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1939-45  • The 1940s Face

These portraits illustrate the 1940s Wartime "look".•

Each era has a "look" which women of the time aspire to. This is the "look" which wartime young women wanted to achieve.
Hairstyle and make-up are the only tools used. Wartime shortages made any style difficult to achieve.
Lipstick, if available was red only.
Arched eyebrows were plucked to shape and pencilled.
Lifted hairstyles were the fashion.
Shampoo was difficult to obtain and even soap was rationed. Other hair products hardly existed.
Long hair was discouraged in the factories where for safety, those with long hair wore snoods A type of hair net to prevent their hair from being caught in machinery.
Servicewomen's hair had to be 3 inches 76mm above the shoulders.
To achieve a hairstyle women would sleep in curlers hair wound round small metal mesh tubes. which was not comfortable.

• Date written on the back: August 1940

Above dated 1940: Age about 17 years old  • Estimate: born 1923 ± 3 years