Hair Boutique's Hair Link Of The Week - 11/8/98

Marci's Retro Style

I have to confess that selecting Marci's site as the Hair Boutique Hair Link of the Week is long overdue. I had actually selected Marci's cool retro hair site several weeks ago. Marci and I exchanged e-mails about it but then somehow fatal procrastination set in.

Recently I was thumbing through the Oct/Nov 1998 issue of Hair Magazine (British Edition) when I spied an article titled "Hair On The Net". I was disappointed to discover that Hair Boutique had not been mentioned, but I was thrilled to see Marci's site listed on the "Well Wacky" category.

In the Well Wacky category, Hair Magazine states that Marci's Retro Style site is "a charming little site dedicated to preserving bygone hairdos. You may be too young to feel sentimental about this stuff - but we reckon your gran'll love it".

I have to agree on some of the points made by Hair Magazine. Marci's site is definitely a charming little site and it definitely had wonderful information on hairdos of yesteryear. I don't agree that anyone is too young to feel sentimental about the stuff. I think this site constantly entertains and thrills people of all ages. Since April 25, 1997 close to 135,000 visitors have taken a walk down memory lane and viewed hairstyles from the past.

Marci's site consists of a What's New Section, Setting Techniques, Features, Links, Message from Marci and a Guestbook.

What's New

Marci's last major update was in August of 1998 and she spent a lot of time completely reworking the entire site. She made sure that just about everything was different on every single page. Marci hopes to eventually do monthly updates with new features. She is always on the lookout for any hair related information from the years 1920-1965. She is even happy receiving stuff that looks like it is from that era. Marci also hopes to eventually offer archives of back issues of the site.

Stay tuned for Marci's next update. She has promised to add some new hair styles and the results of her Hair Styling Survey.

Setting Techniques

I love the fact that Marci shows you how to do rag curls, make waves, do pincurls and add rollers. Each of the four different types of setting techniques are described in detail and have helpful pictures, drawings or diagrams. The making waves section shows you have to make waves with pin curls, fingerwaves or use a special device to make Marcel waves.

I also love the photo of the special hair net used to wrap around curlers so that you can sleep in them. I used to have a hair net that looked identical to this back in high school. It amazes that Marci still sets her hair and sleeps on rollers even now. I admire her dedication.

Features

The current edition consists of three really great features include the Supple Silhouette, The Versatile Pin Curl Set and the Bobbi Pincurl permanent. It is great how Marci ties all three features together so that they are related even if they cover slightly different time periods.

The article on the Supple Silhouettes is very informative about the medium short lengths that were very fashionable in the early 1950's. Examples of styles from that period are included. The article also includes a photo of Audrey Hepburn in her Italian Boy Haircut which she made very popular. This well written article not only provides examples of the appropriate styles, but it explains that styles like this relied on a tapered cut, normally done with a razor.

Marci graciously provides additional pictures showing how the cut was done for the style in questions. She also provides illustrations of how to apply the pincurls to get the same look.

The Versatile Pin Curl Set is another current feature. This article brings back lots of memories for me. I remember back when I was in 7th grade and my best girlfriends convinced me to let them set my entire head with pin curls held down with bobby pins. They convinced me that I would be nothing short of gorgeous.

Unfortunately they did not have Marci pincurl pattern mentioned above. My little friends basically had no rhyme or reason to their pincurling frenzy.

The next morning I was horrified to discover that my hair stood straight out like a porcupine. I had to wash my hair and wear it wet to school to overcome the wild animal look. From that point on I was always very leery of anything that was pincurl related.

The Versatile Pin Curl Set offers five styles that illustrate the different pin curl sets. Marci provides a hot link to another page on the site that gives you detailed instructions on how to add your own pin curls, if you are so inclined. I love the different photos that Marci has included in the Pin Curl article. It really does show, that is done correctly, pin curls can be very versatile.

The current edition also contains a wonderful feature about the very old Bobbie Pin Curl Permanent. As Marci explains "Pin curl permanents were very popular in the early 1950's. They produced a curl that was softer and looser. I don't know why they are no longer available." I was amazed when I saw the price of this old time permanent was $1.50. That was probably considered very expensive in the 50s.

Links

Marci provides some great hair related links. She has them organized into three different categories:

• Hair Styling Sites
• Retro Fashions
• Retro Culture

She includes a lot of my favorite sites in the link like MIckhael's WW Beauty Store and Michael's Beauty Shoppe Archives (a former Hair Boutique Site of the Week).

Guestbook

Visitor number 232 sums up this site very well with one word: "fab-u-licious". We agree. The Hair Boutique wishes Marci continued success with a great retro site. Congratulations on your nod in Hair Magazine and we are sure we will see your site's name up in lights again very soon.

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- Revised Publication Date: 05/22/10

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