What a historical treasure! The photo was sent to me by reader Nann Hilyard, who got it from a friend, who got it from who knows where. The magic of the internet.
Big hair was already heading out of style when this photo was snapped, being replaced by the hippie-like locks of the youngest woman in the photo. That didn’t stop the redhead on the left—who looks to be at least in her forties—from building up a towering creation. It looks like she had very long hair that she simply relocated to the top of her head—a miracle of construction. The woman in pink is perhaps her mother or much older sister. She is the most conservatively dressed of the four, with her fifties-styled hair and matchy-matchy pastel outfit.
I’m guessing the two on the right are mother and daughter. They are clearly the hosts—after all, they are wearing slippers! The mother also has a big hair style, but nothing compared to her guest. Her young daughter, probably still in her teens, is the most stylishly dressed. Ruffles and plaids were easy to find in the 1968 Sears catalog. Even her long flowing hair appears to have a little lift in the back.
Besides showing a remarkable range of hairstyles, this photo documents the triumph of pants for American women of all ages. The two on the left are dressed up for the occasion, showing that pants were now much more than casual at-home wear.
I wonder if the woman with red hair is wearing a wig or a hair piece or maybe both a-la Dolly Parton.
I wondered the same thing.
I agree that the woman on the left is wearing a “postiche” or partial hairpiece; the color doesn’t quite match. The girl on the right has probably “ratted” or backcombed her hair for more height at the crown. Of course, the saying from this era that I remember is, “The higher the hair, the closer to God.” The most extreme hair usually came from the deep South or the Bible Belt.
I cropped the photo so the palm trees in the back aren’t visible, but the picture looks like it might be Florida. At any rate, it is somewhere very warm in December (if the date on the picture is the date it was taken.) Somewhere in the South is a good guess.
Troubling to think how much hydrofluorocarbon went into the production of the Marie Antoinette look the woman on the left is sporting.