I notice that more than once Janet and/or Chrissy would say they had plans to "wash their hair" and apparently this would take all night?!

I used to think that phrase was a polite way to say you didn't want to go on a date or something, but I was watching "The Harder They Fall" and Chrissy told Janet she was planning on staying at home and washing her hair. What was so special about washing hair?

Also, there was at least 1 women who Mr. Furley asked out who declined because she was washing her hair. LOL!!!

Also, there was at least 1 women who Mr. Furley asked out who declined because she was washing her hair. LOL!!!

That's the hygienic version of "Not tonight, I have a headache."

In the 60's & 70's most people had those hairdryers with the hose & bonnet. The longer your hair was the longer it took to dry it and even longer if you used curlers. So staying in to wash & dry your hair took several hours. It was pain in the behind, was so glad when those hand held blow dryers came out even though the first ones were kind of expensive. This could be what the girls meant by staying in to wash their hair. But it was also a good excuse to get out of doing something you didn't want to do.

In the 60's & 70's most people had those hairdryers with the hose & bonnet. The longer your hair was the longer it took to dry it and even longer if you used curlers. So staying in to wash & dry your hair took several hours. It was pain in the behind, was so glad when those hand held blow dryers came out even though the first ones were kind of expensive. This could be what the girls meant by staying in to wash their hair. But it was also a good excuse to get out of doing something you didn't want to do.


LOL!!! My Mom had one of those bonnet hair dryers when I was a little girl!!!! :lol: :D

No kidding! That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the explanation, AB. I guess I didn't realize how spoiled we are today by simple things like hairdryers.

LOL!!! My Mom had one of those bonnet hair dryers when I was a little girl!!!! :lol: :D

My mother had one of the hard-shell case hair dryers and she would sit under it for hours.

In the movie, "Meet Me In St. Louis," which is set in the early 1900s, the girls had to heat up water on a stove to wash their hair. Ughhh.....

Rhoda is using one of those bonnet-type dryers when Phyllis yells into it, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

There's a late '60s episode of Petticoat Junction where I think it was Bobbi Jo (Lori Saunders) who mentions "helping" Billie Jo (Meredith MacRae) wash her hair. I never had a sibling with long hair, so I don't know if assisting with the wash is unusual.

I remember hearing about sisters I knew that in the '60s did really use ironing boards and steam irons to straighten their hair! This was spoofed on TV or in a movie, where a little smoke gets going (possibly Laverne was the culprit on Laverne & Shirley).

I remember hearing about sisters I knew that in the '60s did really use ironing boards and steam irons to straighten their hair! This was spoofed on TV or in a movie, where a little smoke gets going (possibly Laverne was the culprit on Laverne & Shirley).

My mom told me that she used to iron her hair back in the day. Then she would roll it onto empty soup cans for big waves....vanity will find a way.