jackpot. Forming a trusting relationship with the girl or boy with the golden scissors can be as rewarding as stumbling across a hot new designer. Fabulous hairstyles have become as much a part of a seasonal 'look' as the latest in clothing trends. Over the years, certain celebrity do's have earned iconic places in the Hot Hair hall of fame. Then there are those singular hair styles that encapsulate the fashion “tastes” of a whole generation. The following are just a few prime examples of the most influential hairstyles of the last fifty years – along with the key fashionistas who dared to wear them. 1. The Beehive The beehive hairstyle was a graduation of a 'bouffant' hairstyle first made popular in Seventeenth century Europe and reinvented for the 1950s. Particularly towards the mid-sixties, the trend was for 'big' hair, achieved with a combination of rollers, back-combing, teasing and copious amounts of that great contemporary invention, hairspray. The name was coined for its resemblance to the shape of a bee’s nest and it was also known as a B52 for its similarity to the B52 Bomber. The most famous beehive was undoubtedly Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, although more recent incarnations can be seen on Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous, Marge Simpson and British singer Amy Winehouse. 2. The Afro Eternal frizz victims must have relished the days when the Afro was the hottest look in hairstyles. With its antecedents all the way back to ancient Egypt, the modern afro had a major resurgence in the 1970s and again, briefly, in the early 00's. Popular particularly amongst African-Americans during the rise of the Black Power movement and seen regularly in Blaxploitation films, the afro featured a halo-like ring of thick frizzy curls around the head. Famous bearers of the Afro include Jimi Hendrix, Pam Grier, Beyonce and, um, Guy Sebastian… 3. The Perm A different type of 'Big Hair' phenomenon, the Perm – or permanent wave - was about as Eighties as stone-wash jeans and shoulder pads. From the days when ancient people wrapped their hair around sticks and set it with mud, many a limp-haired lass and lad has coveted a head full of bouncy curls. The first chemical hair-curling machines were created in the early 1900s, where sodium hydroxide was added to hair that had been heat-treated for a considerable time. Less damaging formulas were developed towards the 1970s, with the hair coiled around rods with a neutralising acid, followed by an application of the more PH balanced sodium thioglycolate. The spiral perm was embraced by glam metal bands like Bon Jovi and White Snake and also by Whitney Houston and Barbra Striesand. Who can forget the great Neighbours-era perms of Kylie Minogue and Craig McLachlan 4. The Mullet A great deal has been said about the much-maligned mullet. Poems, songs, entire music empires have dedicated themselves to various manifestations of the short-on -top/long-at-the-back hairdo. The mullet revitalised male hair during the late 1970s to the early 1990s. From MacGuyver to Michael Bolton, the mullet was a celebration of premature baldness in denial. Surely, no woman can deny the rugged cowboy manliness of the Billy Ray Cyrus Mullet? While the original mullets became prominent amongst truck-drivers, mechanics, motor-heads and metal-loving Bogans in general, the modern mullet crept up on the fashion industry in an unanticipated way. Recent versions of the mullet have been seen on David Beckham, Kevin Costner and a host of metrosexual sportsmen. And don’t even get me started on the Fem-mullet. 5. The Rachel Like the massive rise in the ordering of cosmopolitans in every bar in town during the hey-day of Sex in the City, the 'Rachel' hairdo became the signature haircut of every reputable hair salon for almost a decade. Named for her character in Friends, Jennifer Aniston’s straightened 'shag' hairdo made an enormous impact in hair fashion . Even my mum asked her hairdresser for a Rachel at one stage, although it was not an entirely authentic version, [sorry Mum]. While Aniston later went on with the sleek and long style, hoards of women faced the arduous task of growing out unyielding layers deep into the last days of the nineties. There have been numerous other do's that are worthy of mention in the modern history of hair. The Flock of Seagulls was a legendary hairdo created by the lead singer of the band of the same name, Mike Score. A long wispy fringe crowned by dramatic side sweeps, the F.O.S was a crime only a new-wave ex-hairdressing icon could commit – no wonder he ran, he ran so far away. The modern faux hawk was a widely influential men’s hair craze also sported by David Beckham; a kind of clean-cut middle class version of the punk Mohawk. Of course, no iconic hairdo list could be complete without mentioning the Farrah Fawcett flick, the Donald Trump ginger comb-over or the Britney-goes-to-rehab bald head look. Watch out for that hot hair trend coming soon… We all know that this season embraces all that is sixties mod styling and the 'cutting edge' hair styles reflect this - the key look is poker straight, with a thick blunt fringe. One of the hottest cuts this season is the sleek page-boy bob – as seen on Natalie Portman, Victoria Beckham and Sienna Millar. Look to Ask Bronny for more advice on how to cope with horror hair – or at least on the latest thing in hats and head wear for the more serious cases! |
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