Trendy 1950’s Hairstyles for Women to Try in 2022

Looking for some classy yet trendy hairstyles? If yes, then why not try to style your hair with some popular 50’s hairstyles? After trying out all the popular hairstyles of the recent years, it can be a great idea to catch a glimpse of some 1950’s hairstyles for women.

The entertainment industry made a great impact on the styling and fashion of people in the year 1950. From that time, both men and women have followed the styles that were shown in the movies and magazines.

Even though we have passed that wonderful era of fashion, it’s never too late to try out some of them again that will make you look elegant and stylish at the same time. In this article, we have tried to list some of the popular hairstyles that you can embrace anytime you want.

Contents

1 How to Style Your Hair Like The 50’s? A Step-by-Step Guide2 50’s Hairstyles for Women with Long Hair2.1 Vintage High Ponytail2.2 Hollywood Glam Waves2.3 Victory Roll Hairstyles2.4 1950’s Up-do for Long Hair2.5 The 1950’s Pin up3 50’s Hairstyles for Women with Medium Hair3.1 Barrel Curl Up-Dos3.2 Pageboy Hairstyle for Shoulder Length Hair4 50’s Hairstyles for Women with Short Hair4.1 The Italian Cut4.2 The Pixie Cut4.3 Tight Tousled Curls5 50’s Hairstyles for African American Beauties5.1 Pin-ups with A Bandana5.2 Barrel Up-do and Bun Combination5.3 Pompadour6 Styling Hair Like 50’s with Accessories6.1 With Hats6.2 With Hairband6.3 With Hair Clips6.4 With Bows7 Some Additional Hairstyles of 1950s7.1 Thick fringe7.2 Bouffant8 Conclusion

How to Style Your Hair Like The 50’s? A Step-by-Step Guide

In this article, you will get some amazing hairstyle ideas for all types of hair that were popular in the 50’s. With both formal and casual clothing, you can try out any one of these hairstyles that suits your face shape and personality.

50’s Hairstyles for Women with Long Hair

The most famous styles for women with long hair in the 50’s were mostly ponytails and buns with lots of curls. Long hair was convenient to style pompadours or victory rolls because a lot of hair was needed to style in these types.

Since the hair becomes more voluminous and puffy even if you style with thin hair, the 50’s hairstyles can be good enough for you to try in 2022. Now, scroll down below to take a look at some wonderful hairstyle ideas.

Vintage High Ponytail

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The first one in our 50’s hairstyle list is the High ponytail. For straight long hair, a high ponytail can be the easiest and effortless hairstyle. You can style your 50’s high ponytail simply with some clips and brush.

Steps To Style Vintage High Ponytail:

You can use thickening hairspray to make the hair look puffy. After brushing, tie your hair with a Band or Pony and divide it in four sections. Then roll up each section with a curler or roller and clip it. Leave it for some time if you are using roller and let the hair cool down for a bit if you are using roller iron. You can brush the curls lightly and give it a back combo to add more volume. And finish it off with brushing the outer layer and leave the curl hanging at the hair end.

You can use bandana or hair clips to organize the front side of the hair or tie the root of the ponytail with a ribbon.

Hollywood Glam Waves

For those who like to leave their hair loose, you can easily try out this glamorous hairstyle. Glam waves used to be a trendy 1950’s hairstyle for long hair and were seen in many award functions or parties.

Steps to Style Hollywood Glam Waves:

For achieving glam waves, section your hair before putting on rollers. The more sections you will create the more curls you will have. So, for the waves, you don’t need to do many sections.

Now, using the iron or roller, form curls. Let it cool. Otherwise, the waves will not last longer. Start setting with spray and brush.

You need to curl your hair first with a curling iron or you can use a roller. Finally,  remove your rollers and brush your soft curls.

Now, wear a pretty dress, put on a bright lipstick with cat eyeliner and you are ready to rock the party.

