My haircut Inspiration - 1940s Middy

 

As many of you know I am (and have been) on a journey to achieve 1940s hair. I got the hang of it for a little while back in May/June but my hair grew too fast, I should've cut it longer when I got it cut in the spring. I want a more authentic 1940s hairstyle, like the ones regular women would wear at the time. I think what really made me decide to cut my hair MUCH shorter shorter was when I was watching Waterloo Bridge. 

Vivien Leigh is my favourite actress and I finally watched this movie!  Her hair looked amazing!  The length was perfect! Its short (By modern standards) and very feminine. I love the way it styled and how it looks when paired with hats. This was my biggest inspiration for my haircut.  I was watching it and taking pictures on my phone every time she turned her head so that I could see the back of her hairstyle lol 

Vivien Leigh had beautiful hair regardless.  I could pull inspiration from any of her looks from movies or red carpet events. Her hair, once curled, was either floating above the shoulders to right above the collarbone in length. I always worry about cutting it that short because I've always had long hair, in modern culture long hair is associated with femininity and I have a hard time seeing myself with shorter hair. I see other girls (Modern) with shorter hair and it looks amazing!!  It looks feminine to me but I struggle with it on myself.  But it looks so good on Vivien leigh and it doesn't look THAT short to me, so I decided to take the plunge... hair grows back 

 However.... As much as I would love to have the perfectly styled hair of the movie stars of the 40s I'm trying to be realistic in my expectations lol. I always look at inspiration from real women of the decade so see how it will look with my level of hair styling experience. It's like comparing hairstyles from red carpet looks or movies to girls we see out on the street every day. Red carpet looks and hairstyles for movies take a long time to achieve and have a hairstylist on set to touch up the hair. I assume it was the same in the 40s. So here are some examples of photos I saw of regular women. 

In the 1940s Middy haircuts were the most popular and considered the most flattering in the 1940s. There was also the baby (the shorter version) and the middy long (The longer version) . And while this diagram is very helpful I was worried about following it word by word. Since I started getting vintage style haircuts my mom has been cutting my hair (Makes it more authentic because this wasn't uncommon in the 1940s lol at least for teens and younger girls). I've had a hard time finding a haridresser that is willing to do a vintage haircut. I've brought diagrams and photos of hair styled and unstyled, I even asked around at different salons and no one will give me an authentic cut because they don't think it will look good. It's an out of date haircut so they don't want to risk me being unhappy after the haircut which I understand. So I turned to my mom (Aren't moms the best!) 

We looked at tons of photos and she cut it for me for the first time during the pandemic ! so this will be the third haircut she gives me !  I'm a bit nervous because its shorter than I normally cut it so we will see how it turns out ! I hope I don't end up looking like a poodle.

If you want to see the final result check out my video below!