When I was a young girl in the 1960s, long hair -- the straighter the better -- was the must-have look for white girls. There was no layering of hair, either. Layered cutting didn't happen until the early 70s. My hair was wavy rather than curly, but very frizzy. This was before hand-held blow dryers and styling products. We had lacquer hairspray and instruments of torture like curlers and juice cans. Sleeping on rollers was an experience I'll never forget. When Dippity-Do was invented in the mid-60s it was a revelation.I lived 50 miles outside of New York City, in a school district where there were very few Jewish families. When I was in the 5th grade, in 1965, it was the vogue to pass around autograph books at the end of the school year for other girls to sign. There were popular rhymes girls would write to each other, often "slams". One such rhyme was "When you are old and gaining weight, remember the girdles are $5.98." Common enough. Except that in my book, the writer added an asterisk and wrote "And the brushes are $1.00." In other words, it looked to my classmates like I never brushed my hair. I felt utterly humiliated. Just to add a comment about the article above: some women did wear the Jewfro, briefly, in the 1970s. I remember Rhea Perlman of Cheers fame wore it for a season or two. I don't think it lasted long, though, possibly because we knew how much Jewish men yearned to date non-Jewish women who had that long, flowy, silky hair.
When I was a young girl in the 1960s, long hair -- the straighter the better -- was the must-have look for white girls. There was no layering of hair, either. Layered cutting didn't happen until the early 70s. My hair was wavy rather than curly, but very frizzy. This was before hand-held blow dryers and styling products. We had lacquer hairspray and instruments of torture like curlers and juice cans. Sleeping on rollers was an experience I'll never forget. When Dippity-Do was invented in the mid-60s it was a revelation.I lived 50 miles outside of New York City, in a school district where there were very few Jewish families. When I was in the 5th grade, in 1965, it was the vogue to pass around autograph books at the end of the school year for other girls to sign. There were popular rhymes girls would write to each other, often "slams". One such rhyme was "When you are old and gaining weight, remember the girdles are $5.98." Common enough. Except that in my book, the writer added an asterisk and wrote "And the brushes are $1.00." In other words, it looked to my classmates like I never brushed my hair. I felt utterly humiliated. Just to add a comment about the article above: some women did wear the Jewfro, briefly, in the 1970s. I remember Rhea Perlman of Cheers fame wore it for a season or two. I don't think it lasted long, though, possibly because we knew how much Jewish men yearned to date non-Jewish women who had that long, flowy, silky hair.