Victory Roll Hairstyles

If you are a fan of the old-school doughnut shaped hair rings women had in the 50’s, you should try victory rolls. You can always style your hair with different roll tricks and add your own variations. Even though it may need a little more time to style your hair with victory rolls, the outcome will surely satisfy you.

There are two ways to style your hair with the victory rolls. One is an up-do hairstyle and the other one is pin-up. They both are easy to execute and amazing to look at. Let me tell you more about these hairstyles.

1950’s Up-do for Long Hair

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Women who had long hair in the 1950’s, preferred the up-do hairstyle with victory rolls because it was easier to manage the hair throughout a ceremony or a movie date that way. Hence, if you have long hair and are planning a date with your favorite person, doll up with the up-do hairstyle. Trust me, it will be irresistible not to look at you.

To Style the Up-do:

Use hair thickening mousse and brush your hair. The mousse will make your hair wet to style it but don’t apply too much and not make it soaking wet. Blow dry your hair and use your fingers to comb. Section it in four or five parts at the upper side of the head. Use a rolled brush to roll your hair up and use bobby pins to set it. Since it is an up-do style, you can simply twist your hair and secure it at the back of your head or form a side bun. Use hair setting spray so that the baby hairs don’t come out after some time.

The 1950’s Pin up

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Both pin up and up-do styles are quite similar in the sense that you need to curl your hair first and then roll out the small portion of hair. But in the pin up, it is not necessary to do a bun at the back and the roll is mostly at one side of the forehead or at both sides.

Steps to Style The 1950’s Pin up:

You can simply leave the back hair as they are and the pinned up curls above your forehead will give you the 1950’s pin up hairstyle.

To style your hair in the pin up style you can work with either one or two sections of hair at the front of your head. Follow the steps of up-do to form the curls. Now, pin up the curls whichever way you like with the bobby pin, in a manner that the little donut shaped curls are visible.

Brush off the hair on the back side and you are good to go.

50’s Hairstyles for Women with Medium Hair

The preferred hair lengths for women in the 50’s were short to medium because they were more manageable and easy to style. Still to this day women tend to have medium length hair than longer ones. If you have medium hair length, you can try the following 1950s hairstyles for medium hair.

Barrel Curl Up-Dos

If you are dressing up for a wedding party or any formal gathering in the office and are looking for an up-do hairstyle, then Barrel curl up-do can be the perfect style for you. It looks gorgeous and the volume of the bun seems bigger even if it is done in the medium and thin hair.

Steps to Style Barrel Curl Up-Dos:

Add hair thickening spray and brush your hair thoroughly. Tie your hair with a hair tie at the back of your head. Section the hair by taking small portions. You can make as many sections as you want and roll up the curls with a curler. Now twist each portion with your fingers to form a roll from tip to root and attach the roll with the scalp hair using one or two bobby pin.

You can make this bun like a flower by creating a center bun and then attach the other rings around it. And finally to make sure your barrel curls stay in place use setting spray.

Pageboy Hairstyle for Shoulder Length Hair

Pageboy was one of the most popular hairstyles in the 50’s that lasted longer than any other hairstyles. The sleek straight hair and short bangs added a little bit more variation which was different from the other hairstyles of the 50’s. That’s why this style was adapted by both teenagers and adult women because of the cheerful aura it gives.

This neat and smooth style looks natural and is easy to execute. Let’s see how it’s done.

Follow the steps to Style Pageboy:

Apply any moisturizing gel. Part your hair side-ways and divide them in four sections (two in the front, two in the back). Roll up each section or curl them with a curler. Comb your hair tightly from the top and leave the curl to fall from ear to neck. Use setting spray to set them properly.

50’s Hairstyles for Women with Short Hair

After the second World War, a worldwide revolutionary change emerged in the showbiz industry and in the lifestyle of people. And the most variation was seen in styling the short hair of women. Different short haircuts were adapted by women of every age during the decade and are still trending to the 20th century.

The iconic short hairstyles of Hollywood actresses for example, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Debbie Reynolds and Susan Hayward have made a great impact on 1950’s hairstyles for short hair.

Let’s look at some of them that you can try out to make you stand out at any outing.

The Italian Cut

During the whole decade, the impact of this hairstyle was outstanding. After the style was shown in many Italian movies, the Hollywood actresses have adapted the style as well.

There were different variations of Italian Cuts but the most hyped one was the messy curls all over the head. It was a short haircut for women that required to have longer hair on top and shorter hair on the sides.

It would be tough to style the Italian cut if the hairstyle is not done flawlessly. Ask your hairstylist for the Italian Cut first and style at your home.

The only thing you need is lots of bobby pins to style Italian Cut. After that-

Take small portions of hair and form a small ring or roll. Attach it with the scalp. Leave it overnight. After removing the pins, brush the hair lightly with your fingers.

The Pixie Cut

In the movie Roman Holiday, Audre Hepburn cut off her hair to portray the feeling of having freedom in any woman’s life. After cutting her those micro fringes became the most popular hairstyle of the 1950’s.

For Oval or heart shaped faces, this  is one of the most fitted hairstyles. And the best thing about Pixie cuts is you don’t need to curl or iron to style this hair. Just put on some hair protectant and brush your hair with a comb.

Tight Tousled Curls

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Now, who doesn’t remember the unique style of Marilyn Monroe? The tousled curl style of this Diva was captivating and seductive from the very first appearance. And it is extremely easy to execute this style and carry it.

If you have natural wavy hair, you should try this style at least once in your lifetime. The style almost looks the same as the layer cut. But to set it like the Marilyn you will need your curler and follow the steps below:

Comb your hair to detangle the hair. Start setting small rollers on hair that are at the center part of the scalp. Attach big rollers on the side hair. You can leave them overnight or can use semi-hot blow dry. Remove the rollers and brush lightly.

Make a side partition, add a hair clip and you are all set.

50’s Hairstyles for African American Beauties

The unique kinky hair strands have always been a blessing to the black women. This hair type gave them the freedom to wear some stunning hairstyles in the 50’s. Unlike straight hair, the texture of their hair was way more convenient to try the trendy hairstyles of that time because they owned the naturally twisted hair.

We have tried to list a few hairstyles that can fit in 2022’s style book. Let’s have a look.

Pin-ups with A Bandana

It is extremely tough to manage the curls for any black woman. And for women who have corkscrew hair or 3A, 3B or 3C type hair, it is harder to even style the hair properly.

Maybe that’s the reason, the pin-up style was a popular choice for these hair categories. And you can always add a bandana to separate the back part to give it a more vintage look.

Steps to style Pin-ups with A Bandana:

Part your hair in 3 sections (two in the back and one in the front). Now attach rollers in each section. Roll in opposite direction for the back part and roll the front hair facing your forehead. Remove the roller and put your finger to pin it perfectly. Wear a bandana or headband to finish off your look.

Barrel Up-do and Bun Combination

If you have medium length natural curls, the barrel up-do can be your go-to style. It requires less time to style and you can also use nets to cover up the buns.

Steps to Style Barrel Up-do and Bun

Take a large portion of hair right above your forehead and form a ponytail. Do the same at both sides behind your ears. Start twisting the front hair using both hands, turn to make a ring without any middle gap and tuck the tail at the back of the bun using pins. For the side buns use a net hairpiece to hold them in place.

Pompadour

Pompadour hairstyle was accepted by both men and women in the 50’s. And it looks more beautiful and puffy in the twisted type 4 curls. It is a protective hairstyle that covers your scalp.

Steps to style Pompadour:

Use moisturizer oil before style your hair. Comb it. Make clean partitions to separate a portion of hair in the front and clip it. Make a middle partition at the back. Tightly comb a portion, start twisting from root to tip of that part and tuck it in the up where you started twisting. Do the same for the other side and give a heart shape.

For the front, you can either form a twist and tuck it in the middle of your head or form two twisted buns and tuck the second one right below the first one.

Again, you can always straighten your hair with a straightener and do the front pompadour hairstyle.

Styling Hair Like 50’s with Accessories

Using hairpieces, for example, hats, hair bands, bandana, pearl hair clips, or bows can be an effortless yet gorgeous way to style your hair like the 50’s. Most of the models and actresses of that time used the hair pieces along with the curls in order to style with elegance and show more confidence with their styling.

With Hats

To create a more glamorous and cinematic look, you can try wearing a hat. With the medium-short length glam hairstyle of the 50’s, a hat will make you look both elegant and young.

With Hairband

If you choose the barrel hair updo style, wearing a hairband can help to hold the style even more. And the hair in the front and back will stay organized throughout the day.

With Hair Clips

For both curly and straight hair, hair clips can come in very handy. In case you are going with the side comb hairstyle, choose a gorgeous hair clip with pearl or shiny stones and get a sleek and neat look for any date.

With Bows

To style your hair with bows, you can do one or two pin-ups and wear a bow right in the middle or at one side to get the chic look.

Steps To Style Your Hair With Accessories:

Use a comb and make a center or side partition. Use roller to form soft curls. You can twist the rollers in a way that the spirals face each other and slightly cover your face. Put the hairpiece at any side you want. It is best to put a hat or any hair clip at the side and the bow in the middle.

You can also add pin ups like the Victory Roll in the front and wear a bandana, leaving the back hair with soft curls if you want.

Some Additional Hairstyles of 1950s

Other than the styles mentioned above, Thick Fringe and Bouffant were also popular among women in 50’s. You may have seen these hairstyles in the pictures of your grandmother. Let’s take a quick look at them.

Thick fringe

Thick fringe was a famous hairstyle for the teen and middle aged women in the 50’s. Women who had wider forehead loved this hairstyle because the bangs helped them to cover their forehead effortlessly. Not to mention the classy waves at the back also helped to create a playful look.

Bouffant

Bouffant was another popular hairstyle in the end of the 50’s and throughout the 60’s. Back then, it was seen as a classy hairstyle with the voluminous look and small wave at the tip of the hair.

You can also recreate this look using back comb technique on the crown hair and a round comb to make the wave at the end.

FAQs: What Were the Most Popular Hairstyles for Women in 1950?

Answer: People literally experimented with their hair to style in the 50’s. By using brush rollers, hairspray, dippity-do styling gel, crème rinse conditioners and dryers hair stylists in the 50’s have created some legendary and memorable hairstyles for women.

Among them the high Ponytails, Horsetails, Pompadour, Thick fringe, Poodle cut, Italian cut, Bouffant, French twist, Soft bob and Pixie cut were mostly popular among women.

On the first look, it may seem that these hairstyles are all about curls and waves. But there are some amazing and up-to-date styles that can be adapted by any woman with the least amount of time and effort.

How Do I Do A 1950’s Hairstyle?

Answer: Before styling a 50’s inspired hairstyle, carefully choose a hairstyle that is suitable for your hair type. You can choose your favorite style from the list above and follow the steps to style your hair.

What Was Poodle Cut In 1950?

Answer: Poodle Cut or bubble cut was popular at the beginning of the 50’s. It was a short length hair cut for curly hair.

What Hair Color Was Popular In the 1950s?

Answer: The bright colors such as: blue, purple, green, pink, silver, aqua and platinum blonde were popular in the 50’s. The hair color shampoo and henna were mostly used products to dye hair.

Conclusion

In the postwar era of the 1950’s, style and fashion started blooming for the first time in history. Foreign culture started blending with American culture and the stylists upgraded those styles to another level and that made a strong impact on clothing, make-up and hairstyles.

As the movie stars and models tried out the revolutionary styles, teenagers showed the courage to follow them and wear the non-traditional but trendy styles to depict the sign of freedom.

Whether to feel what they felt at that time or just for the sake of recreating your grandma’s look, you should try out 1950’s hairstyles for women at least once in your lifetime. It is guaranteed that you will stand out gracefully in any party or social gathering.

And keep tuning in with us to know more about the vintage hairstyle ideas.